Association for Academic Surgery (AAS)
Inspiring and Developing Young Academic Surgeons
The Academic Surgeon is the official blog of the AAS. We post anywhere from one to three times a week and our contributors will focus on issues relevant to young academic surgeons, residents, fellows, and even medical students.
If you would like to contribute, please submit your post here: https://www.aasurg.org/the-academic-surgeon-blog-submission/
In research, despite painstaking preparation, things can still go wrong. This is especially true in global surgery research. This year, I conducted a community-based survey on injury in Cameroon, which involved maneuvering a fairly large team into extremely rural communities. At baseline, this required understanding the actual physical location of remote rural communities in Cameroon …
Unless you have your own personal mentor willing to walk you around to make introductions to academic surgeons, it can be very difficult or even awkward to network with people who you look up to. By being active on social media, it is easy to learn who is active in various surgical fields and just …
The Association for Academic Surgery is home to some of the best and brightest surgical investigators in the world. One only need to look back on the past and current leaders of this organization to see the profound impact that these individuals have had on the field of surgery. As scientific knowledge advances, so too …
While performing a hernia exam, a patient told the female resident that he usually got a “special reward after a woman handled his testicles.” His meaning was clear, and he seemed to consider this a perfectly reasonable thing to say to a doctor. When the resident came out to present the patient, she mentioned what …
Pangs of jealousy mixed with joy filled my gut as I witnessed my students create a Stamm tube gastrostomy and mature a colostomy in our simulation laboratory. I thought back to my younger self, 16 years ago, when I was just discovering my passion for the art of surgery and would have quasi-literally given my …
On Pediatric Surgery. In November of 2016, I embarked on a clinical elective in Uganda with the dual motive to experience a developing nation’s health-care system and to conduct an economic research project on the first pediatric operating room (OR) in the country. The OR was constructed in Naguru Hospital, a public referral hospital in …
The Association for Academic Surgery and the AAS Foundation offer several travel grants and research awards each year. The application process for the 2017-2018 grants and awards is now open: OPEN TO RESIDENTS, FELLOWS & FACULTY AAS Fall Courses Travel Grant Six travel grants are awarded to resident, fellow, or faculty-level attendees who are female …
As I approach the final days of my two-year clinical research commitment, I have been wondering what I would recommend to those approaching their own research time. How can they optimize their experience and prepare for a future in academic surgery? Here are my top 5 recommendations: Mentorship, mentorship, mentorship Perhaps the biggest decision is …
In the past decade, numerous studies have shown that physicians and medical students have higher rates of suicide than the general population.1,2 The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention reports that over 400 physicians and medical students commit suicide each year in US.3 The medical profession consistently ranks at or near the top of occupations with …
What is informatics? When I use that word to describe my research, people have asked “Isn’t that just statistics?” Or, “Oh, that’s all the computers and big data stuff, right?” Clinicians may recognize informatics as anything related to the electronic health record (EHR). My Dad explained to my mother that it meant I was, “Crazy …
