Surgery

The Department of Surgery at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a community of 300 faculty and staff and nearly 100 surgical residents and clinical fellows in eight training programs. Through our 14 divisions, we strive to provide high-quality, multidisciplinary patient care in the most efficient manner possible, while fostering high satisfaction among our patients, referring physicians, faculty, and staff. Ultimately, our goal is to deliver outstanding clinical outcomes for our patients in their local community, whenever possible, with a focus on the growth of tertiary-care programs in Boston. In addition to our Brookline campus, where we occupy more than two million square feet of space for administrative and outpatient clinical activities, the Department of Surgery now offers clinical services at 18 external sites throughout the greater Boston metropolitan area. During the past five-year period, the department’s total operative volume has increased by 16%, with an increase in case mix index (CMI) from 2.1 to 2.4. Ambulatory surgical volume has increased by 33% with an increase in clinic volume of 8%. New patient visits have increased by 15% since 2012. In 2014, our surgeons performed nearly 20,000 operative procedures and cared for close to 120,000 patients in our outpatient clinics.

The role of our faculty in influencing surgical care on the national level is reflected in multiple ways. For example, members of our faculty serve as Editors-in-Chief or Associate Editors of 10 major peer-reviewed journals. Many of our faculty serve as senior leaders or members of the Executive Councils of the American Board of Surgery, Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), Society for Vascular Surgery, Western Trauma Association, and the Association for Surgical Education, among other organizations, as well as on advisory panels for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health

Our training programs produce the country's future surgical leaders. Clinical excellence is the foundation upon which that leadership is built, and our residency and fellowship programs endeavor to provide both extensive technical and cognitive expertise in a variety of settings of graded supervision. All members of the housestaff hold academic appointments as Clinical Fellows in Surgery at Harvard Medical School. The excellence of our training programs and our surgical trainees is exemplified, in part, by the selection each year of our nine general surgery residents from among 1,700 applicants.

In addition to serving our community and preparing future leaders in American medicine, our core mission is to improve health through innovation and discovery. Total annual research funding has ranged between $11 million and $19 million over the last five years, which represents approximately 170 active research grants. All divisions in the Department of Surgery have at least one active research program. In a typical year, our faculty and students contribute to the arena of ideas and change the practice of surgery through nearly 500 publications in leading scientific and clinical journals.

Inside Surgery

For an inside look at the Department of Surgery, read the latest issue of Inside Surgery, our informative newsletter. This issue features our global surgery initiatives worldwide and celebrates our 150-year history.

Surgery Research Report

The Department of Surgery conducts an active, diverse program of basic, clinical, and translational research supported, in part, by more than $16.4 million in federal grants. To learn more, read our latest Surgery Research Report.