The Department of Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center consists of eight divisions: Burn/Trauma/Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Surgery, Oral Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, Surgical Oncology, Transplantation Surgery, and Vascular Surgery. In addition, the department administers a multidisciplinary program, the Southwestern Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery, dedicated to the education of residents and surgeons in practice, growth of clinical programs, and innovations in minimally invasive techniques. The department is large, with about 50 faculty members in general and vascular surgery and another 30 faculty members in emergency medicine. The department is responsible for training of over 150 residents in general surgery, emergency medicine, and oral maxillofacial surgery. In addition, the department provides subspecialty training with fellowships in bariatric, breast, colorectal, trauma and critical care, pediatric surgery, and vascular surgery.
The Department of Surgery is expanding its programs with particular emphasis on the growth of transplantation surgery and surgical oncology. Dr. Juan Arenas was recruited in 2007 to begin solid organ transplantation at University Hospital, but kidney transplantation at Parkland Memorial Hospital has grown with the addition of transplantation surgeons to our system. Dr. Roderich Schwarz arrived in May, 2007 to lead surgical oncology and brings considerable expertise in upper GI malignancy, especially in pancreatic cancer. He is tasked with recruiting surgical oncologist's to expand all aspects of Surgical Oncology in conjunction with the expansion of the Cancer Center in general. Hospital programs have likewise increased at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Zale Lipshy University Hospital and ST. Paul University Hospital, Children’s Medical Center Dallas, and the North Texas Veterans Administration Hospital.
There has been expansion of Pediatric Surgery since the recruitment of Robert Foglia, M.D. as chair of that division. Three additional surgeons have joined the faculty or will join us this summer. This should position the Division nicely for growth of academic programs on this campus and for expansion to the Legacy site in Plano which is scheduled to open within a year. Increasing clinical workload and growing surgical practices continues to necessitate expansion of faculty throughout the department and, currently, we are actively recruiting in almost every division.
GI Endocrine Surgery continues to grow its Bariatric Surgery Program. The program at University Hospital Zale is accredited by the American Bariatric Association and several clinically-related investigative programs are being developed in this area. The division also includes management of the Southwestern Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery which continues to make a large contribution to education of residents and, through CME programs, to surgeons in practice. The Center received designation as an American College of Surgeons Educational Institute and is actively involved with other accredited centers throughout the USA and Canada in development of innovative methods of training surgeons.
Dr. John Zuniga joined our department as the Chair of the Division of Oral Surgery last year and he is expanding both clinical and research programs in that division.
Research efforts continue to expand and have been consolidated under the leadership of Dr. Fiemu Nwariaku who was named Vice-Chair of the Department of Surgery for Research. Strategic planning for growth of research, management of research activities, and support for start-up programs are now under the auspices of a Department Research Advisory Committee. Core laboratory space for Surgery as been acquired from the Dean and is being renovated. The Burn Research Center Grant, and its associated T-32 training grant, continues to thrive after more than 40 years of continuous funding. Research programs in surgical oncology, GI/Endocrine surgery, and vascular surgery also continue to grow and mature, and several faculty members and residents have been named as NIH Clinical Scholars and are actively participating in the structured education opportunity, the Clinical Scholars Program, designed to teach individuals to perform clinical and clinically related research. The basic program in pancreatic cancer, directed Rolf Brekken, PhD, has been funded by an NIH grant and continues to develop programs in angiogenesis and its effects on tumor growth.
The excellent student and resident education programs in our department remain the center of our focus. The medical school trains over 240 students a year who rotate through surgery during their third year. Innovative web-based programs developed by the department have greatly improved the educational experience for students and we are seeing more students plan careers in surgery. The surgical residency program is accredited to train 13 general surgeons per year, making it the largest residency program in the country. Including the preliminary residents who rotate through general surgery on their way to other surgical residencies, and those in research fellowships, we have up to 90 residents in our program at any given time. The program is known for its breadth and depth of clinical training, high pass rates on both the written and oral boards, integrated skills training as part of the curriculum for residents, and for the excellent research opportunities that it can provide. The emergency medicine training program which began less than 10 years ago trains 16 residents per year and is developing a regional and national reputation. It attracts excellent trainees. The Oral Surgery Residency training program has always been strong and continues to attract strong candidates and to produce well trained individuals.
Among the most exciting changes are the way we educate medical students and surgeons. Changes in the health care environment require us to be more efficient in delivering patient care. We must reduce the amount of basic surgical skills taught in the operating room, yet we must decrease resident work hours. We have consolidated didactic teaching conferences into a single morning, relieved residents and students of clinical duties during that time, and made conferences mandatory for all who are not covering trauma/emergency surgery call. Basic and advanced skills training for open and laparoscopic surgery have been studied, mainly by the Southwestern Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery, and are now incorporated into the curriculum for training. Such training is now a standard part of our surgical curriculum, but we are constantly assessing or teaching methods and introducing new educational programs. This has resulted in national reputation for us as surgical educators.
In summary, the Department of Surgery has a long tradition of excellence in providing clinical care and educating residents and students. We, however, are not complacent, and will continue to grow and change. We are proud of the progress that we have made and remain committed to excellence in:
Providing Quality Care to Patients
Education of Students, Residents, and Physicians in Practice
and
Advancement of Surgical Knowledge
