Inventing our Future: The Next Generation of Surgeons

Dear CSS Members and Colleagues:

On June 20th we will have the 8th meeting of the Codman Shoulder Society. The title of our meeting is “Technological Disruption in Shoulder Surgery.” While we are a group committed to innovation in management of problems which afflict the shoulder, first and foremost, we are a think tank committed to Codman’s statement of Purpose, “Give me something that is different, for there is a chance of it being better…” Furthermore, over the past 8 years we have gained engagement of non-surgeons who may also be interested in innovation in healthcare. So, I regularly post on non-shoulder topics. Thus, I share with you an article sent to me by one of our members, Dr. Jon Ticker. This article by Thomas M. Krummel is entitled “Inventing our Future: training the next generation of surgeon innovators.” Professor Krummel is Co-Director of the Stanford Biodesign Program and Professor of Surgery at Stanford Medical School.

For those of you reading this who are surgeons, Prof. Krummel speaks to the spirit, strategy, and execution of innovation in healthcare and surgery in particular. For those reading this who are not surgeons, his paper is an incredible blend of Science + Innovation + Business = Improved Patient care. In fact, when one considers that Healthcare is the #1 Growth Industry in the USA, this article is relevant to anyone interested in entrepreneurship. He provides details of the Stanford Biodesign program.

Jon Ticker made some additional notes from this article to pique your interest, but you really should read it through to get the entire message:

• There is a “trend of broad application of minimal access principles while providing the same benefit of a maximal procedure.”

• “A scientist seeks understanding; An inventor seeks a solution; An innovator seeks an application.”

• “An entrepreneur seeks independence, autonomy, and control to maximize the likelihood of success in a risky (defined) and uncertain (ill-defined) venture. That sounds to me like a surgeon.”

• “Surgeons ignore technologic advancement at their own peril.”

Kind Regards,

Jon “J.P.” Warner, MD

Founder, The Codman Shoulder Society