Research Abstract
I am a general surgeon specializing in pancreatic and biliary surgical disease, particularly pancreatic cancer, benign and premalignant lesions, as well as pancreatitis. In addition to my clinical pancreatic and biliary surgical practice, I have outcomes research focused on pancreatic surgical patients, primarily investigating problems and potential process improvement associated with transitions of care from inpatient to outpatient. This effort has incorporated both database work and qualitative and survey-based methodology, for which I have a foundation through my undergraduate and master’s theses, both of which utilized this methodology. My current efforts, in collaboration with my clinical partners and our Institute for Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, are to expand the scope of such research to incorporate patient-centered approaches to improving care for our surgical patients, through better and more accessible patient/family information and streamlined access to care. My third area of focus is surgical education. As general surgery residency program director, I am continuously involved in both managing our current residents and residency, as well as in ongoing program self-evaluation efforts and improvement. This position has led to a nascent surgical education research program, through which I am investigating the impact of regulations on current surgical training, as well as evaluating efforts to develop our trainees as teachers themselves and developing an understanding of best practice for intraoperative and bedside teaching, as well as curricular development.