For the second consecutive year, Will Gerull, MD, claimed the title of WISE Top Gun.
The Washington Institute of Surgical Education (WISE) held the annual Top Gun – a friendly tournament among general surgery residents to test their surgical skills, precision and speed – on Wednesday, February 11 promptly after the weekly education conference.
The competition takes place in the WISE lab, on the first floor of the Clinical Sciences Research Building. The challenges consisted of two fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery skills tests, with the final challenge being on a surgical training robot. The WISE ACS-AEI Simulation and Education Fellows, Blake Beneville, MD, and Abby Hatcher, MD, MSc, worked with the team at WISE to develop a challenging, yet exciting tournament-style 3-round challenge. All residents are encouraged to compete.
Final Five
The first round consisted of 3 standard fundamental laparoscopic surgery skills tests: the peg transfer, bean drop, and intracorporeal suturing. After the first round, the competition narrowed to Tseshay Abebe, MD, Maxwell Braasch, MD, MPH, Ricardo Fonseca, MD, Will Gerull, MD, and Omolade Sogade, MD. Out of the contestant pool, only these trainees proved to be the fastest, and moved on to the second round.
Top Three
The semifinal round consisted of threading and suturing with a side-view angle. This challenge is designed to simulate the surgeon’s spatial orientation, needle-handling, and suturing under tension. The surgeons had a secondary task of passing string through various small openings on a peg board using laparoscopic tools. After the second round of eliminations, the remaining challengers were Braasch, Fonseca, and Gerull.
Top Gun
Going into the final round, the contestants would have to prove their expertise on a da Vinci surgical robot. The challenge consisted of building a tower out of Legos using the training robot, within the time allotted. The challenge was livestreamed from the robot training lab to the main operating room lab at WISE, where trainees, faculty, and staff observed.
“I loved playing with Legos as a kid, and it was fun to try on a robot which was much more difficult than I thought it would be,” said Gerull. “I think it is important to practice on a routine basis. These are all skills that translate to the operating room and just like other operative tasks, the way to improve is through regular and reflective practice.”
Gerull was an ACS-AEI Education Fellow at WISE in 2023. He was awarded a $75,000 grant from Intuitive Surgical to support him in research regarding how robotic education enhances surgical training. Intuitive Technology Research Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to applicants who endeavor to conduct compelling research utilizing robotic technology to address clinically relevant technology development. His research focused on quantifying performance indicators of procedures utilizing da Vinci robots in assessing and guiding trainees.
“Our annual Top Gun competition is more than just a test of precision and speed — it’s really an event that celebrates the camaraderie that defines our WashU general surgery community,” said Jennifer Yu, MD, MPHS, who is the director for general surgery residency program. “It’s an event where the playing field is rooted in simulation-based education, making skills that translate directly to the operating room both fun to learn and highly practical. Top Gun reflects that culture of mentorship and peer encouragement where residents are learning together in a high-energy, supportive environment and underscores the teamwork and shared drive that define surgical education at WashU.”
As an incentive to encourage residents to participate, the Department of Surgery awards the winner of WISE Top Gun with a trip to the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) annual meeting. This year, Gerull will be flying out to SAGES in Tampa, Fla. in late March.
“I look forward to competing nationally at SAGES. It is a great conference, and the national competition really brings the pressure,” said Gerull.