The Academic Surgeon - Official Blog of the AAS

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/

The Journey Towards Increased Connectivity in Global Health

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, global surgery efforts in low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs) were significantly impacted by travel restrictions, delay and eventual back-up of elective surgeries, and diversion of resources towards COVID relief efforts, straining an already overloaded system.1 As the US healthcare infrastructure pivoted towards telehealth models, the global surgery community utilized their previous telehealth experience …

Announcing New AAS Councilors for 2022

AAS Is very pleased to announce the results of the recent AAS Councilor elections. AAS Councilors are elected to a 2-year term and serve on the AAS Executive Council – please welcome these new leaders in the Association! Councilor for the AAS Class of 2010 – Mayur Narayan Dr. Narayan is an Attending Surgeon at …

First Do No Harm: Information Stewardship in the COVID-19 Era

The AAS Ethics Committee held its first annual Artwork and Essay Contest in 2021 – the topic for the essay contest was “What is the most challenging ethical issue, personal or professional, you have encountered in the COVID era?” The winning essay and artwork were selected by the Ethics Committee and will be published in …

Member Spotlight for October – Valerie Grignol, MD

Each month, the AAS Membership Committee presents the “Member Spotlight” – an opportunity to introduce you to a member of your association. Dr. Valerie Grignol is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology at The Ohio State University. She completed her General Surgery Residency at The Medical College of Wisconsin and …

Additional Degrees During Training

Many academic surgeons have earned additional degrees to further their careers. What is sometimes less clear is how these new skillsets change a career trajectory beyond the letters after one’s name. Here we share three perspectives on how additional degrees earned during surgical training are shaping our paths in academic medicine. ———- Filip Bednar, MD, …

One More

Future Transplant Surgeons

Transplantation is not the most popular subspecialty in surgery. Of course, we (the authors) are 100% sold on the magic of giving someone a new lease on life with an organ transplant, but we traditionally have been the mighty few. With the growing use of organ transplantation as a treatment for end-stage liver and kidney …

Crucial Conversations: How to Improve the Quality of Your Discussions at Home and at Work

Introduction Most of us like and naturally seek out encounters and discussions that are easy. But in academic surgery, we frequently encounter difficult conversations. These may be upward negotiations with a chair for salary or research support, delivering negative feedback to a mentee, or conflict with a team member in the OR. In the book, …

An Eternal Memory

Rethinking Residency Interviews

The COVID-19 pandemic has quickly changed how surgical residency and fellowship programs interview applicants. For the 2020-21 interview season, the AAMC recommended a virtual format for all medical school, residency, and faculty interviews. As we look ahead to the 2021-22 residency interview season, the future format of residency interviews remains unclear. There remains little data …