About the Department of Surgery

Welcome to the UC San Diego Department of Surgery. Our Department prides itself on meeting health care challenges and pursuing medical breakthroughs while providing the highest quality patient care possible. We invite you to visit the UC San Diego Health website for detailed information on the surgical services we offer patients.

UC San Diego's Department of Surgery is one of 19 departments within the School of Medicine. With a tripartite mission of excellence in patient care; teaching; and research, the Department maintains a thriving clinical enterprise, with faculty providing exceptional patient care, while educating future generations of surgeons and conducting practice-changing research. The Department's faculty, fellows, residents, and staff are led by Dr. Bryan Clary, the fourth chair since the Department was established in 1968.

The Department's 13 divisions embrace a culture of innovation and collaboration, which has resulted in important advances and unique clinical programs such as:

Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy for chronic pulmonary embolism 

• >3,000 pulmonary procedures performed to date 
• International leader in the field
  

Natural Orifice Endoluminal Surgery (NOTES) 

• First transoral appendectomy in the United States 
• First transvaginal sleeve gastrectromy 
  

Bench to bedside development of innovative treatments for: 

• Otitis media 
• Sentinel lymph node mapping for melanoma and breast cancer 
• Fluorescent-guided surgery
  

Complex liver surgery for primary and secondary malignancies 

• Ex vivo liver resection and reimplantation 
• Living donation liver transplantation 
  

Cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraoperative chemotherapy (HIPEC)

• Highest volume program in the Western United States
  

Center for the Future of Surgery 

• Unique educational and research facility 
  
• Level I ACS Accredited Education Institute