David Antonenko, MD, PhD

The Dakota Medical Foundation recently announced a grant of $170,000 to the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences’ Department of Surgery to support the development of a simulation skills center. The center will be based at Altru Hospital in Grand Forks and at the medical school’s education building in Fargo.

“The Dakota Medical Foundation is honored to partner with the UND medical school and Altru as they work together to ensure the region has a sufficient number of well-trained medical professionals,” says J. Patrick Traynor, JD ‘91, president of the Foundation. The new center will provide simulation-based training for physicians in the school’s general surgery residency program.

“We are really excited about this grant,” says David Antonenko, MD, PhD, professor of surgery and director of the Surgical Simulation Center. “The center will meet the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s requirements for simulation training of general surgery residents.” Family practice and internal medicine residents, medical students, and some allied health professionals will also have access to the center.