During his annual Department of Surgery year-in-review, Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser Jr. asked his colleagues to take a moment to reflect on what they have accomplished over the past year and to contemplate the abundance of opportunities that lie ahead.
“Look at what went on in just one year,” Fraser emphasized by pointing to a timeline of accomplishments during the 2016-2017 academic year. “That’s a pretty big year.”
Over the past 12 months, the Department of Surgery has:
- Greatly expanded its facilities at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus, Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, Wallace Tower, Texas Children’s Specialty Care Bellaire and Texas Children’s Specialty Care Eagle Springs. The department, along with the entire Texas Children’s system, announced an exciting initiative to bring Texas Children’s to Austin within the next year and held a topping out ceremony for Legacy Tower, a 19-floor vertical expansion that will house new operating rooms, a new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, neuro ICU rooms, surgical ICU rooms, a progressive care unit and eight floors dedicated to just the Heart Center.
- Continued to build a dedicated team of pediatric-focused surgeons across nine surgical divisions: Congenital Heart Surgery, Dental, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Otolaryngology, Pediatric Surgery, Plastic Surgery and Urology. Over the previous academic year, the team grew to more than 100 surgeons and 111 advanced practice providers. Several members of the team earned prestigious awards and promotions for their academic, clinical and research efforts.
- Strengthened its commitment to support surgical research by dedicating space to the Department of Surgery Research Lab and building a strong team of multidisciplinary surgeon scientists.
- Maintained its focus on patient care in seeing more than 175,000 outpatient visits and 51,000 operating room hours over 27,600 cases.
“As you can see, we are dedicated to meeting our mission and vision with multiple community health centers and three Texas Children’s Hospital locations throughout the Greater Houston area,” Fraser said. “We take great pride in caring for children from all around the globe no matter how complex the problem.”
The ability to provide such care will continue to grow and improve, Fraser said, emphasizing the opportunities Austin and Legacy Tower will bring.
“The Austin community will really appreciate the TCH approach to patient care,” he said. “The opportunities there are boundless.”
The same goes for Legacy Tower, which Fraser said will enable his department to continue to focus on providing the highest quality surgical care.
In closing, Fraser asked the members of the department of surgery to contemplate how each are to leave a mark on Texas Children’s legacy and keep improving the care they are able to give our patients. He said he believes that Texas Children’s will make its mark as one of the top pediatric surgical centers in the world by establishing more endowed chairs, building a surgical simulation laboratory, producing national and internationally known leaders and tackling some of society’s major public health problems.
“I humbly believe there is no other children’s hospital like Texas Children’s Hospital,” Fraser said. “I also believe that we continue to be presented with unique opportunities to become even better. Our job is to make sure we seize those opportunities, some of which could come around only once in a lifetime.”
To read the recently released 2016 Department of Surgery Annual Report, click here.
