Surgeons’ Lives - Stuff that Matters

Lord Ara Darzi talks about Innovation, learning politics and being fearless.

This is the first of two episodes during which I have the chance to interview Professor Ara Darzi - or Lord Darzi as he became when he entered the House of Lords in 2007.
Ara Darzi was born in Baghdad to Armenian parents and after high school education entered medical school in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in Dublin. After graduation and surgical training in Ireland, including a research fellowship, he moved to London shortly thereafter where he began his career initially as an NHS consultant once he had completed his training.
In the early 1990s I had the privilege of working with Ara as I was also newly on staff at Imperial College in Saint Marys Hospital medical school in London. There, Ara first demonstrated his extraordinary talents for surgical skill and innovation in many areas of technology.
Within a decade, he had risen through the ranks to become the Chair of Surgery at Imperial College and the future was definitely looking bright. In 2006, he was asked by a health minister to undertake a review of the NHS within LONDON.
Around this time he had received a Knighthood and then unexpectedly was invited by the Prime Minister at the time, Gordon Brown, to join his government of all talents.
Two years as a health minister was an extraordinary experience, but enough for someone who did not wish to spend his life in mainstream politics. Instead, he has sat in the house of Lord's as an independent life peer and become a global figure in the world of health innovation and disruptive technology.
I cannot think of many surgeons whose career has spanned such an extraordinary breath of achievements. As much as anything else, this is why I decided that this interview should be in two parts.
Please don't forget to like and subscribe to the channel so you receive all the notifications. I have no doubt many people will have some comments about Lord Darzi and I would love to hear them.
If you prefer to listen rather than watch, then don't forget that the full audio of this interview is on all your favorite podcast audio platforms.
#innovation #collaboration #surgery #research #robotics #medicalpolitics #houseoflords #laparoscopysurgery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ara_Darzi,_Baron_Darzi_of_Denham
https://www.flagshippioneering.com/people/ara-darzi
https://www.imperial.nhs.uk/consultant-directory/ara-darzi
https://royalsociety.org/people/ara-darzi-11300/
https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/11/prof-lord-ara-darzi-surgeon-nhs-review
 

Dr. Gerry Fried on technology, leadership, travel, innovation - and much, much more

Dr. Gerry Fried is the former Chair of the Department of Surgery at McGill University in Montreal and is now leading the Department's initiatives in the technology and innovation space as well as surgical simulation.
In this very wide ranging interview, he touches on a whole gamut of topics ranging from the benefits of travel in terms of surgical education, having crucial conversations with badly behaved or failing colleagues, the development of innovation under pressure and the inevitable intrusion of technology into the daily life of surgeons and their patients. He recognizes that while technology can be incredibly beneficial, there are also downsides to some recent developments.
This is a man who has been there and done most of it and there's very little he hasn't seen throughout a long and distinguish career. At 75 years of age, he is thoroughly enjoying his work and finds great excitement in new initiatives.
He continues to travel the world widely seeking out extraordinary culinary experiences.
If you prefer to watch rather than listen, then don't forget that this full interview is available on the @Surgeonslives channel on @Youtube.
Please don't forget to like and subscribe to the channel so you will get all the notifications. I also want to hear your comments and thoughts about this and other interviews.
https://www.mcgill.ca/generalsurgery/gerald-m-fried
https://ca.linkedin.com/in/dr-gerald-fried
#surgicalinnovation #retirementplanning #academicsurgery #artificialintelligence #podcast #leadershipskills #badbehevior
 

Mark Talamini discusses overseas experiences, changing careers and disruptive technology

Dr. Mark Talamini leads the physician employment group in the Northwell Health system.
He spent many years in Academic Surgery rising through the ranks in Johns Hopkins before serving as Department Chair in the University of California, San Diego and then Stony Brook University before joining Northwell in 2021.
In his early career, he spent some clinical time overseas in Bangladesh and then Ireland. He was there at the very beginning of minimally invasive surgery performing the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy in Hopkins.
In recent years, he has transitioned into a fundamentally administrative and executive leadership role and has much to say on how to improve the daily well-being of employed surgeons and other physicians. He is optimistic about reducing the drudgery that faces so many physicians on a daily basis.
If you prefer to watch rather than listen, then don't forget that this interview is available on the desiccated YouTube channel.
Please don't forget to like, subscribe and comment on this and any other interviews on the channel.
#academicsurgery #leadership #artificialintelligence #physicianwellness #burnout #surgery #minimallyinvasivesurgery #laparoscopysurgery
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-talamini-17150027/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Talamini
https://talks-with-talamini.podbean.com
https://x.com/talaminidoc?lang=en
 

Steve Schwaitzberg talks being a pilot, academic surgery and SAGES education

Steve Schwaitzberg is a foregut and endocrine surgeon who is also the Chair of Surgery at the University of Buffalo in upstate New York. However, he originally wanted to be a pilot, but his eyesight wasn't good enough so somebody said you should go to medical school.
He only became interested in surgery when his original choice of internal medicine was derailed by falling out with one of his supervisors. Sometimes it is a game of chance!
Medical school and residency in Baylor in Texas exposed him to arrange of iconic figures and mentors in Surgery which set him on the path towards a research fellowship studying hypothermia.
Back in his hometown of Boston he then decided to join the army reserves and found himself involved in Desert Storm where he realized that minimally invasive techniques such as laparoscopy could make a real difference for wounded soldiers.
Fast forward a decade or more and in 2015 he moved to Buffalo while moving upwards through the ranks of SAGES, where he ultimately became President.
In this interview, we learn a lot about how mentors affect a career path and how so much of it was not planned. This is a man who believes passionately in giving back through education and assisting those who need help developing their career.
If you prefer watching rather than listening, don't forget that the full episode is available on the @Surgeonslives YouTube channel.
Don't forget to like and subscribe and please send comments and suggestions.
https://medicine.buffalo.edu/faculty/profile.html?ubit=schwaitz
https://x.com/schwaitzberg
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveschwaitzberg/
#sages #surgeryeducation #endocrinesurgery #laparoscopysurgery #academicsurgery #givingback
 

Mark Orloff talks transplanted surgery and famous family

Dr. Mark Orloff is a professor of surgery at the University of Rochester Medical Center in upstate New York. He's been there for 34 years on Faculty and is coming up to retirement.
He was born in Germany, where his father was in the military and moved around a bit before landing in San Diego, where he spent most of his early life in a beach style community living the southern California dream. He grew up in a family of six siblings that produced several surgeons, including his sister Susan, who is also a liver transplanter.
His father was Chair of Surgery in San Diego and was something of a legend in the world of HPB surgery. So, as you can imagine, he understands the challenges, both good and bad, growing up in the shadow of a famous father. His remarkable mother essentially brought up the kids in many respects before returning to a new career as a diagnostic radiologist in her 50s.
Mark has much to say about almost all of these aspects of his life and upbringing, as well as commenting on where he sees the future of organ transplantation. This is an interview that you will not want to miss as he brings much wisdom to the discussion.
Don't forget to like and subscribe to the channel, and if you prefer to watch rather than listen, don't forget you can find the full interview on the #surgeonslives YouTube Channel.
#orloff #livertransplant #URMC #surgery #lifestyle #livingwithalegend #siblingrivalry

John Alverdy - from Jazz music to the microbiome

Dr. John Alverdy is a professor of Surgery at the University Of Chicago who is probably best known in recent years for his extraordinary work on the microbiome and how it may relate to anastomotic leaks. He is a true surgeon scientist, following a path of scientific rigor that most of us could only imagine. He has been NIH funded for a quarter of a century and despite recently retiring from operating, he continues to run his lab three days a week - and more as he sees fit.
His early career was anything but conventional having started in medical school in Guadalajara in Mexico before returning for his residency training in his hometown of Chicago. He spent a research fellowship with Dr. George Sheldon in San Francisco before going on Faculty back at the University of Chicago where he has been ever since. Although he perhaps didn't recognize it in himself, his early mentors spotted his intelligence and determination to pursue a scientific career.
Throughout the years, there has been so much more to this man than laboratory experiments and clinical surgery. He is something of a musician and is equally fascinated with the mathematical complexities of a solo by John Coltrane as he is by mapping the interactions of the gut microbiome.
During this interview, he has quite a lot to say about the challenges facing any surgeon wishing to pursue a research career and how it is perhaps becoming more and more difficult every year.
If you prefer to watch rather than listen, then don't forget that this interview is available on all the #SurgeonsLives YouTube channel.
Don't forget to like, subscribe and comment on the interviews as much as you like.
#microbiome #anastomoticleak #surgicalresearch #NIHfunding #herbiehancock #johncoltrane #chicago #universityofchicago
https://mmp.bsd.uchicago.edu/steering-committee/john-alverdy/
https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/John-C-Alverdy-39796247
https://www.castleconnolly.com/top-doctors/john-c-alverdy-surgery-82cc015288
https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/surgery-articles/surgeon-receives-prestigious-award-for-groundbreaking-clinical-research
 

Patrick Borgen MD talks Breast Cancer, Royalty, Brooklyn and Dirtbikes

Patrick Borgen is the Chair of the Dept of Surgery at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn New York.
He also heads-up the breast program which he has developed into the only accredited breast center in Brooklyn serving over 3 million people.
Although he was born in South Dakota on a military base, he grew up in Louisiana, where he went to medical school and did his residency before moving for a Research Fellowship to Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York.
He spent almost 20 years at Memorial rising to the position of Chief of the breast service.
About 10 years ago, he moved to Brooklyn, and in this conversation, he describes the culture shock of moving from an ivory tower facility full of the rich and famous to a borough where more than 50% of the patients are either under insured or have no insurance at all.
Despite that, he hasn't regretted his move for a moment and tells us about the challenges and fulfillment of working in such a setting.
When he goes home at night to his farm in New Jersey he can have fun with his dirt bikes or go out fishing in his boat. He also has a 1970s triumph sports car to take him on country drives.
In a thoroughly illuminating talk with a man who almost certainly qualifies as a polymath, he talks about the changes he has seen in breast cancer management, his brushes with royalty and celebrity as well as where he sees the future of cancer medicine is going.
Please don't forget to like and subscribe to the channel and send any comments you may have.
Also, if you prefer watching rather than listening, this interview is available on the usual YouTube channel.
#maimonides #breastcancer #academicsurgery #memorialsloanketting #Brooklyn #dirtbikes #louisiana
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/provider/dr-patrick-borgen-1700860301
https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-borgen-5080831b9/
https://youtu.be/cg6WGYzUP7A?si=pQJDFtTeUpeMS8Yv
 

Neil Smart - Surgeon and Unexpected Patient

Professor Neil Smart is a consultant colorectal surgeon at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in the UK.
He's best known for his clinical interests in rectal cancer, hernia prevention and treatment as well as abdominal wall reconstruction. He is one of a modern generation of clinical academics despite not working in what was traditionally considered to be the main academic centers in the big cities of the UK.
Since 2019, he has been the editor-in-chief of Colorectal Disease and along with his research portfolio and editorial work. It seemed that life couldn't be better. At that point, however is life was turned upside down with the sudden appearance of dysphagia while attending a surgical conference in Turkey. The diagnosis of a locally advanced esophageal cancer soon followed and before long he was in the midst of intensive neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, and finally a radical esophagectomy.
In this truly, fascinating and inspirational conversation Neil discusses many aspects of his career pathway before focusing on the unexpected events of 2024 and how he has managed to deal with the transition from being surgeon to a patient with a life-threatening disease.
Please don't forget, if you prefer watching rather than listening, this and all the other episodes of Surgeons' Lives can be found on YouTube
#surgeonslives #stuffthatmatters #esophagealcancer #colorectaldisease #mortality #lifechangingevents #cancer #whyme
@neil_j_smart on X
https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=VGI6Q0MAAAAJ&hl=en
 

Oscar Traynor Talks Transplant

Professor Oscar Traynor is currently the Director of International Surgical Training Programs at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
He was born and grew up in Dublin and having originally wanted to be an airline pilot, he found that he was unexpectedly unable to pursue this career and so entered medical school to "see what I was like". He was soon sufficiently mesmerized by Medicine to pursue a career in Surgery.
As part of his training, he spent a year in London, where he encountered the late Professor Leslie Blumgart, who became a fiercely, loyal mentor and ultimately good friend throughout his entire career.
So it was that Oscar decided to pursue the relatively new specialty of liver surgery and he spent another year in fellowship with Professor Henri Bismuth in Paris.
Returning to Dublin in 1987 he started not only his consultant career but also a long journey to create a liver transplant program for the country of Ireland. Naturally this was not without some bumps in the road but over the next quarter century it turned into the success story it is today.
During the same timeframe, he developed an interest in surgical training and became Dean of Postgraduate Surgical Training at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He held this post for 23 years during which, he was responsible for the introduction of formal skills lab training through simulation and the development of human factors training.
In a fascinating interview, he has much to say about the challenges of creating a new program and the need for partnership and collaboration to achieve success.
His grandfather, after whom he was named, was a famous and prominent politician in the early 20th century in Ireland and would certainly look on the achievements of the 21st-century Oscar with both fascination and pride.
Don't forget, if you prefer to watch these interviews, the entire series is available on YouTube.
https://www.rcsi.com/dublin/news-and-events/news/news-article/2021/10/professor-oscar-traynor-awarded-honorary-fellowship-of-american-college-of-surgeons
https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscar-traynor-82a34225/?originalSubdomain=ie
https://www.rcsi.com/people/profile/otraynor
 

Pat Sylla on being better

Dr. Pat Sylla is the current Division Chief of Colon and rental Surgery in Mount Sinai in New York.
She was born in Paris, grew up in the Ivory Coast in West Africa, and went to college and medical school in the US. She also completed her residency and fellowships in colorectal surgery and minimally invasive surgery.
She's probably best known as one of the great innovators in surgical technique, including TaTME which she developed while in Boston at MGH.
Because of her cosmopolitan background, she has a world view on some of the issues facing surgeons, women, and indeed herself as she reflects on how she can give back to the world that formed her as a young child.
During this fascinating interview, she describes how her first experience of finding a mentor was a complete failure, and how she has managed the challenges of being a black surgeon, female, and with a funny accent as well.
She's been hugely successful in the world of surgical academia and subspecialties societies having recently completed a highly successful year as president of SAGES while spending as much time as possible with her two growing boys - is there nothing she cannot do we ask ourselves.
This interview is appearing on her 50th birthday, which should give you some idea of how extraordinarily successful she has been in a relatively short period of time.
Of course, if you prefer to watch rather than listen, the entire interview is available on Youtube as usual.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-sylla-md-facs-fascrs-540487240/
https://health.usnews.com/doctors/patricia-sylla-588117
https://x.com/patsyllamd