Chair's Welcome
Welcome to the Department of Surgery, University of Missouri - Kansas City
As the Chair for the Department of Surgery, I am excited to share our present achievements and I am grateful to our faculty and staff for their hard work. Our focus on academic excellence, comprehensive clinical training, and dynamic research efforts have been the foundation of this department since its inception. I am now looking forward to advancing opportunities for providing new surgical therapies, offering outstanding medical education and skills training, and supporting cutting-edge research opportunities.
University Health Truman Medical Center is a Level 1 Trauma Center, verified by the American College of Surgeons and located in the heart of Kansas City. This academic medical center is known as the “Kansas City Essential Hospital” and it provides exceptional healthcare to diverse residents within a safety-net capacity. Patients are evaluated in clinic and offered surgeries at both the Hospital Hill and Lakewood Campuses with a total of 450 combined hospital staffed beds. In addition, affiliated hospitals provide our residents and students with a wide spectrum of practice types and patient populations. The teaching faculty consists of highly-qualified surgeons from University Health Physicians, St. Luke’s Health System, Children’s Mercy Kansas City Hospital, and the Veterans Administration Kansas City Medical Center.
Our mission is to provide superior patient care, train the next generation of surgeons, and advance surgical practices through innovative scientific research. There are various endeavors that support our mission including:
- Education: Training future surgeons through a rigorous curriculum, simulation-based training, professional mentorship, and a collaborative learning environment while focusing on the refinement of technical skills.
- Clinical Care: Providing state-of-the-art and cost-effective management of surgical care for both urban and rural patients residing in Kansas City, Jackson County, and the State of Missouri.
- Research: Advancing the practice of surgical care through innovative scientific translational research by supporting clinical trials to address traumatic injuries with life-saving outcomes.
- Community Service: Offering service opportunities that address health disparities for underserved populations with the aim of promoting social responsibility in healthcare.
The residency training program emphasizes collaborative inter-professional and multidisciplinary care for patients. We will be evolving our simulation curriculum in order to expand the mentored practice paradigm to include non-technical skills necessary for surgeons and physicians to engage patients in a kind and compassionate manner within a team environment.
In terms of elective surgeries, these options are available at both Truman Medical Center and the Lakewood Hospital, and we will increase our scope to include the Ambulatory Surgery Center, University Health 1. This expansion initiative will ensure that high quality surgical services will be available for all those in need.
Research in all of its forms addresses questions in medicine and surgery that imparts new knowledge and improves the care of patients on a more exponential level. We intend to broaden our areas of inquiry to include health services, surgical education, and patient safety in the operating room.
I would like to personally invite you to further explore the Department of Surgery, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and learn more about what we offer regarding surgical education, training, and research initiatives for medical students, residents, and fellows. We hope to be part of your journey.
Best regards,
James N. Lau, MD, MHPE, FACS
Professor and Chair
Department of Surgery
University Health
University of Missouri, Kansas City, School of Medicine