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Steven Thornton

House Staff
Surgery

Overview


Start Year: 2023

College/University: North Carolina State University

Post-Baccalaureate: Johns Hopkins University

Medical School: Duke University School of Medicine

Clinical Interests: Cancer Surgery

Academic Interests: Broadly, my academic interests are defined by a desire to advance the field of surgical education. More specifically, I am interested in simulation, technical skills acquisition, curriculum development, and the labor economics of surgical training.

Grants: 
- Developing Interdisciplinary Models for Surgical Education awarded by Duke University: Bass Connections (2025 - 2026)
- Behind a Mask of Shame: A Hermeneutic Phenomenologic Exploration of Surgical Residents’ Experiences with Shame awarded by the Association for Surgical Education: Center for Excellence in Surgical Education, Research, and Training (2025 - 2026)
Use of Interdisciplinary Simulation in Pediatric Trauma Resuscitation to Improve Pediatric Readiness (L40) awarded by the National Institutes of Health (2025 - 2027)

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Recent Publications


Applying a Shame Lens to Understand Surgical Resident Well-Being: A Call for a Mixed Methods Research Agenda to Build Shame Competence.

Journal Article J Surg Educ · January 2026 There is a well-known but incompletely described well-being crisis in surgery. Rates of poor mental health, substance misuse, and self-harm ideation are concerningly high. There is a growing interest in, and a related body of literature seeking to understa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Quantitative assessment of laparoscopic camera navigation skill: a retrospective cross-sectional study.

Journal Article Surg Endosc · December 23, 2025 OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether a low-cost, automated tool using trajectory-based metrics and real-time computer vision can objectively assess laparoscopic camera navigation (LCN) skill and distinguish between levels of surgical experience. Laparoscopic cam ... Full text Link to item Cite
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