Barbara Lee Bass, MD, has been selected as the Visiting Professor of Surgery for 2017. She is the John F. and Carolyn Bookout Presidential Endowed Chair of the Department of Surgery, Professor of Surgery, Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas.
The Visiting Professor of Surgery program provides expert educational seminars for practicing Santa Barbara surgeons and physicians. More importantly, it allows surgical residents in training at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital the chance to interact daily for one week with the icons, leaders and outstanding teachers of the art of surgery. Surgical Academic Week with Dr. Bass is scheduled for March 13-17. This unique educational program advances the level of surgical care available in our community, and is made possible by generous support from our title sponsor, Cottage Health, and grateful patients, medical groups, individual community surgeons and physicians, and corporate donors.
Dr. Bass is an international thought leader in surgical education. Over the last 10 years at Houston Methodist Dr. Bass has created innovative surgical training pathways to develop surgeons to lead diverse roles in our evolving healthcare systems; as skilled providers of state-of-the-art surgical care, as surgeon scientists in basic and translational research, and as skilled administrative leaders prepared to develop systems to improve delivery of quality surgical care. Exemplifying her passion to transform education, Dr. Bass is the founder and executive director of the Methodist Institute of Technology, Innovation and Education (MITIE), a unique 35,000 sq. ft. simulation, education and research facility committed to lifelong retraining and retooling of surgeons in practice. Since 2007, MITIE has hosted hands-on courses for over 35,000 surgeons and healthcare providers. Coupled with research in surgical technologies and innovative educational platforms, MITIE is a unique education and research institution.
Dr. Bass is widely recognized as a visible and effective leader in American surgery. Leadership positions she has held include terms as Chair of the American Board of Surgery and the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons, Regent of the American College of Surgeons, and President of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract and the Society of Surgical Chairs and other officer positions in numerous professional organizations. Honors include the Distinguished Service Award of the American College of Surgeons, the highest honor bestowed for contributions to improve the surgical profession, the Nina Starr Braunwald Award given for her contributions to advance the careers of women in surgery, and the US Army Commendation medal for her work at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Over 29 continuous years, Dr. Bass' research program has been funded by many agencies including the NIH, NSF, the VA, and industry. She has published over 170 peer reviewed manuscripts, monographs, and chapters and served as co-editor of three books and holds two patents for surgical technology devices. She has served on the editorial boards or as associate editor for the leading surgical academic scholarly journals, including the
Annals of Surgery,
Surgery,
World Journal of Surgery and others.