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. This center is accredited as an American College of Surgeons regional education institute. The department is large, with about 55 faculty members in general and vascular surgery, 6 members in oral and maxillofacial surgery, and another 40 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, surgical oncology, and pediatric surgery.  Dr. Juan Arenas recruited in 2007 began a solid organ transplantation program at University Hospital.  Both liver and kidney transplantation have been established at the University Hospital and the program is growing.  Kidney transplantation at Parkland Memorial Hospital also expanded significantly in the last year and we have added two additional 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 has recruited  additional surgical oncologist with expertise in upper GI malignancy and is currently recruiting 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.  The division has expanded from 5 to 11 surgeons and with the recent opening of the Legacy site in Plano, TX, rapid clinical growth is being seen. Recruitment is also positioning the Division nicely for growth of academic programs on this campus. 

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 program is multi-disciplinary and includes a medical "liquid diet" weight/loss program. 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 is a national leader in skills training and a large amount of work has been done to validate proficiency based training of residents in the skills center and showing that it transfers to the operating room.  The Center is also collaborating with 14 other programs in the state of Texas to improve skills training for surgeons in all of the Texas-based surgical training programs. 

Research efforts continue to expand and have been consolidated under the leadership of Dr. Fiemu Nwariaku who is 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.  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. Two surgical residents are also enrolled in the clinical scholars program.  The department is developing a program to train academic surgeons which integrates clinical training with training to perform clinical or 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, was fully accredited to train 13 general surgeons per year, making it the largest residency program in the country.  In addition, the program has maintained it's high pass rates for both the written and oral board examinations.  We received accommodation from the American Board of Surgery for maintaining a 100% pass rate over a 5-year period.  This remarkably including more than 55 residents who passed both parts of the board examination. 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 and recently obtained approval from the RRC in Emergency Medicine to train 19 residents per year.  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