Surgery has been the passion for many people to practice but few surgeons elected to practice academic surgery as a career. One of the unique aspects of academic surgery has been the ability to teach young surgeons to learn how to practice surgery and with increasing seniority, to serve in a leadership role. A career in academic surgery is different from many other areas of academic medical life because a significant amount of time must be spent in clinical activity. Although this fits clearly with being a surgeon it absorbs real amount of time that competing researchers can put into their scholarly activities. The competition for funding, high quality papers, grants, students, etc… is made more difficult by the reality that if we operate on a patient, their problems become ours. They have first call on our time. Nevertheless, the Continue reading →