Chairman's Welcome

Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D.
Jay Phillips Professor and Chair
Department of Surgery
University of Minnesota

Welcome to the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota. Our department has an unparalleled legacy of surgical leadership (Wangensteen, Lewis, Lillehei, Najarian, Cerra, Dunn, Goldberg, to name just a few of our standouts) and an unrelenting dedication to education and innovative patient care. At our core has always been an unwavering commitment to excellence in research, in order to advance medical knowledge, train the surgeon-scientists of tomorrow, and above all, deliver cutting-edge, compassionate care to patients and their families.

As we go forward, we will focus on expanding our patient care venues and our clinical and research centers of excellence, thereby providing an increased base for training house staff and medical students. Our research programs will continue to expand in the subfields of cancer and solid tumor biology and build on our established preeminence in cardiovascular and transplant biology. Our heightened efforts in translational research will have a direct impact on patients through our ongoing laboratory discoveries and our design of trials of new transplant, cardiac, and cancer treatments.

This website and its links will introduce you to our department’s history, our guiding vision, and our current mission statement, in addition to giving you access to information on our faculty, specialized centers of excellence, research programs, clinical trials, and other resources.