In 2014, the TVASurg group presented at the Association of Medical Illustrators (AMI) annual meeting, on the topic of collaborative efforts and roles between surgeons and biomedical communicators, describing the production process where both parties commit and contribute.

One of the our editors, Dr. Ian McGilvray, proposed to add to the conversation by providing insights from the surgeons’ perspective; how working with a team of biomedical communicators has impacted his practice in pre-planning surgery, training surgical fellows, as well as communicating anatomical and surgical aspects of procedures to his patients and colleagues.

Along with one of our biomedical communicators Albert Fung, we also reflect on certain pitfalls in the ever-evolving relationship between surgeons and biomedical communicators, and lessons learned by both parties in an effort to put their best foot forward, in producing high-quality educational resources for fellowship-level trainees.