Faculty Leads:
Ana, Carasquilla, MD (Costa Rica), Carlos Colunga, MD (Mexico), Rohan Joseph, MD (USA), Jacqueline Narváez, CMP (USA), & Hsien Yang, MD (Argentina)
Faculty:
Marcela Bailez, MD, (Argentina) Desmond Birkett, MD (USA), Rocio Cano, MD(Mexico), Kathy Cordero, MD (Costa Rica), Fabiola Cordoba, MD (Costa Rica)
Following GLAP’s initial establishment in Costa Rica and Mexico in 2020, the GLAP program experienced significant growth through the replication of its courses by local teams. This expansion enabled GLAP to impact the laparoscopic training of over 70 surgical residents and enhance the teaching abilities of more than 30 surgeon educators within 3 years. Additionally, as a result of their involvement with GLAP, all participating sites now have surgeons who have attended the 2022 and 2023 SAGES conferences, presented abstracts at these conferences, and became members of SAGES. In 2024, two new sites (Monterrey, MX, and El Salvador) will be starting the GLAP program. The leadership at the Monterrey site will be assumed by a surgeon who received education about the GLAP program in Guadalajara, Mexico. This further demonstrates the cascading effect of training local surgeons, enabling them to integrate GLAP into their educational programs and broaden its influence.
- Costa Rica: The local team continues to implement and expand GLAP programming holding courses 3-4 times per year, as well as submitting SAGES abstracts.
- Impact: They have trained a total of 47 residents (general surgery, urology, ped surg) and 19 attending educators.
- Plan for 2024: Hold 2 more GLAP courses on their own. 15 surgeons
- plan to take the FLS test in 2024.
- Guadalajara, Mexico: The local team has now replicated and held their own virtual GLAP course with SAGES faculty support.
- Impact: Trained a total of 24 ped surgery residents and 12 attending educators.
- Next round of programming TBD
- Monterrey, Mexico: NEW SITE
- Lead educator is a surgeon from the Guadalajara GLAP group.
- Virtual GLAP Pro piloted in Monterrey, program is in progress to be held May-August by local team (for 6 residents)
- Abstract submission to SAGES
- El Salvador: NEW SITE
- First GLAP Program for general surgeons completed August 2024 (12 residents + 7 surgeon educators)
- Next GLAP course for the OBGYN residents (12) will tentatively start end of January 2025