By Sharon S. Lum, MD, MBA, FACS, chair, department of surgery, Clifton & Sandra Reeves chair in general surgery

The charge of the Loma Linda University department of surgery is to enable surgical faculty and trainees to reach their highest professional and academic potential while serving the Loma Linda University mission to

make people whole.

Our vision is to create global surgical leaders in whole person care, education, and research. By 2030, we aim to be recognized as a leader in high value, technologically advanced, whole person surgical care in the Inland Empire and globally.

Growth in the department of surgery has been made possible by the foundation laid by the leadership of its former chairs:DAVID B. HINSHAW SR. ’47 (1961-1975), BRUCE W. BRANSON ’50 (1975-1992), LEONARD L. BAILEY ’69 (1992-2007), ANTONIO E. ROBLES ’72 (2007-2009), and Carlos A. Garberoglio (2009-2021). Each of these chairs added to the reputation of the department of surgery in cutting-edge surgical care, education, research, and outreach. When Dean TAMARA L. THOMAS ’87 appointed me chair of the department of surgery in March 2021, it was with deep gratitude that I accepted the position to further this remarkable surgical legacy.

While the COVID-19 pandemic changed healthcare forever, one of the most transformative events we experienced was our move into the Dennis and Carol Troesh Medical Campus in August 2021. With 20 new operating rooms, including two state- of-the-art hybrid rooms, our new hospital has served as a metaphor for hope and change in our department in this post-pandemic world. The department of surgery is the largest and most diverse of the surgical departments and includes the divisions of acute care surgery (chief, Kaushik Mukherjee, MD), colon and rectal surgery (interim chief, ALLISON A. AKA ’13), gastrointestinal/mini- mally invasive surgery (chief, Keith Scharf, DO), pediatric surgery (chief, DONALD C. MOORES ’87), surgical oncology (interim chief, NEPHTALI R. GOMEZ ’04), transplant surgery (chief, Michael de Vera, MD), and vascular surgery (chief, Ahmed Abou- Zamzam, MD). The emphasis on surgical education is evident as our department is home to a general surgery residency program

(program director, JUKES P. NAMM ’05) and a vascular surgery residency program (program director, ALLEN G. MURGA ’12). The general surgery residency program recently added its seventh categorical position and the new integrated 0-5 vascular surgery residency program will allow early specialization in this field. The department’s post-graduate fellowship training programs include complex general surgical oncology, minimally invasive/bariatric surgery, pediatric surgery, surgical critical care, transplant surgery, and vascular surgery. Our unique Global Surgery Fellowship offering is a component of the Center for Global Surgery, under the director RYAN A. HAYTON ’05 (see page 18). Faculty members provide outreach with clinical services and/or education at external sites including the Loma Linda VA, Riverside University Health System, LLUMC-Murrieta, San Gorgonio Hospital, and SAC Health System.

In July 2020, in the face of an unprecedented period of uncertainty, a grassroots effort of department of surgery faculty members created the Surgery Commitment. The Commitment was a promise to members of the Loma Linda surgical community to develop surgical leaders by recruiting, developing, and retaining faculty and trainees using the framework of LLU values of compassion, integrity, excellence, teamwork, wholeness, justice, and humility. Pillar Teams representing each value interpreted how the LLU value statement specifically applied to the department of surgery: Excellence espouses research and education; integrity, quality programs; compassion, outreach and global surgery; whole- ness, wellness; teamwork, mentoring; humility, professional development; and justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Each Pillar Team created strategic initiatives to fulfill the surgery department value statements. The Surgery Commitment, now in its third year, provides a framework for goal setting across all divisions in the department and reminds us that what we do every day aligns with the values of Loma Linda University.