‘As surgeons, we get very invested in maintaining and advancing our clinical or technical skills, but our leadership skills warrant just as much focus and attention.’
Laura J Moore, Professor of Surgery and Chief of Surgical Critical Care at UT Health McGovern Medical School – Houston, is one of the many surgeons who have enjoyed the multiple learning opportunities offered by Harvard Medical School’s much-acclaimed Surgical Leadership program.
Hailed as a game-changer in surgical learning, the Surgical Leadership certificate program draws on Harvard’s hugely successfully aligned faculties to deliver a course designed to equip surgeons with the knowledge and skillset to lead successfully.
Burnetta Herron is a general surgeon and director of surgical health equity and community health integration at Sinai Chicago, and she agreed. ‘With all the skills I’ve learned in this program, I feel I am more able to promote the type of positive change within my organisation.’
Jamie Robertson, assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and one of three respected program leaders, explained: ‘Harvard Medical School has access to a vast depth and breadth of faculty. We can pull from Harvard Business School, the Harvard Kennedy School and many other Harvard-affiliated institutions and colleges.’
The other leaders are Sayeed Malek, MD, FACS, the program director. He is the clinical director of transplant surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, and Fiona Myint, FRCS, MA, who is the program’s honorary director. She is a consultant vascular surgeon at UCL, an Honorary Clinical Professor at UCL, and a Council Member at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Dr Malek added: ‘Participants can gain a whole new set of skills when they enrol in this program that will teach them how to be better leaders, be more confident in dealing with people above and below them and improve their self-learning. It’s also a great networking exercise.’
The Surgical Leadership program helps surgeons gain the executive skills needed for department, project and institution leadership roles.
Participants learn about critical areas such as communication, mentoring, change management, quality improvement, financial management and surgical research.
The program, featuring insights from Harvard Medical School, Harvard Business School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Harvard Kennedy School, offers a postgraduate certificate with the opportunity to:
• Explore strategies and best practices for leadership – within and outside the operating room
• Identify your brand, leadership style(s) and competencies
• Write compelling business plans and grant applications
• Enhance your expertise in quality, safety, and informatics
• Understand the legal and commercial aspects of innovation in surgery
• Build and manage highly productive teams
• Drive better patient outcomes through enhanced teamwork in the operating room
• Negotiate and advocate more effectively for your patients, teams, departments, and projects
• Manage change across organisational functions
• Update your understanding of new surgical technologies and techniques
• Participants who achieve the program objectives are awarded a Harvard Medical School Certificate of Completion and are eligible to become Associate Members of the Harvard Medical School and Harvard University Alumni Associations.
Program format
The program has three required in-person workshops. Learners should expect to spend about 3-5 hours per week on coursework, viewing pre-recorded materials, attending live online lectures, reviewing sessions with faculty, and working on team assignments and your capstone.
Participants may select a Boston or London workshop location. Workshops are on the following dates:
Workshop 1:
• April 8-11, 2025 | London, England
• April 14-17, 2025 | Boston, MA
Workshop 2:
• September 15-18, 2025 | Boston, MA
• October 6-9, 2025 | London, England
Workshop 3 & Graduation:
April 13–16, 2026 | Boston, MA
Program objectives
Upon completion of the Surgical Leadership program, participants will be able to:
- Facilitate transformational change and an organisational turnaround
- Apply tools and knowledge in quality, safety, and informatics to drive sustainable improvement
- Discuss data management in the context of health informatics
- Develop strategies to turn ideas into viable, scalable solutions that add value to healthcare systems
- Identify surgical mentors to address trainees’ technical, cultural, behavioural, and educational needs and foster their development as next-generation clinical and academic leaders.
The priority enrolment deposit deadline is 29 January 2025, and the final application deadline is 12 March 2025.
Priority enrolment tuition is $17,900, with a standard tuition of $18,900.
For further details, click here.
For admissions and tuition information, click here.
