Center for Surgical Training and Research

The Center for Surgical Training and Research (CSTAR) is a community of educational scientists conducting research in curriculum, teaching, learning, assessment, educational culture, and education policy. In addition, ours is one of few centers in the country working at the intersection of surgical education and health services research.

Informed by this multidisciplinary and collaborative work, we are translating our research into systemwide changes needed to improve surgical education and patient care as the healthcare system continues to adapt.

The ultimate goal is to improve surgical training in order to improve surgeon performance and surgical care.

The Center for Surgical Training and Research (CSTAR) is investigating the science behind assessment, teaching, and educational policy. We address these critical activities through rigorous methods to ultimately help establish national and international best practices.

We take a highly multidisciplinary approach, drawing on work in many areas, including health services research, simulation, education, cognitive psychology, anthropology, econometrics, data science and engineering.

We explore research in a wide variety of training-related fields, including:

• Assessment of teaching and learning in the operating room
• Connecting assessment outcomes with patient outcomes
• Culture and leadership development
• Demonstration of trust and entrustable behaviors
• Learning curves for core procedures
• Precision education