Welcome From The Chair

Portrait photo of Dr. Douglas Wood

Douglas E. Wood, MD, FACS, FRCSEd
The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair

THE DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY WILL PROVIDE COMPASSIONATE AND HIGH-QUALITY PATIENT CARE, TRAIN FUTURE GENERATIONS OF SURGICAL LEADERS AND CONDUCT RESEARCH IN A COLLEGIAL ENVIRONMENT WHICH EMBRACES DIVERSITY AND PROMOTES INCLUSIVENESS

I am delighted to welcome you to the Department of Surgery website. I invite you to peruse the many facets of our Department described in this site - including our nationally and internationally respected faculty, the nature and scope of our surgical programs, our highly regarded residency programs and our exciting research endeavors that include basic, translational, outcomes and clinical research.

Department Statistics

Presently, the Department of Surgery has 132 clinical and research faculty, covering eight specialties and numerous sub-specialties. Many of them hold joint appointments in other Departments such as Bio-engineering, Orthopedic Surgery and others. The Department currently has 103 residents and 25 ACGME accredited, research and non-accredited fellowship positions and numerous visiting scientists throughout the year. We are fortunate to also have 156 clinical faculty from throughout the community who, among other things, help us fulfill our education mission, training UW School of Medicine students around the WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho). In 2021, our surgical procedures and clinical visits were approximately 86,400 and clinical revenues were approximately $34.7 million.

Patient Care

Patient care is carried out on nine (9) locations:

Within the Department of Surgery, our specialties cover:

The Trauma Burn and Critical Care programs are located at Harborview Medical Center, the premiere (and only) Level 1 Trauma Center in the region and a leading Trauma Center in the USA and internationally. Each of our specialty areas is on the leading edge.

With premier faculty, expanding facilities and technology and superb teamwork, we are able address every part of our Mission: to deliver excellent care to our patients, the finest education to our residents and fellows, and using research to advance medical care.

Our statistics tell one story, but perhaps the heart of our department is found in the dynamics of change, balanced by the ongoing commitment to provide quality healthcare. This is truly a balancing act; "new" is constantly in the air, and anything new both titillates and challenges. As surgeons, we proceed to find new - that is, better - ways to provide superior and cost-effective outcomes for our patients. It is exciting to hear and read about the "new" work that is being done in our field; at the same time, we are responsible for evaluating and assuring the efficacy of these new advances.

Research

We strive to do innovative and high-impact research, and our numbers speak to our success. In Fiscal Year 2021, Department of Surgery received 40 awards from 34 different sponsors totaling $10.4 million. Basic science research in DOS is well-funded and nationally recognized, and continues to be a major area of focus of the research enterprise in the Department. Bench research has led to the better understanding of vascular biology, wound healing and ischemia reperfusion, and cancer to name just a few. The Department has also developed an outstanding program in health services research. Health services and outcomes researchers help identify the best evidence to guide patient care, and "translate" this research into practice and policy by working with surgeons, payers and policy-makers. This area of research has become a transformative agent in surgical care and within the surgical community over the last several years; the Department of Surgery has been at the forefront of this work and has a nationally recognized and growing center devoted to this work, the Surgical Outcome Research Center (SORCE).

At all times, we work to carry out the clinical applications of our research in a responsible manner and to provide the kind of research training that will both inspire and prepare the next generation of surgeons to continue this important work.

Medical Education

Teaching future surgeons is at the heart of our academic mission. Our residency and fellowship programs are vigorous and we continue to fill our program with the best and brightest surgeons. Our programs have engaged in innovative restructuring opportunities to better meet the needs of graduate medical education. As in the other parts of our mission, we are devoted to innovation in teaching that meets the demands of society, the needs of our students, and takes advantage of new technologies that assist teaching and learning. To that end the WWAMI Institute for Simulation in Healthcare (WISH) was established and has just completed its 13th year. WISH is a multi-disciplinary Center, located on multiple campuses, that has, as its primary goal, to provide leadership in the use of simulation technologies to improve the quality of health care education and improve patient safety and outcomes. The Department of Surgery is proud to be the Administrative home of WISH and to provide it with substantial faculty involvement in addition to administrative support.

As you peruse our website, we trust you understand the story of the Department of Surgery and will find information you might need concerning our Department.

Thank you for visiting our website.

 

Douglas E. Wood, MD, FACS, FRCSEd
The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair
Department of Surgery
University of Washington

DEPARTMENT LEADERSHIP

Douglas E. Wood, MD, FACS, FRCSEd
The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair


VICE CHAIRS

Jeffrey B. Friedrich, MD, MC
Vice Chair for Education

Estell J. Williams, MD
Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Kristine E. Calhoun, MD
Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs and Development

David R. Flum, MD, MPH
Vice Chair for Research

Jay Pal, MD, PhD
Vice Chair for Quality and Safety


DIVISION CHIEFS

Michael S. Mulligan, MD
Cardiothoracic Surgery

Brant K. Oelschlager, MD
General Surgery

Robert M. Sweet, MD
Healthcare Simulation Science

Steven Lee, MD
Pediatric Surgery; Seattle Children's Hospital, Surgeon-in-Chief

Nicholas B. Vedder, MD
Plastic Surgery

Ryutaro Hirose, MD
Transplant Surgery

Eileen M. Bulger MD
Trauma, Burn & Critical Care

Niten Singh, MD
Vascular Surgery

Roger P. Tatum, MD
VA Healthcare (VAPHS), Surgeon-in-Chief


ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP

Susan Marx, MBA, PMP, CPC
Vice Chair, Administration & Finance

Michael Aly, MBA
Associate Director, Research and Finance

John Christopher, MHA
Administrator of Operations: Cardiothoracic Surgery, Transplant Surgery & Vascular Surgery

Erin Carney Fannon
Director of Program Operations, Surgical Outcomes Research Center (SORCE)

Farrah Leland, JD
Associate Director of Finance and Research, Division of Healthcare Simulation Science, WISH, CREST

Roland Lai
Director of IT Services, Department of Surgery and Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine

Kira Baker, MHA, MBA
Senior Administrator of Operations: Plastic Surgery and Trauma, Burn & Critical Care Surgery, Harborview Medical Center; General Surgery, Veterans Administration Healthcare (VAPHS); Surgical Education Programs/Education Division

Stacy Nagy
Administrator of Program Operations for Marketing and Communications

Judith Rapp
Assistant Director, Academic and Staff Human Resources and Communications

Kate Rimmer, MBA
Associate Director, Clinical Finance and Programs; Interim Administrator of Operations: General Surgery and Plastic Surgery UW Medical Center

Megan Sherman, MAEdHD
Associate Director of Operations, Division of Healthcare Simulation Science, WISH

Catherine Wicks
Assistant Director, Finance Operations and Pre-/Post-Award Administration