Led by Dr. Robert Higgins, The SBAS Leadership and Faculty Development Institute Program was established in 2006, thanks in part to a generous gift from the University of Pittsburgh in honor of Dr. Edward Barksdale.
Since that time, the program helps to identify and include a distinguished number of surgeons with academic potential as a mentoring and leadership training program from minority academic surgeons. The goal of this program is to increase the number of minority leaders in academic surgery and to ensure career progression of minority academic surgeons by creating a network of leaders in the field. Each program term is a two-year commitment from members, who are nominated by SBAS Institutional Members.
Fellows are given a reading assignment prior to each course based upon previously developed curriculum. In year one, the course identifies attributes of a leader in academic surgery and building leadership capacity. In year two, the program focuses on the development of academic skill sets and business skills for the surgeon leader. The hope is that this program will provide lasting leadership lessons and career development support for SBAS surgeons throughout their academic surgery careers and beyond.