Chairmans' Message

Chairmans' Message

The Department of Surgery at TriHealth which includes our two flagship hospitals, Good Samaritan and Bethesda North, as well as our sister hospitals, TriHealth Evendale, Bethesda Butler, and McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital, has a long-acclaimed tradition of providing exceptional patient care, medical education, and research opportunities to benefit both the community at large and physicians in training. Multiple leaders in the field of surgery have been involved in the enormously rich historical growth and development of the department.

With the commitment to providing the most technologically advanced medical and surgical care available, TriHealth is providing master plans for a facility upgrade at both flagship hospitals. At Good Samaritan, eighteen new cutting-edge and state of the art surgery suites, a new post-anesthesia care unit, a new pre-operative wing consolidated to one floor are being designed with a completion date of 2022. Along with this there will be a complete redesign of the Bethesda North facility with the development of a Heart hospital that will consolidate all aspects of cardiac and cardiovascular care into one coordinated cardiac care hospital. Operations will continue without major disruptions at both campuses during the facility upgrades.

As the TriHealth System consolidation and facilities upgrade continues, programmatic development will continue to accelerate at both campuses including advanced surgery, (foregut, bariatric, hepatobiliary, pancreas, breast, surgical oncology, hernia) with an emphasis on minimally invasive technologies and the continued development of the comprehensive robotics program on both major campuses. Other areas of emphasis in our clinical programmatic development include Neurosciences (brain tumor and complex spine surgery, stroke center, neurovascular), Oncology (brain, head and neck, lung, urologic and gynecological malignancies, leukemia, lymphoma), Women’s Health (mother-baby unit), and Trauma/Acute care as well as cardiovascular services.

Recognizing that the discipline of General Surgery is changing, we have recently completed the first cycle of the zero and five vascular surgery residency training program, accredited by the ACGME. We are also in the process of applying for minimally invasive fellowship. We continue to recruit additional bariatric, surgical oncology, colorectal, breast, and acute care/trauma surgeons with additional expertise in surgical critical care. The goal is to strengthen our integrated clinical programs and centers of excellence that spread across departments and to maintain the tradition of quality and safety at not just the two flagship campuses but at all sites of care in the TriHealth System.

It is an extremely exciting time for our department as we continue to experience sustained growth in an area of rapidly evolving and highly technological improvements in surgery.

We remain committed to providing advancements that will benefit both the patients of today and tomorrow through research in surgery and medicine, and to maintaining a rigorous program of medical education and research for physicians in training.

George M. Kerlakian, M.D., F.A.C.S. Chairman - Department of Surgery Good Samaritan Hospital	Stuart L. Donovan, MD Chairman – Department of Surgery Bethesda North Hospital