UAB Cardiothoracic Surgery Professor and Thoracic Residency Program Director Benjamin Wei, M.D., has created educational video content to help patients, medical students, and surgery trainees learn more about procedures they may encounter.

To inform patients and instruct trainees, Wei narrates these videos with information on the anatomy and steps required to perform safe and successful surgeries, as well as technical pearls and pitfalls. Many of his videos focus on robotic lung surgery and especially techniques of complex segmentectomy, which are challenging operations that help preserve lung function and are not offered by most centers.

"Surgical education videos are vital tools for medical students during their surgery clerkships and for surgery residents to learn the necessary steps of an operation," says Wei. “Video content is also a great tool for patients or loved ones to learn more about an upcoming operation.”

Wei has a strong interest in surgical education and has created various educational resources for students and trainees. His research interests include evaluating outcomes of teaching thoracic robotic surgery and exploring techniques to enhance the technical skills of cardiothoracic surgery trainees. Wei has presented his videos at the annual meetings of societies such as the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association and the American Association of Thoracic Surgery.

Viewers can access the content on the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine YouTube channel.