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Richard H. Feins, M.D.

Richard H. Feins, M.D., spoke about “How ‘Good Enough’ Became Acceptable in Surgical Training” at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, on April 21, 2012. Dr. Feins was the 2012 O.T. Clagett visiting professor at the Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Feins, a thoracic surgeon and professor of surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been a leader in efforts to improve surgery training. He is principal investigator of an eight-institution research project on using cardiothoracic surgery simulators to train resident physicians in surgery techniques. The goal is to see whether use of simulators can improve the residents’ techniques and thus ensure better safety for patients.

Each year, the Division of General Thoracic Surgery at the Mayo Clinic hosts the O. T. Clagett Named Visiting Professor, sponsored by the Jack Taylor Family Foundation. In 1982, Jack Taylor, a grateful Mayo Clinic patient, gave funds for the lectureship, which honors Jim Clagett, one of the Mayo Clinic’s early thoracic surgeons. Prominent general thoracic surgeons are invited to the Mayo Clinic to speak and to talk to surgeons and trainees.