2023 Spring STAR Educator Recipient: Deborah L. Mueller, MD, FACS
Deborah L. Mueller, MD, FACS
Professor
Department of Surgery
Division of Trauma and Emergency Surgery
Nomination Submission:
Dr. Deborah Mueller was a bright light amongst our faculty and her devotion to the wellness and education of the General Surgery Residency was second to none. In addition to the duties and responsibilities she had as a well-respected trauma surgeon, Dr. Mueller was also the Chair of our wellness committee, shouldering the burden of overcoming decades of the “suck it up and bear it” mindset and was intent on changing the way we practice surgery and navigate residency. As a female groomed in the era of no work hour restrictions and a lack of female role models, Dr. Mueller became the ultimate advocate for female medical students, residents, and faculty alike. She started an annual wellness retreat within our residency, focusing on our mental health and team building. She routinely attended our general surgery residency council meetings to listen to our needs and then advocated, often for months, to administration to make it happen. She organized several wellness outings and would work to ensure maximal resident attendance by convincing faculty to take the resident’s call solo. She served as a mentor and confidant to many of our residents and would assess interns at the beginning of the year to make sure that those vulnerable to depression, burnout, and those having a difficult time adjusting were appropriately checked on and supported. She created a “van to vote” during election season so that residents could quickly and efficiently go vote during the early voting period by driving us in her own van. Residents often point to her teaching on ICU rounds as a favorite past time because of the way she brought education to life. On Feb 10th 2023, Dr. Mueller suddenly passed away leaving a huge void in our program, but is nevertheless deserving of this award honoring Star Educators.