@article{1b83b3ae96b74b1f8ab09446b8f603ca,
title = "COVID-19 Pandemic and Surgical Oncology: Preserving the Academic Mission",
abstract = "Background: The global pandemic of respiratory disease cause by the novel human coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has caused untold suffering, loss of life and upheaval in society. The pandemic has lead to massive redirection of health care resources to treat the surge of COVID-19 patients, and enforcement of social distancing to reduce the rate of transmission. Methods: Editorial Board members provided observations of the implications of the pandemic on academic surgical oncology. Results: Delivery of health care to other populations including cancer patients has been significantly disrupted. The implications both short term and long term threaten preservation of the academic mission in medicine at large, and certainly in the field of surgical oncology. Conclusions: The effects on surgical oncology training, research and clinical trials are major.",
author = "Pawlik, {Timothy M.} and Tyler, {Douglas S.} and Baran Sumer and Funda Meric-Bernstam and Okereke, {Ikenna C.} and Beane, {Joal D.} and Dedhia, {Priya H.} and Aslam Ejaz and McMasters, {Kelly M.} and Tanabe, {Kenneth K.}",
note = "Funding Information: The devastation and destruction brought about by the novel human coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has created daunting challenges to medical centers and universities. Despite government funding programs to offset hospital losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial impact is enormous and threatens to derail the academic mission. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education and training, research, and conduct of clinical trials is significant and threatens preservation of the academic mission in medicine at large, and certainly in the field of surgical oncology. Funding Information: To further complicate efforts aimed at preserving the academic mission, the COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant financial ramifications to healthcare systems and hospitals. As a result, several institutions have instituted hiring freezes for research staff and faculty, further restricting the academic mission. Decreased revenue streams also negatively impact the availability of institutional research grants and studies not actively supported by existing grants, as the majority of discretional funding has been focused on COVID-19-related efforts. It is critical that medical centers and universities recognize the importance of protecting surgeon–investigators for post-COVID-19. Surgeon–scientists, even pre-COVID, were at existential risk from competing clinical and economic pressures. Departments of surgery, with the support of colleges of medicine, medical centers, and the NIH, need to protect and cultivate surgeon–scientists so that this group of important researchers can exist and thrive post-COVID-19. To this end, departments need to identify other potential funding streams, such as endowments and philanthropy, to preserve the surgeon–scientist mission during COVID-19. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020, Society of Surgical Oncology.",
year = "2020",
month = aug,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1245/s10434-020-08563-x",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "27",
pages = "2591--2599",
journal = "Annals of Surgical Oncology",
issn = "1068-9265",
publisher = "Springer New York",
number = "8",
}