Medical Student Perceptions of Academic Surgery: Rose-Colored Glasses or Jaded Prism?

Objective: Stereotypes of surgeons are pervasive and play a role in medical students' decisions about pursuing a surgical career. This study aimed to determine: (1) how medical students' perceptions of surgery and surgeons changed following exposure to surgery during clerkship rotations; and (2) if gender and racial/ethnic identification played a role in this process.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this mixed-method study, clerkship students at one U.

Louise Eisenhardt (1891-1967): World Renowned Neuropathologist, Brain Tumor Registry Director, First Editor-In-Chief of Journal of Neurosurgery, and President of Harvey Cushing Society.

Background: This historical account reviews the course and lasting impact of Dr. Louise Eisenhardt (1891-1967) in neurosurgery.

Method: The writing of this project was sparked by the discovery of original scientific and bibliographical information about Eisenhardt, testimony on personal relationships, and viewpoints after comprehensive compilation of information.

Reshaping Residency Recruitment: Achieving Alignment Between Applicants and Programs in Surgery.

Objective: The residency recruitment process has become increasingly challenging for both applicants and program directors, in part, due to the inflation in the number of applications per student. As a result, it has become more daunting for programs to design processes that evaluate applicants holistically. Furthermore, the existing methods used to evaluate and select applicants do not necessarily predict success in residency and may inadvertently lend to gender, racial, and ethnic bias.

Development and public release of the Penn Reading Assessment Computerized Adaptive Test (PRA-CAT) for premorbid IQ.

An important component of neuropsychological testing is assessment of premorbid intelligence to estimate a patient's ability independent of neurological impairment. A common test of premorbid IQ-namely, the Reading section of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT)-has been shown to have high measurement error in the high ability range, is unnecessarily long (55 items), and is proprietary. We describe the development of an alternative, nonproprietary, computerized adaptive test for premorbid IQ, the Penn Reading Assessment (PRA-CAT).