Season 1, Episode 14: Mentor of the Month Interview with Dr. Kelly M. McMasters

SSAT Soundbites: A Podcast Series for Surgeons

In this edition of SSAT's Mentor of the Month video series, Dr. Young Hong, Assistant Professor of Surgery at Cooper University Hospital and member of SSAT Resident and Fellows Education Committee, interviewed Dr. Kelly M. McMasters.

Dr. McMasters earned his dual degree M.D./Ph.D. at UMDNJ – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and surgical residency at The University of Louisville. He completed his complex general surgical oncology fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is currently the Ben A. Reid, Sr., M.D. Professor and Chair of the Hiram C. Polk, Jr., M.D. Department of Surgery at The University of Louisville. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Annals of Surgical Oncology. He will discuss his advice on mentorship, job searching, and life lessons he has learned along the way.

Questions answered in this Mentor of the Month episode are:

1. As you look back on your career, how has mentorship in your past affected your surgical success?
2. What makes a great mentor/mentee relationship thrive, in your opinion?
3. Do you have any advice you have carried with you during your career for young residents and fellows?
4. What are key factors you look for in faculty members you look for when considering a new candidate?
5. What unique challenges have you faced in your career, and how has it shaped you as a surgeon?
6. What are the fundamental principles that drove you to succeed in your surgical career?
7. Besides your professional successes in American surgery, what is a fun fact that most people don’t know about you?