PD Member of the Month

Tim Wu, MD

Director, Clinical Operations; Program Director, Integrated Vascular Surgery Residency; Associate Professor of Surgery

Donald & Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Lenox Hill Hospital

What is your personal background in vascular surgery education (how long have you worked in the vascular field, why did you choose vascular surgery, etc.)?

My mentors had a profound effect on my development as a vascular surgeon and educator and it is to them I owe my deep interest in vascular surgery education, an area to which I have invested much of my career since completing my fellowship in 2010. Throughout my surgical training I was fortunate to have faculty mentors who regarded me as a colleague rather than a trainee whose job it was to execute their surgical plan. We discussed and debated the various approaches to treatment, inspiring me to take ownership in the care of our patients. I bring this same approach to working with residents today and I believe it not only develops excellent physicians and surgeons, but great partners and colleagues.

What is the most rewarding part of your job? as a vascular surgery Program Director? What is the most challenging part of your job?

The challenges in being a Program Director are numerous and mostly relate to understanding how each resident learns and the environment he or she needs to be successful.  We take in some of the smartest people in the world and are given just a few years to turn them into the smartest people in the world with a knife. There is no formula for this as each resident’s learning plan is individualized. While it may seem impossible, I think our medical education and graduate training system is largely successful in helping this along and most residents will graduate the program and go into the world as competent and safe vascular surgeons. This is the most rewarding part of being a PD.

What are your personal goals within the vascular field?

Vascular Surgery plays a much larger role in the healthcare landscape than its small number of surgeons would otherwise suggest. Our presence within a health system is required to facilitate not only the development of many high level cardiovascular programs, but also programs outside our traditional realm like oncology and orthopedics. My more recent evolution has been in clinical leadership and I remain a tireless advocate for our specialty within the health system to ensure that we will be at our best when needed by patients and colleagues alike.

If you had a blank check to change medical education in America, what would you do first?

I think many physicians are used to working in silos and it feels normal to enact an “us vs. them” mentality. As our health systems continue to evolve and care models become more complex with many more stakeholders, physicians need to better understand the complexities of this ever-changing environment and how to lead in a way that facilitates our collective goals as healthcare professionals. To this end I think the broad concept of “physician leadership” should be a part of the curriculum in medical school and residency, aimed not just at training physicians to be leaders but trained in how to lead.

From your perspective, what qualities make a successful vascular surgery applicant?

The successful vascular surgery applicant, in my opinion, is someone who can convey both their competence and humility through their application materials, letters of recommendation, personal statement, activity, and during the interview. As a PD my goal is to find the smartest people who also believe they are not quite smart enough and remain receptive to learning new things, receiving feedback, and working with their colleagues.

What is a "fun fact" about yourself that you would like others to know?

I have only attended two live concerts in my life. The first was Weird Al Yankovic in 1996 at New York’s Beacon Theater. The second was Weird Al Yankovic in 2021 in Forest Hills Stadium, also in New York. A quarter of a century may have passed between those events, but I don’t feel one day older.