The Dr. Edwin G. & Dorothy Balbach Davis Global Center at UNMC is now a Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES)-certified training center, iEXCEL leaders announced this week.
The Davis Global Center will be the only certified testing center in Nebraska for Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS), Endoscopic Surgery (FES), and Use of Surgical Energy (FUSE). iEXCEL, UNMC’s Interprofessional Experiential Center for Enduring Learning, will be responsible for oversight and administration of testing at the Davis Global Center.
“The FLS, FES and FUSE programs are essential for training surgical residents, and we are elated and proud that the Davis Global Center, with the UNMC team, has been certified by SAGES for this important educational mission,” said Mark Carlson, M.D., director of UNMC’s Center for Advanced Surgical Technology.
Nebraska Medicine residents and fellows will be primary beneficiaries of the training and certification, along with residents from Creighton University, and others from such surrounding states as Kansas, Iowa and Colorado.
Chandrakanth Are, M.D., Varner Professor of Surgical Oncology & Global Health, said, “This is an excellent milestone, one of many more to come, and it will reinforce the stature of the Davis Global Center as one of the most premier and futuristic simulation centers in the world.”
Pamela Boyers, Ph.D., associate vice chancellor for clinical simulation and iEXCEL, credited Ben Stobbe, assistant vice chancellor for clinical simulation, and Jenni Bouckhuyt, surgical simulation program supervisor, for spearheading the certification application. Vishal Kothari, M.D., associate professor of surgery, “is the champion who oversees the SAGES program,” Dr. Boyers said.