“Change is inevitable in colorectal surgery, and what you think is impossible today will be possible tomorrow.” – Dr. Michael Stamos
Change is inevitable in colorectal surgery, and what you think is impossible today will be possible tomorrow. To hear colleagues talking today about minimally invasive surgery and robotic surgery in a positive way would have been unthinkable ten years ago. It’s wonderful. You just never know what you’re going find. Our specialty is indeed evolving, as is all surgery, but I think that the colorectal community has really embraced the minimally invasive approaches. I’ve spent the last decade of my career really championing those approaches, training other surgeons and bringing that to our patients so we can minimize the footprint we leave behind.
Electronic media is obviously here to stay and I think that the current e-readers make reading off of a screen much easier than it used to be. I still personally like the feel of a book, but the fact is that the e-readers and the electronic versions of books allow you to have that reference at the point of care, which is really the critical aspect. Nobody is going to carry a textbook around in their pocket when they’re taking care of a patient. But they can carry around one e-reader and access all of these different reference materials including our book, Colorectal Surgery, at the bedside of the patient. It’s revolutionary in the way we transmit knowledge and can have complete information at the time and place of patient care.
I’ve been involved in education for both general surgery residents and more recently colorectal surgery residents for the last 21 years, including my time at UC Irvine. I became interested in colorectal surgery during my general surgery residency, ironically because of a lack of a mentor there. I encountered a couple of patients who had relatively complex colorectal problems, and I could not find a full-time attending capable of helping me treat them. So I was advised to call one of the clinical faculty from outside in the community who came and helped and who inspired me to pursue colorectal surgery training. I also heard a speaker during my training who further impressed me. My chairman at the time told me to go forward and seek training in colorectal surgery and then come back to educate the residents. I went out and sought the training, but did not make it back. Instead I ended up in California and I’m happy I made that decision.
Michael J. Stamos, MD is the John E. Connolly Chair in Surgery and Professor of Surgery at the University of California, Irvine. In his decade at the university, he established the division of colon and rectal surgery and has made important contributions to the growth of the H.H. Chao Comprehensive Digestive Disease Center. He is a co-author of Colorectal Surgery.
Dr. Stamos received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, performed an internship and residency in general surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital, University of Miami School of Medicine, and a fellowship in colorectal surgery at Ochsner Foundation Hospital/Ochsner Clinic.
The recipient of numerous teaching awards, Dr. Stamos has also been consistently named one of the Best Doctors in America and America’s Top Doctors in colon and rectal surgery. He is the immediate Past-President of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, and is President-elect of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgery, and will serve as president beginning in 2013.
Dr. Stamos treats a wide range of conditions, including colon and rectal cancers, pelvic floor disorders, and inflammatory bowel disease. He has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 30 book chapters and has served as the editor of numerous textbooks.
Related Authors: H. Randolph Bailey, MD, Michael J. Snyder, MD; Richard P. Billingham, MD
