The 35th Annual San Diego Postgraduate Assembly in Surgery is a multi-day course that will bring the practicing surgeon up-to-date on the latest developments in General Surgery. This clinically oriented course offers general surgeons an intensive overview of problems encountered in daily practice. This course is also of substantial value in preparation for board and recertification examinations. Lectures include comprehensive panel discussions with ample opportunity for participants to engage with faculty.

This multi-day conference will provide participants with the latest developments in general surgery, relaying the most up-to-date advances and findings on a wide variety of surgical procedures. New information and surgical techniques concerning acute care, plastic surgery, hernias, obesity, esophageal surgery, vascular surgery, surgical oncology, inflammatory bowel disease, and endocrine surgery will be presented by UC San Diego faculty and other leaders in the surgical community.

In its 35th year, the UC San Diego Department of Surgery Assembly in Surgery has a long heritage of continuing surgical education which is comprehensive, detailed, and perhaps most important, directly applicable. Initiated by Dr. Marshall Orloff, carried on by Dr. Babs Moossa and now led by Dr. Mark Talamini, the Assembly has featured some of the world's most important and prestigious surgical educators and practitioners. In the 35th iteration of the Assembly, as in previous years, participants will receive timely and practical information to aid them in the practice of General Surgery.

This year, two exciting hands-on labs have been added to the course:

• Advanced Trauma Operative Management (ATOM) Course
• Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposure in Trauma (ASSET) Course *ASSET course has been cancelled. Please click here for lab information*

The ATOM and ASSET courses will be hosted at the UC San Diego Center for the Future of Surgery and are excellent opportunities for physicians to enhance their surgical skills.

Target Audience

The target audience for this activity includes minimally invasive surgeons, surgeons in clinical practice, surgeons in training, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses and other allied health professionals who care for patients requiring general surgery

Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

• Identify when and how to treat a variety of diseases encountered in general surgery practice
• Discuss new information and skills applicable in surgical areas undergoing change
• Identify, diagnose and understand the pathophysiology of and treat surgically: traumatically-injured patients, hernias, obesity, GERD, common surgical complications involving surgical reconstruction, liver cancer, colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and thyroid disease.

Department of Surgery

The Department of Surgery at the University of California, San Diego is world renowned for its high-quality patient care, academic excellence and breakthrough research. The Department of Surgery prides itself on meeting health care challenges and pursuing medical breakthroughs while continuing to provide high-quality patient care.

Center for the Future of Surgery

The Center for the Future of Surgery (CFS) is designed to develop revolutionary surgical techniques, provide advanced surgical training, and enhance patient safety. At the UC San Diego Center for the Future of Surgery, our surgeons and scientists are advancing scarless surgery techniques by investigating, developing, testing and teaching procedures that will revolutionize the field of surgery. Under the direction of Santiago Horgan, MD, the Center for the Future of Surgery strives to continually improve and expand surgery options using emerging technology so that patients experience less pain and achieve better outcomes.

The CFS is poised to climb above the current minimally-invasive surgery plateau to make minimally invasive surgery the primary surgical option. Surgeons here are pioneers in Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) and were the first in the nation to remove a gall bladder through the mouth and an appendix through the vagina using this cutting-edge technique. UC San Diego surgeons were also the first in the United States to perform transesophageal surgery for the treatment of achalasia, a true NOTES procedure.

Overall, the need for open surgeries is shrinking, and training programs need to account for this change. Medical students need to gain extensive hands-on experience with these sophisticated technologies, and practicing surgeons must undergo continual training to keep pace with the new surgical techniques that are being discovered. The Center for the Future of Surgery is designed to serve the medical community by fulfilling these essential needs.