Department of Surgery Awarded Prestigious NIH T-32 Training Grant for Surgical Oncology

The UCSF Department of Surgery has just been awarded a paradigm-shifting NIH T-32 training grant for Surgical Oncology. The goal of this new innovative program is to train future leaders in surgery and oncology to be change agents in driving science and value-based medicine by giving them a foundation in translational science, regulatory science and implementation science. Training in these areas will further help move great ideas from bench to bedside.

Improving care in the next decade requires scientific creativity, as well as knowledge of the factors that enable and impede change, and the skillset to overcome barriers to change. This program will provide Surgical Residents the tools required for leadership in general, and Oncology in particular. The grant provides annual funding for in-depth training of two general surgery residents during their two research years.

The program, led by Laura Esserman M.D., M.B.A., the principal investigator on the grant, will be managed by Gillian Hirst, Ph.D. as Administrative Director. Core to the training program are mentored research projects, with at least some component in each of the three main areas. This work is supported by several faculty leaders including Education Director Patricia O’Sullivan, Ed.D., who will co-lead the leadership workshop with Dr. Esserman, and theme leaders Elizabeth Wick, MD and Emily Finlayson, M.D. (Health Services Research); Laura van ‘t Veer, Ph.D. and Kathy Giacomini, Ph.D. (Regulatory;) and David Jablons, M.D. and Laura Esserman M.D., M.B.A. (Translational).

This is an important milestone for the Department, the new Division of Surgical Oncology, and for the Department's resident learners. Congratulations to Dr. Esserman and her leadership team!