Our research education program trains future leaders in academic surgery. We are committed to teaching our residents how to conduct research in surgical disease by providing them with the skills they will need to advance the field and ultimately improve treatment and quality of life for affected patients.
The program provides opportunities for residents to conduct research under the mentorship of accomplished surgeon-scientists, including our NIH-funded T32 Research Training Program in Cardiovascular Surgery. Our research curriculum is structured to teach residents the fundamentals of surgical investigation and scientific communication. Residents are provided with opportunities to present their work locally, including at our annual Research Day Symposium, and at regional and national scientific conferences.
Our faculty members and residents conduct state-of-the-art research in each of the major scientific disciplines. Efforts in basic science and translational research focus on understanding the underlying mechanisms of surgical disease, identifying novel approaches to treatment, and ultimately directly linking laboratory discoveries with clinical care.
Our clinical research programs include several ongoing clinical trials as well as a robust outcomes and health services research program that focuses on understanding the end results of surgical treatments. Laboratory-based basic science research opportunities led by several NIH-funded faculty members are also available to research residents, especially those committing at least a year of dedicated time to these efforts through our research track options. Further, our department is engaged in research in surgical education with the goal of better understanding the factors that affect surgical training so that we can improve educational programs.
While all general surgery residents participate in research projects during their training, the residents who have matched to our dedicated Research Track spend two years conducting research full time under the mentorship of a faculty member with an established research program.
The Research Track provides residents with an intensive experience in clinical or basic science research that will serve as the foundation for their development into successful surgeon-scientists. One-year research training opportunities are also available to our residents in selected cases outside of this formal two-year track. We are particularly excited about our program that enables Research Track residents to qualify for guaranteed faculty positions.
Additional details about the research training programs in the department are provided on our web site. If you have any questions about our research programs or any of the related opportunities we provide to our residents, contact me directly at slemaire@bcm.edu.
Scott A. LeMaire, M.D., FACS, FAHA, FCCP
Vice-Chair for Surgery Research
