General Surgery Residency Program News

In the wake of the current pandemic, administrative team members had to quickly shift gears to a virtual work environment to ensure the safety of patients and frontline workers. The shift has greatly impacted the Program Coordinators and administrative staff of the Section’s education programs, who now are organizing some of the programs’ most important events of the year from afar.

This story is part of an ongoing series of reflections from Duke Surgery faculty, residents, and staff.

The final year of residency holds many milestones. For general surgery administrative chief resident James Meza, MD, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered the last few months of his residency, but has also become a defining time in his career.

General surgery residents are required to pass the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) and Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery simulation-ba­­sed certifications in accordance with the American Board of Surgery. These simulations develop manual technical skills necessary for successful surgery, but are generally very time consuming, requiring extensive practice to master.

On February 23, 2020, the General Surgery Residency Program held its 2nd annual Surgeons as Educational Scholars Symposium. The event serves as a formal training course to prepare residents for their role as educators in surgery.

Research fellows Sarah Commander, MD, and Brian Shaw, MD, assisted with planning the event.

We are excited to welcome our new residents to the Department of Surgery. Congratulations to all those who matched with us! We look forward to meeting you this summer.

Congratulations to General Surgery Resident Harold Leraas, MD, MHS, on his acceptance to the 2020-2021 Surgical Education Research Fellowship (SERF) program. This program is designed to provide participants with the skills and knowledge to plan, implement and report education research studies.

As a part of this program, Dr. Leraas will be attending several workshops as well as designing, managing, and presenting educational research projects for peer-reviewed publications and conferences.

Dr. Sarah Commander, General Surgery Resident, has received the Executive Director’s Fellowship Award from the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) and the Early Career Award from the Thrasher Research Fund.

The DCRI Executive Director’s Fellowship Award is given to a DCRI fellow to support the individual’s fellow-initiated research project through supplemental funding. The Early Career Award from the Thrasher Research Fund is a national grant given to a resident in any discipline working on projects focusing on pediatrics.

Congratulations to Drs. Brian Shaw, General Surgery Resident, E. Hope Weissler, Vascular Surgery Integrated Resident, and Muath Bishawi, Integrated Thoracic Surgery Resident, for receiving the Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (StARR) R38 awards from the National Institutes of Health.

Congratulations to Dr. Justin Barr, General Surgery Resident, on having his book, Of Life and Limb: Surgical Repair of the Arteries in War and Peace, 1880-1960, published.

In 2019, the Duke heart, lung, liver, and kidney transplant programs experienced unprecedented volume growth: more than 20% for most programs. With 521 total transplants performed in 2019, Duke Health now ranks 8th among U.S. transplant programs.