Meet Benjamin Judson, New Chair of the Yale Department of Surgery

I vividly remember, during my medical school anatomy course, identifying the phrenic nerve lying on top of the anterior scalene muscle in the neck. It was an exciting discovery, and I suddenly had the thought that I might like surgery—quite a contrast to my plans at the time. Because I changed careers to medicine in my mid-20s, I had negotiated with myself that I would only do a three-year residency so that I wouldn’t be “too old” when I completed training. But during my surgery clerkship, I realized I truly loved surgery, and it was what I wanted to do.

Today, when I am scrubbing before surgery, I’m still thrilled to collect my thoughts, calm my mind, and sharpen my focus on what lies ahead—and on what needs to happen to achieve an excellent outcome for the patient.

What I’ve found amazing about a career in academic surgery is that there are always new, interesting, and meaningful things to do. In addition to providing surgical care, you also get to educate students, residents, and fellows, and investigate the problems that afflict our patients—making small or large contributions to advancing science and improving outcomes. I’ve found this variety to be an antidote of sorts to boredom and burnout. Over time, I’ve also evolved to focus more on supporting others in their careers, which has been both interesting and fun.

During fellowship, my mentors pushed me and my colleagues hard in the operating room to hone our operative skills, and they also drilled into us that it was important to be true surgical oncologists. By this, they meant taking a multidisciplinary, balanced, and evidence-based approach to patient care. Providing excellent care came not only from being a good surgeon, but also from partnering with others—and doing this well required being an engaged, collaborative, and informed team member.

The complexity of patient treatments continues to increase almost exponentially with advances in surgical technologies; targeted, medical, and radiation therapies; imaging and testing modalities; and other aspects of clinical care. The principle of being knowledgeable about surgical and non-surgical treatments, and collaborating with a team to navigate this landscape, is as important as ever.

Leading a department that is a large and inclusive “house of surgery,” which includes many subspecialties, I am constantly learning new things across the field. The lessons imparted during my head and neck training—about technical excellence, collaboration, and multidisciplinary care—are fundamental regardless of surgical specialty.

Now and in the years ahead, there are important opportunities for us to grow and develop clinical programs, deepen and innovate in our educational programs, and increase our research productivity. There will also be challenges in academic medicine and health care that inevitably arise. To navigate whatever comes our way, it will be important to stay grounded in our values and mission.

As an academic department of surgery, our mission is to provide exceptional surgical care to our communities and beyond, train the next generation of physicians and surgeons, and advance the science of our fields. Success in these three areas will come from a clear direction and from the success of our faculty, staff, and trainees. It is therefore essential to cultivate an environment and community that are supportive and enable people to thrive and strive.

In addition to the traditional tripartite mission, I see culture and community as core values. Being clear about our goals, treating people with respect, and thinking intentionally about each person’s development trajectory will be critical.

I was born here at YNHH and lived on Canner Street, a few blocks from the university, until I was 4 years old. My father was a graduate student in art history at the time. There’s not much that I remember about New Haven, but I do recall needing to get stitches in my chin after falling off a wall at preschool. They must have done a good job, because you can barely see the scar. I’ve needed stitches in the ER here at Yale more recently, and they did a good job many decades later—but that’s a story for another day.