Illinois Medicine

E NRI C O B ENE D E T T I , M D, F A C S I L L I N O I S M E D I C I N E | 25 S U R G E R Y A NT O N I O G A N G E M I , M D , F A C S A ME L I A B A R T H O L O ME W , M D , M P H , F A C S Led by Antonio Gangemi, MD, FACS, and Amelia Bartholomew, MD, MPH, FACS, the SEAD program exposes students to robotic surgeries, as well as other specialties, in the summer after their first year of medical school. "SEAD allows students to truly explore surgical careers through dai- ly exposure to different specialties in the operating room, frank lunchtime talks with faculty, and labs in which students are instructed in entry level, and later, more advanced skill-sets in preparation for a surgical career," says Bartholomew, who was instrumental in transforming the surgical clerkship. Students continue to receive mentorship and surgical opportunities in their M2 year and are exposed to core and vascular surgery during the M3 Core Clerkship. In addition to team-based learning, case presentations and simulations, students also use a phone app called Surgical Bytes to rapidly read and test their knowledge about key concepts. For those fourth-year medical students confirming their career in surgery, a new program, RSA (Radiology, Surgery, Anatomy), combines anatomic dissection with case studies and radiologic imaging. The College of Medicine's reputation for excellence in training the next generation of surgeons extends beyond medical school. Under the leadership of Pier Giulianotti, MD, FACS, the Lloyd M. Nyhus, MD Chair in General Surgery and robotic surgery section chief, it became the first center in the world to conduct robotic training for surgical residents and the first robotic training center in the Midwest to provide training for surgeons worldwide. During the last 15 years, Giulianotti, a pioneer and world renowned surgeon in the field of robotic-assisted surgery, has trained more than 800 surgeons from around the world in advanced robotic surgical techniques. He also leads the Advanced Gastrointestinal (GI) Surgery Fellowship Pro- gram, the only existing fellowship program with a focus on GI surgery. This two-year program is unique in that it includes both upper and lower GI sur- gery, while other programs focus on just one area, and it's the only two-year program of its kind in the nation. To take simulated surgical training to the next level, the departments of surgery and neurosurgery have partnered to break ground on what will be home to the largest robotic surgery training center in the country. Scheduled to open in two years, the new 15,000-square-foot, state-of-the- art Surgical and Interventional Training Center will feature an "OR of the future" and a surgical simulation room that will be able to accommodate 12 trainees at one time, up from two in the existing Surgical Training Lab. The new center will catapult Illinois Medicine to the forefront of surgical training. In fact, the department of surgery was recently awarded status as the First Robotic Center of Excellence in the U.S. by the Surgical Review Corporation. During the last 17 years, COM surgeons have been the first to perform 33 different robotic procedures, the majority of them the first in the world. The department recently passed the 8,000 mark for robotic surgeries and has proctored cases in Europe, China and Japan. Illinois' general surgery program spans from hepato-pancreato-biliary and upper GI, to solid or- gans, endocrine, thoracic, colorectal and vascular surgery. Its Bariatric Sur- gery Program is the largest in Chicago, with six certified robotic surgeons. After pioneering robotic transplant procedures in 2000, the department now has the single most active living donor, liver-bowel transplant program in the world. The department is also on the forefront in transplantation for obese patients, focusing on the most complex cases that are often turned away by other institutions across the country. It performs 53 percent of the national volume of transplants in patients who have a BMI of 40 or more. Benedetti summed up Illinois Medicine's innovative spirit that stretch- es across departments and disciplines. "We started in robotics when no one believed in it," he says. "Now we are a worldwide leader in the clinical practice of robotics and education." PIER GIULIA NOT TI, MD, FACS

• Cover