The 
University of Florida department of surgery has been awarded a grant of products worth more than $364,000 by Ethicon, a manufacturer of surgical devices. The products, including a variety of advanced surgical devices and sutures, will be used to support surgical skills training for UF residents and medical students, including advanced suturing techniques, laparoscopic skills, endoscopic skills, biopsy techniques and a number of other procedures.
Ashley Counts, Assistant Director of Education and Training Programs with the department of surgery, and Sanda Tan, MD, PhD, associate professor in the division of gastrointestinal surgery, secured the grant for medical students, understanding the impact that it would have on the materials available for their training.
“I was excited to learn all of our requested resources had been awarded!” Counts said. “Dr. Tan and I had been working on this together for several months and it was very rewarding to find out we will now be able to bring some of this shared vision to life and improve the educational environment and opportunities for our learners.”
Counts says that for surgical training, learning technical skills is one of the keys to success. This grant will help UF’s department of surgery expand their technical skills curriculum, replace outdated training materials and improve the learning environment for medical students, residents and fellows.
In return for its in-kind donation, Ethicon asks that UF’s department of surgery be responsible and ethical with its products and that any unused product be returned at the end of the grant period.