Bulletin

COT Mentoring Day Builds Bonds to Support Early Career Surgeons

August 1, 2022

COT Mentoring Day mentors and mentees, including Drs. Kao (second row, third from left) and Kaups (second row, second from right). In additional, several ACS Trauma Programs leaders participated at the event, including Avery B. Nathens, MD, MPH, PhD, FACS, Director, ACS Trauma Quality Improvement Program (second row, far left); Eileen M. Bulger, MD, FACS, Director of ACS Trauma Programs (second row, second from left); and Jeffrey D. Kerby, MD, PhD, FACS, COT Director (back row, third from right).

In late June, 14 senior surgeons, six early career surgeons, and senior trauma staff partners gathered for Committee on Trauma (COT) Mentoring Day activities, led by Membership Chair Krista Kaups, MD, FACS.

The activities included an opening icebreaker that challenged teams to build the highest tower using only paper and tape as materials along with communication, innovation, leadership, and perseverance. The icebreaker was followed by a series of lectures, roundtable discussions, a speed mentoring session, and—new this year—a reverse mentoring session where the senior surgeons and staff solicited advice from the early career surgeons on several different topics.

One of the roundtable activities was for each person to use a small baggie filled with six or seven random Lego pieces to build something that depicted their experience over the two half-day sessions. Senior surgeon Lillian Kao, MD, FACS, described her structure, saying, “Building bridges elevates both sides of the equation,” recognizing that both the senior and early career surgeons benefit from mentoring relationships.

The evening culminated with a casual dinner served family-style, which was representative of the close bonds formed in the trauma community and the commitment of the COT surgeons and staff to support the early surgeon group as they begin their careers and their service within the COT family.