E159 - Creating a Supportive Culture of Leadership with Sharmila Dissanaike

Cold Steel: Canadian Journal of Surgery Podcast

Dr. Sharmila Dissanaike is a trauma and acute care surgeon and is the chair of surgery at Texas Tech University. She holds multiple national leadership roles, including as President-Elect of the American Burn Association, Vice-President of the Southwest Surgical Congress, and Governor of the American College of Surgeons. We really delved into her thoughts on her philosophy on leadership. How do you create a supportive culture? How do you make the hard decisions and have the hard conversations? Most importantly, how do we stay true to ourselves and our own values?

X/Twitter: https://x.com/DissanaikeMD

Links:

• Burnout, shiftwork and suicide: 2022 Scott B. Frame Memorial Lecture. https://journals-lww-com.proxy.queensu.ca/jtrauma/fulltext/2022/07000/burnout,_shiftwork_and_suicide__2022_scott_b_.21.aspx
• New Yorker piece about Brittany Bankhead-Kendall, a trauma surgeon recruited & supported by Dr. Dissanaike: https://www.newyorker.com/science/medical-dispatch/a-doctors-dark-year
• How to prevent burnout (maybe): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27810134/