Dr. Steele is the Chairman of Colorectal Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic (although at the time of recording this interview, he was the Division Chief of Colon & Rectal Surgery at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center) and Professor of Surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, OH.
Dr. Steele completed his undergraduate degree at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1994; completed his medical degree at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in 1998; completed a general surgery residency at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington in 2003; then completed a colon and rectal surgery fellowship in 2005. Following completion of his fellowship, Dr. Steele became the Chief of Colorectal Surgery at Madigan Army Medical Center through until 2015, a decade of service which saw him deployed as a staff surgeon to Iraq and Afghanistan four times and for which he received the Bronze Star among many other military awards. Then in late 2016, after a short tenure at UH Cleveland Medical Center, Dr. Steele accepted the position of Chairman of Colorectal Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic where he remains today. Of note, Dr. Steele is currently working toward his Executive MBA at Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management, which is right down the street from the hospital.
Dr. Steele is actively involved in the colorectal community. He serves on several editorial boards including that of the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, and is also the American College of Surgeons’ web porter for the colorectal community. His literary contributions include over 200 articles, reviews, chapters, and Clinical Practice Guidelines, as well as five complete Colorectal Surgery textbooks.
Lastly, Dr. Steele is also the co-founder of the podcast, Behind the Knife (at BehindTheKnife.org) which discusses topics related to all things surgery and which boasts 20,000 downloads each month.
Enjoy!
Post-interview Additions from Dr. Steele
Unskilled and Unaware by Kruger and Dunning (PDF)
Selected Show Notes
Behind The Knife Podcast
- Twitter: @BehindTheKnife
- On Facebook
- On Stitcher
- On iTunes
- Show them some love and leave Behind The Knife a rating and review in iTunes
Pillars of colorectal surgery according to Dr. Steele
- Anorectal disease
- Benign conditions
- Malignancies
- Endoscopy
- Pelvic floor disorders
Movie: This is 40 with Paul Rudd
LVAD = Left ventricular assist device
Colorectal resources:
- American College of Surgeons
- Check out the Colorectal community (need to sign up, though)
- Round tables for med students at the College’s Clinical Congress each fall
- The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons
- The Society’s journal: Disease of the Colon and Rectum
Dr. Steele went into colorectal surgery, in part, because he had some great mentors in the field
EP = electrophysiology
Dr. Steele explains why finding a good mentor is a little like dating
Dr. Steele explains why he loves podcasts!!
James Lipton of Inside the Actor’s Studio
Dr. Carlos Pellegrini on Behind the Knife
Dr. Ben Starnes on Behind the Knife
Dr. John Cameron on Behind the Knife
Dr. Steele talks about why he’s getting an executive MBA
Books:
Netflix series Narcos
Movie: March of the Penguins
Email: harkersteele@mac.com