The Department is also dedicated to patient care. Surgeons practice the following specialities: Colorectal Surgery, General Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery and Robotics, Oncologic Surgery, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Peripheral Vascular Surgery, Trauma, and Urologic Surgery. Each division offers electives, teaching and research. Training in critical care, trauma, oncology, breast disease, and gastrointestinal and endocrine surgery is available through the Division of General Surgery.

At Hahnemann University Hospital, the Department has five clinical divisions: General Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Ongologic Surgery, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Liver, Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation Surgery, Trauma, and Urologic Surgery.

The Division of Surgical Education has goals including development and implementation of innovative, state-of-the-art educational methodologies, enhancement of educational research and establishment of Fellowships in Surgical Education for faculty and residents. The Division is participating in many national educational activities, such as the Computer-Based Examination of the National Board of Medical Examiners. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) have been used to test the clinical skills of students and residents. The Division participated in a multi-institutional project for development of a model for teaching in an ambulatory environment. Newer trends in medical education as well as innovative methods of teaching and evaluation are routinely used in the education of students. These methods include computer-based simulations to teach problem-solving, use of standardized patients, problem-based learning, small-group teaching, role playing and a program in surgical decision-making.

Each year leading surgeons spend periods of time teaching medical students and residents as Visiting Professors.

William C. Meyers, M.D., internationally celebrated liver surgeon who wrote and developed some of the first minimally invasive and laparoscopic surgery procedures, is the chairman of the Department of Surgery and also the Assistant Dean for Interdisciplinary Studies of Drexel University College of Medicine.

Dr. Meyers, who is president of the American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association, founding chair of the surgery committee of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and, also, a team physician for the Boston Red Sox and the U.S. National Soccer Team, in addition to being Corporator of the Worcester Art Museum, arrives from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. For the last five years he was the Harry M. Haidak Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery. He was also Surgeon-in-Chief of UMASS Memorial Health Care System. For over two decades prior to Massachusetts, Dr. Meyers was at Duke University Medical Center. There, he was Professor of Surgery, Chief of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Chief of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Director of the Duke/U.S. Surgical Corporation Endosurgery Center and a founding member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"I want to be a part of this medical system. I want to enhance the productivity of the people already here at the College of Medicine as well as support Dean Homan and President Papadakis' mission and vision," says Dr. Meyers.

While Dr. Meyers' expertise is in liver surgery (he has been continuously funded by NIH in liver physiology and presently has a $2 million per year grant from Smith and Nephew Corp.), he also delves, as a "hobby," into Sports Medicine. He, along with his old friend, chief of orthopedic surgery at University of North Carolina, developed minimally invasive procedures that repair groin and abdominal injuries in athletes and get them back to their playing fields quickly. Some of his athletes include the USA Soccer teams, Brian Cox and John Abraham of the New York Jets, Mikael Renberg of the Philadelphia Flyers and wrestler Bill Goldberg.