Education
Message from the Vice Chair, Education
The Department of Surgery's mandate is to educate and train the best surgeons of tomorrow. This is perhaps a bold statement, but one that we do our best to achieve. The Department educates learners in surgery at all levels, ranging from medical students, residents and clinical fellows. Our Department is one of the biggest departments in the world for surgical education.
The teaching executive includes our Postgraduate Director (Dr. Ronald Levine), our Undergraduate Director (Dr. George Christakis), our Associate Director for Undergraduate Education (Dr. Yaron Shargall), our Director of Evaluation (Dr. Nikki Woods) and myself as Vice-Chair, Education and Director of Clinical Fellows. Important supporting personnel at our Banting Office includes: Tess Weber (Postgraduate Co-ordinator), Robert Gardin (Postgraduate Assistant), Shibu Thomas (Undergraduate Co-ordinator) and Corina Salajan (Surgical Education Assistant).
Our Teaching Sites
There are four main University of Toronto fully affiliated teaching hospitals: St Michael’s Hospital, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, the Hospital for Sick Children and University Health Network (Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Mt Sinai Hospital, and Princess Margaret Hospital). In addition to these primary sites, our learners also train at partially affiliated teaching hospitals: St Joseph’s Hospital, Toronto East General Hospital, North York General Hospital, Trillium Hospital, Credit Valley Hospital, Etobicoke General Hospital, and Humber River Regional Hospital. Additional community based hospitals also receive elective students and residents from time to time.
Undergraduate Program
Our undergraduate programs for medical students are coordinated by our Department in conjunction with the three academies: Wightman Berris at UHN, Fitzgerald at SMH, and Peters Boyd at Sunnybrook. Each academy has assigned an onsite supervisor to ensure that medical students receive the best possible education. At the Wightman Berris Academy is Dr. Fred Gentilli, at the Fitzgerald Academy is Dr. Robert Stewart, and at the Peters Boyd Academy is Dr. George Christakis. The department is excited about the new curriculum starting 2010. Phase 1 and 2 clerkships will have 4 weeks each of core surgery rotations, and in the winter/spring semester of year 4 we will be offering a number of new selectives for interested students.
Postgraduate Program - Residency
For postgraduate residency education each Division has a Program Director in charge of their training program. The list of program directors includes:
Dr. David Latter (Cardiac Surgery), Dr. Najma Ahmed (General Surgery),
Dr. Christopher Wallace (Neurosurgery), Dr. William Kraemer (Orthopedic Surgery), Dr. Mitchell Brown (Plastic Surgery), Dr. Robert Stewart (Urology), Dr. Gail Darling (Thoracic Surgery), Dr. Thomas Lindsay (Vascular Surgery), Dr. Ted Gerstle (Pediatric General Surgery), Dr. Marcus Burnstein (Colorectal Surgery), and
Dr. Carol Swallow (General Surgery Oncology). These residency programs continue to be the most sought after residency positions in the country.
We are particularly excited about our new initiative the Competency Based Curriculum in Orthopedic Surgery which began July 2009 with three PGY1 residents. With this system, orthopedic residents will “graduate” from their training/education modules when they demonstrate proficiency in that module. Graduation will not be time dependent, but rather proficiency dependent.
Dr. Kraemer, the Program Director, and all the teaching surgeons of the Division of Orthopaedics, are fully engaged in this exciting initiative which represents a truly significant change in the methodology of how we train surgeons.
The University of Toronto Surgical Skills Centre at Mount Sinai Hospital continues to offer excellent teaching of surgical skills to our residents. Dr. Helen MacRae (Director), and the skills centre manager Lisa Satterthwaite and her team, work hard to assist the acquisition of surgical skills by our trainees in an environment outside of the operating room. All PGY1s and 2s take the Principles of Surgery Core Surgery Lecture Series which is managed by Dr. Robert Mustard. The high success rate of our students at the Principles of Surgery Exam is a testament to the hard work of all who participate in the preparation of the Core Surgery Lectures for PGY1s and 2s, and the Principles of Surgery practice exam.
A series of resident education days such as Orientation for PGY1s, Surgeon in Society, and Resident as Teacher Day for PGY1s and 3s, are given to our residents to better prepare them for their careers in surgery.
Our Surgeon Scientist Program (SSP) continues to deliver world class educations in basic science research, clinical epidemiology, and education research. These SSP residents earn higher level degree MSc or PhDs. The achievements of our surgeon scientist residents are celebrated at our annual Gallie Day.
The Surgeon Scholar Program continues to be successful. In this program surgical resident students can pursue scholarly achievement in non “scientific”, non traditional fields of study, such as MBA, law, or other fields.
Clinical Fellowship Training
The Department of Surgery has approximately 150 clinical fellows and some 30-40 research fellows at any one time. Three quarters of our clinical fellows are international in origin demonstrating how highly regarded these clinical fellowship are. The breadth and depth of the surgical experience our clinical fellows receive reflect directly back on our Department by way of how successful our graduates are in their subsequent surgical careers.
Staff Development and Continuing Medical Education
The Centre for Faculty Development is a valuable resource that members of our faculty continue to use. Department members enroll in the various workshops, Stepping Stones Program, or the Education Scholars Program. In May 2009, the Centre for Faculty Development organized two outstanding workshops specifically designed for surgeons as teachers. The Department supports other faculty development initiatives such as Leadership Day.
Continuing Medical Education continues to play a major role in our Department’s activities. For the academic year 2008-2009, our Department hosted over 20 major CME events. Many of the CME programs are the major CME event for their specialties in Canada and attract surgeons from around the world.
In summary, the Department of Surgery educational programs are second to none. Each student, no matter what level, will be challenged to learn and achieve their full potential.
David Latter
Vice-Chair, Education
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