SURGERY UNC

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR BY THE NUMBERS

PEOPLE: 2023 GRADUATES

PEOPLE: NEW RESIDENTS

PEOPLE: TEAM UPDATES

Mission

The Department of Surgery’s mission is to provide the highest quality patient care to all people through innovation, world-class research, and training the next generation of surgical health care professionals and scientists.

To be the nation’s leading public academic Department of Surgery.

It is hard to believe that this month marks my one-year anniversary with the Department.

Reflecting on the past year, I feel so fortunate to have found my way to UNC and most importantly, to have the opportunity to work with the remarkable individuals that make up UNC Surgery. The kindness, generosity, and energy with which I have been welcomed into the department have been amazing.

This department has an incredible legacy and history. Just looking outside the window of Burnett-Womack to the new Surgical Hospital taking shape shows how exciting our future is. We have made tremendous progress and our shared vision for the department’s next era is taking shape. This has been an important year of transitions, and there is still much to do. Yet while change can be challenging, there is nowhere that I would rather be and no one that I would rather be doing it with than the UNC Department of Surgery.

Some notable successes from this past year include:

• Engagement throughout the department in our strategic planning process. We have held 16 brainstorming sessions with people throughout the department. All of these ideas will culminate in a faculty retreat and departmental town hall this fall where we will launch our 5-year strategic plan.

The key pillars of our strategic plan are:

1. Clinical Programs of Distinction that are Highly Coordinated and Efficient

2. National Leaders in Surgeon Performance and Educational Innovation

3. State Leader in Surgical Quality Measurement and Improvement

4. Our People Know Where They Fit and Feel Valued

• Increased effort on faculty development and promotion and tenure. Dr. David Ollila and Samantha Cooperstein have made tremendous progress in meeting with our faculty to ensure that we have advisory committees and clear paths to promotion in place. We plan a similar focus on development and advancement for staff and advanced practice providers.

• Development of a Research Task Force. Led by Dr. Jen Jen Yeh, this group is looking at opportunities to coordinate and consolidate our research infrastructure at the departmental level.

• Revision of departmental conferences. Dr. Muneera Kapadia has helped streamline conferences to be more efficient while building our strong sense of community and commitment to our tripartite mission.

• Bringing our team together to increase cohesion. We celebrated at the Holiday Party at the Chapel Hill Country Club last December, had a strong team presence at the Tar Heel 10 in April, and enjoyed banquet, baseball, and fireworks at the Durham Bulls in June.

• A concerted focus on increasing collaboration and communication with our partners in the hospital and other departments to optimize the coordination and quality of care that we provide.

As we head into this next year, I invite each member of our community to think about how we can continue to increase the joy and satisfaction that we get from our professions and impact we have on our patients, learners, and the world around us. I am committed to creating a culture and an infrastructure that supports each member of the department in advancing their individual goals and priorities.

Thank you for all you do for our patients, our students, our department, and our institution.

DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY

Department of Surgery by the numbers

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 87

*Data as of December 31, 2022

$6,444,262 70

79

$614,640

55

RESEARCHERS

$7,378,119