The Making of a Surgeon (Harvard Medical School Guides)

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Ever wonder what it takes to be a surgeon? Step inside The Brigham and find out. Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital is not only one of the oldest and most prestigious medical centers in America; it’s also Harvard Medical School’s main teaching hospital. Here, many of the country’s best surgeons learn their live-saving skills. In this gripping narrative, you’ll meet the young men and women in their surgical training; and follow in their footsteps through the hospital wards, the classroom and right into the operating rooms of The Brigham. You’ll learn how these residents are educated—and how that training has changed. Co-authored by Dr. Stan Ashley, long-time director of surgical education at The Brigham, and Newsday writer John Hanc—author of two award-winning memoirs—this is a rare glimpse into a Harvard Medical School facility; and an inspiring and fascinating story about the young people who make the grade in one of the world’s toughest and most important professions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stanley Ashley, MD is Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as well as the Frank Sawyer Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.

A graduate of Oberlin College and Cornell University Medical College, he completed a residency in General Surgery and joined the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis. He subsequently spent 7 years at the University of California at Los Angeles until 1997 where he assumed the position of Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Program Director of the General Surgery Residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as well as his current position at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Ashley is a gastrointestinal surgeon whose primary interests are diseases of the pancreas and inflammatory bowel disease. His research, which has been funded by both the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institute of Health, has examined the pathophysiology of the small bowel and pancreas. His focus recently is on practical aspects of measurement of surgical quality and how these can be applied to improve outcomes, particularly for the individual caregivers. Closely related to this, he has an interest in physician education, both at the graduate and postgraduate levels, and its integration into a certification/recertification process that ensures quality of care.

He is the author of more than 300 publications. He serves on numerous editorial boards, including the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Current Problems in Surgery, and ACS Surgery. He is a former Chair of the American Board of Surgery and currently Secretary of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract and serves on the Board of Directors of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education .

John Hanc is the author of ten books, including two award-winning memoirs, The Coolest Race on Earth about his experience running the Antarctica Marathon and Not Dead Yet written with bike racer Phil Southerland, founder of Team Type 1.

A long-time contributor to Newsday in New York, and a contributing editor to Runner’s World magazine, John Hanc’s work also appears in The New York Times, Family Circle, Smithsonian and Yoga Journal.

Previous books include Jones Beach: An Illustrated History with a cover blurb from Donald Trump, who called it a book that “any New Yorker would be proud to have in their collection”; Racing For Recovery: From Addict to Ironman co-authored with Todd Crandell , Running for Dummies (co-authored with the late Florence Griffith Joyner, IDG