UB Surgeon Endows New Lecture Series Focused on the Business of Surgery

Mark Talamini, senior vice president of Northwell Health and executive director of Northwell Health Physician Partners, will give the inaugural lecture in the series at 6:45 a.m. on June 4 in the M&T Auditorium in the Jacobs School, 955 Main St., Buffalo.

Trained as a gastrointestinal surgeon, Talamini now runs Northwell’s medical group practice, which consists of more than 4,200 physicians and a staff of 9,000. Prior to coming to Northwell, he was professor of surgery and director of minimally invasive surgery at Johns Hopkins University. He has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and pioneered laparoscopic and robotic-assisted surgery.

Endowed by Philip L. Glick, MD, MBA, professor of surgery in the Jacobs School, the series is intended to emphasize the importance of business skills for today’s surgeons.

“For better or worse, the practice of medicine, and in this case the practice of surgery, has become a business,” says Glick, former liaison for MBA programs for UB health sciences schools and the School of Management. “In medical school and during surgical training, there is an emphasis on scientific, clinical, ethical and psycho-motor skillsets. But the curriculum is deficient in essential business skills.  The lectureship I am endowing in what I call the BOS (business of surgery) is a public recognition and expression of my personal and professional gratitude for being granted the opportunity to pursue an MBA.”

Glick says that in order to optimize their career opportunities, surgeons today need a broad range of business skills in addition to their surgical and medical skills. These skills include leadership, finance, health care policy, human resources, big data and outcomes, marketing, strategy, accounting, negotiations and contracts, economics operations, governance, conflict resolution, recruitment and retention, communication, advocacy, team building, corporate and social responsibility, sustainability and medical malpractice.

Glick notes that as a mid-career surgeon in 2003, he recognized his strengths and weaknesses and decided to pursue an MBA at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business. Upon completing the degree, he was asked to champion UB’s MD/MBA degree program and act as liaison between the Jacobs School and the School of Management. During the next two decades, this program graduated two dozen MD/MBA graduates.

Glick helped launch an accelerated MBA for the Jacobs School’s residents and fellows, and was involved with establishing the Department of Surgery’s Surgery Plus program that allows surgical residents to obtain additional degrees during residency, including the MBA, MPH, master’s in education or engineering, or a fellowship in biomedical informatics.

“Surgeons need to be smart, confident and courageous in their practices,” says Glick. “But clinical, teaching and research accomplishments will not make you a successful business leader. You need to also obtain essential business skills.”