Dr. Gary Dunnington, former professor and chair of the Department of Surgery and founding director of the SIU Surgical Skills Center, led efforts to open the Springfield, Illinois-based Surgical Skills Center in May 2000. At the time, it was one of only a handful of centers designed specifically for training surgical residents.

Skills labs have since revolutionized surgical training. Using computer simulators and virtual reality technology, as well as specially designed procedure models, surgical residents learn a wide array of surgical skills including but not limited to instrument tying, one/two-handed knot tying, Laparoscopic proficiencies, vascular anastomosis, chest tubes, central lines and splinting.

The SIU faculty and SIU Surgical Skills Center staff assisted other surgical educators in developing a national curriculum in hopes that other residency programs would utilize the curriculum for their labs. The ACS/APDS National Surgical Skills Curriculum has developed three phases. Phase I includes basic surgical skills designed with first and second year residents in mind.