Mailing Address:
East Carolina University, Brody School of Medicine
Department of Surgery
Office of Surgical Education
Pitt County Memorial Hospital #301
Greenville, NC 27858-4354
Fax: 252.744.3156
Telephone: 252.744.5353
Current Professional and Academic Appointments:
Associate Professor of Surgery, ECU Brody School of Medicine July 1998-Present
Associate Director of Surgical Education, ECU Brody School of Medicine July 1998-Present
Adjunct Associate Professor of Family Medicine-Dental Residency, ECU Brody School of Medicine July 1998-Present
Education
Undergraduate Education:
University of Louisville, School of Dentistry
BS, Dental Hygiene 1967
Postgraduate Education:
WesternKentuckyUniversity
MS, Public Health 1977
University of Kentucky
Ph.D., Higher Education/Evaluation 1988
Research Interests
Current scholarly activity focuses upon curriculum design and evaluation of faculty, student, and resident outcomes:
- Developing the Surgical Resident Curriculum for program implementation;
- Collaborating with a task force to prepare a resident surgical geriatric curriculum;
- Designing assessment protocols for peer/resident/ student evaluation of surgical teaching;
- Developing interdisciplinary opportunities for projects with Geriatrics and the ECU Dental Practice Residency;
- Appointment to the National Institutes of Health-National Institutes for Dental and Craniofacial Reconstruction RFA Review Panel for written and oral critique of national proposals in Bethesda; Prepare structured dental education input to plastic surgery faculty.
Recent Grant Activity and Funded Research:
"Increasing Geriatrics Expertise in Non-Primary Care Specialists: Developing a Geriatrics Curriculum for General Surgery Residents." Creation of a national task force with curricular development grant for general surgery residencies. Principal Investigator. Source: John A. Hartford Foundation, New York through the American Geriatrics Society. March, 1995-September, 1998. Awarded.
Grant extension for geriatric curriculum development and implementation. Principal Investigator. Source: John A. Hartford Foundation, New York through the American Geriatrics Society. March, 1996-September, 1998. Awarded.
“Establishing a Surgical Geriatric Education Symposium in SanFrancisco, California.” Design and implementation of a national forum for leaders in surgery to promote geriatric education in general surgery residencies. Project Director. Source: John A. Hartford Foundation, New York through the American Geriatrics Society. April 1996-December 1996. Awarded.
“Increasing Geriatrics Expertise through Support of Resident Research.” Design and oversight of a national research stipend fund to encourage resident scholarly investigations in geriatrics. Co-Director (Walter Pories, PI). Source: John A. Hartford Foundation, New York through the American Geriatrics Society, for administration by the Association of Program Directors in Surgery. June 1998-June 1999. Awarded.
“Faculty Development for Teaching Surgical Geriatrics.” Developing surgical curricular materials through interaction with national educators, especially those contributors to the Surgical Resident Curriculum in conjunction with the Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Project Director. June 1998-2002. Awarded.
“Geriatric Faculty Leadership Program.” Grant preparation and project implementation to facilitate education activities at national meetings administered by the Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Project Co-Director (Walter Pories). February, 1999-2001. Awarded.
“Increasing Geriatrics Expertise in Non-Primary Care Specialties.” Phase II for curriculum support, special interest group (SIG) and faculty teaching development, utilizing the surgical geriatric curriculum. Funded by the American Geriatrics Society. Project Director. April, 1999-2002. $27,000 awarded. SIG support extension. July, 2005. Awarded.
“Increasing Geriatrics Expertise in the General Surgery Residency at East Carolina University.” Surgical residency training grant. Funded by the American Geriatrics Society. Project Director. July 2001-2003. Awarded.
“Surgical Faculty Program for Visiting Centers of Excellence in Geriatrics and Surgical Geriatrics.” Support of national faculty activities, through the Association of Program Directors in Surgery, for building learning and networking opportunities. Funded by discretionary funding from the American Geriatrics Society. Project Co-Director (Walter Pofahl, PI). July, 2002. Awarded.
“Promoting Living Renal Donation in the African American Community.” Pitt Memorial Hospital Foundation, Inc. Co-Investigator (Carl Haisch, PI, Kathryn Verbanac, et al.) July, 2002-2003. Awarded.
Recent Publications
Peer-Reviewed Publications:
Cox SS, Patselas TN, Pories WJ, Foil MB. Geriatric curricula and resources in general surgery residency programs. Current Surgery 1996; 53(4):235-240.
Cox SS, Capps SR, Wooden WA, Pories WJ. An interactive opinion survey identifies areas of surgical educator consensus. Current Surgery 1996; 53(6):359-363.
Cox SS. Surgical care for the elderly. Current Surgery 1996; 53(9):488-90.
Cox SS, Pories WJ. Preliminary guidelines for resident education in surgical geriatrics. Current Surgery 1996; 53(9):534-36.
Cox SS. Effects of IL-372 on graduate surgical education: Curriculum considerations. Current Surgery, 1997; 54(7):447-50.
Cox SS. Surgical geriatrics: how should we teach it? Current Surgery, 1999; 56(3):133-35.
Pofahl WE, Swanson MS, Cox SS, DaRe DM, Haisch CE, Pories WJ. Performance standards improve American Board of Surgery In-training Examination scores. Current Surgery, 2002; 59(2):220-22.
Cox SS, Swanson MS. Identification of teaching excellence in operating room and clinic settings. Am J Surg 2002; 183(3):251-255.
Peer-Reviewed Illustrative Anatomy Series—Refereed Journal:
Crombie CH, Cox SS, Pories WJ. Anatomy of the anterior abdominal wall. Current Surgery 1995; 52(9):512-517.
Cox SS, Crombie CH, Orlando DAP, Pories WJ. Hernias and congenital defects of the anterior abdominal wall. Current Surgery 1996; 53(2):113-118.
Cox SS, Crombie CH, Orlando DAP, Pories WJ. Indirect inguinal hernia repair. Current Surgery 1996; 53(4):241-247.
Cox SS, Crombie CH, Orlando DAP, Pories WJ. Direct inguinal and femoral hernia repair. Current Surgery 1996; 53(6):364-370.
Chapman WHH, Crombie CH, Cox SS, Orlando DAP, Pories WJ. Laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair. Current Surgery 1996; 53(8):477-485.
Crombie CH, Wooden WA, Cox SS, Orlando DAP, Pories WJ. Posterior abdominal wall. Current Surgery 1997;54(1):49-54.
Professional Journal Articles—Non-Refereed Journal:
Cox SS. Dynamic response to a university mandate: faculty peer evaluation of teaching. Focus on Surg Ed 1996; 14(1):29-30.
Cox SS. A call for educators in surgical geriatrics. Focus on Surg Ed 2000; 18(1):34-36.
Cox SS. Academic memberships: How many is too many? Focus on Surg Ed 2002; 19(1):
26-27.
Peer-Reviewed Abstracts in Surgical Publications/Proceedings:
Cox SS, Patselas TN, Pories WJ. Faculty peer evaluation of teaching: focusing on system structure and balance. Focus on Surg Ed 1996; 13(2):10.
Cox SS, Swanson MS, Patselas TN. Designing a protocol for learners assessing teaching: mechanisms of feedback to faculty. Focus on Surg Ed 1997; 14(2):11,15.
Cox SS, Pories WJ, Foil MB, Patselas TN. An implementation workshop for resident curricula in surgical care of the elderly. Association of Program Directors in Surgery, Meeting Proceedings 1998; 23.
Pories WJ, Cox SS, Hoey BA. The new curriculum for the residency in surgery: what’s new and how can we use it? Association of Program Directors in Surgery, Meeting Proceedings 2000.
Cox SS, Swanson MS. Identification of teaching excellence in operating room and clinic settings using a longitudinal, resident-based assessment system. Association for Surgical Education, Meeting Proceedings 2001: 55.
Pofahl WE, Swanson MS, Cox SS, et al. Performance standards improve American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) scores. Association of Program Directors in Surgery, Meeting Proceedings 2001:59.
Cox SS, Fitzpatrick JC. Is grade inflation a factor in measuring resident competency? Association of Program Directors in Surgery, Meeting Proceedings 2002: 53.
Cox SS, Pories WJ, Pofahl WE II. Structuring methods for incorporating surgical geriatrics into residents’ education. Association of Program Directors in Surgery, Meeting Proceedings 2002: 84.
Cox SS, Pofahl WE II, Pories WJ. Resident competency formulation procedures to meet ACGME Outcomes Project expectations. Association of Program Directors in Surgery, Meeting Proceedings 2003: (In press).
Presentations
Papers:
Association for Surgical Education, Annual Meeting. “Identification of teaching excellence in operating room and clinical settings using a longitudinal resident-based assessment system.” SS Cox, Presenter; MS Swanson. Nashville, Tennessee, March 29, 2001.
Association of Program Directors in Surgery. “Performance standards improve American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) scores.” WE Pofahl II, MS Swanson, SS Cox, et.al. Nashville, Tennessee, March 30, 2001.
Association of Program Directors in Surgery. “Is grade inflation a factor in measuring resident competency?” SS Cox, Presenter; JC Fitzpatrick. Baltimore, Maryland, April 3, 2002.
Panels/Oral Presentations:
Association of Program Directors in Surgery. "An Update on the 1995 Surgical Resident Curriculum." SS Cox Presenter; WJ Pories. Chicago, Illinois, October 11, 1994.
Association of Program Directors in Surgery. “Curriculum Development Workshop for Increasing Surgical Geriatric Expertise.” SS Cox, Presenter. New Orleans, Louisiana, October 25, 1995.
Association for Surgical Education. “Faculty Peer Evaluation Workshop.” SS Cox Presenter; TN Patselas, WJ Pories. Lexington, Kentucky, April 11, 1996.
Department of Surgery. “Peer Evaluator Training Course.” M Clay and SS Cox Presenters. Greenville, North Carolina, August 22, 1996.
Association of Program Directors in Surgery/American Geriatrics Society “Surgical Geriatric Education Symposium.” SS Cox Program Director; WJ Pories Co-Director and Moderator. San Francisco, California, October 8, 1996.
Association of Program Directors in Surgery. “The Effects of IL-372 on the Surgical Curriculum.” SS Cox Presenter. San Diego, California, April 3, 1997.
Association for Surgical Education. “Designing a protocol for Learners Assessing Teaching: Mechanisms of Feedback to Faculty.” SS Cox and MS Swanson Presenters; TN Patselas. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 10, 1997.
Department of Surgery, Surgical Grand Rounds. “Surgical Evaluation Schemes: Will More Make Us Better?” SS Cox Presenter. Greenville, North Carolina, June 25, 1997.
Association of Program Directors in Surgery. “An Implementation Workshop for Resident Curricula in Surgical Care of the Elderly.” SS Cox, Presenter. Baltimore, Maryland, April 24, 1998.
Association of Program Directors in Surgery. “How Should We Teach Surgical Geriatrics?” Panel Presentation for Curriculum Development and Teaching in Surgical Care of the Elderly. SS Cox, Presenter. Orlando, Florida, March, 18, 1999.
Association of Program Directors in Surgery. “A Workshop for Surgical Faculty—The New Curriculum: What’s New and How Can We Use It?” SS Cox, Presenter with WJ Pories and BA Hoey. Phoenix, Arizona, April 28, 2000.
Association of Residency Coordinators in Surgery. “A Selection of Organizational Choices for Conducting Student Interviews for the MATCH.” DM DaRe, SS Cox. Nashville, Tennessee, March 29, 2001.
Association of Program Directors in Surgery. “Structuring methods for incorporating surgical geriatrics into residents’ education.” SS Cox, WJ Pories, WE Pofahl II. Baltimore, Maryland, April 2, 2002.
Department of Surgery. “Peer Evaluator Training Course.” SS Cox Presenter. Greenville, North Carolina, October 17, 2002.
Association of Program Directors in Surgery. “Resident competency formulation procedures to meet ACGME Outcomes Project expectations.” Cox SS, Pofahl WE II, Pories WJ. Vancouver B.C. Canada, May 9, 2003.
Exhibits-Poster Presentations:
Association for Surgical Education. "A national curriculum for surgery residents: the second edition." SS Cox Presenter; WJ Pories, MB Foil, TN Patselas. Tucson, Arizona, May, 1995.
Department of Surgery Research Day. “The Surgical Resident Curriculum.” SS Cox Presenter; WJ Pories, MB Foil, TN Patselas. Greenville, North Carolina, June, 1995.
American Geriatrics Society. “Geriatrics Education in the Surgical Residency at East Carolina University.” WE Pofahl II Presenter; SS Cox, KK Steinweg. Washington, DC, May 10, 2002.
Contributions to Curriculum:
Citations below are copyrighted in: Cox SS, Pofahl WE II, Pories WJ, eds. Surgical Resident Curriculum, 4th ed. Arlington, VA: Association of Program Directors in Surgery. 2002.
- Cox SS, Pories WJ. Surgical resident curriculum goals. Pages 1-6.
- Cox SS. Curriculum utilization to gauge professional competence. Pages 7-12.
- Cox SS. Teaching and learning in surgery. Pages 13-18.
- Cox SS. Educational outcomes assessment and program evaluations. Pages 19-26.
- Cuenca RE, Cox SS. Palliative Care. Pages 242-245.
Dissertation Research:
Cox SS. Values Change and Personality as Indices of Development in the Berea College Class of 1966: A 24-Year Longitudinal Study Using the Study of Values and Omnibus Personality Inventory. Professor Leonard Baird, Chairman. Lexington: University of Kentucky. April 12, 1988. 204 pp.
Professional Organizational Memberships
- American College of Surgeons-Professional Associate status
- American Dental Hygienists' Association-Member
- American Educational Research Association-Member
- American Geriatrics Society-Member
- Association of Program Directors in Surgery-Associate Member status
- Association for Surgical Education-Member
- Sigma Phi Alpha-Member
- Sigma Xi-Member
Professional and Scholarly Activities
Coordinator for the Alphabet Retreat of professional surgical organizations through the Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Chicago, Illinois.
November, 1995 and June, 1996.
Ad Hoc Scientific Reviewer, National Institutes of Health, Comprehensive Oral Health Research Centers Programs. Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland. 1998-2000.
Special Emphasis Panel Member, Grant Review Program-Division of Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health, Review of Centers for Research to Reduce Oral Health Disparities. Public Health Research Centers Programs. Department of Health and Human Services. Bethesda, Maryland. 2000-2001.
RFA Reviewer, National Institutes of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Review of Health Disparities Applications for Pilot and Planning Studies. Bethesda, Maryland. July 15-17, 2002.
Scientific Reviewer, American Educational Research Association Abstracts, Division I: Education in the Professions. August, 2002.
Committee Assignments
School of Medicine:
- M3-M4 Curriculum Committee. Ad hoc Member. 1998-Present.
- PhD Educator Interdisciplinary Evaluation Research Group. Member. 2001-2002.
- Task Force on Women. Member. 1995-Present.
- Buddy System Transition Team Volunteer for New Faculty Orientation. July, 2002.
Department of Surgery:
- Surgical Education Committee. Member. 1994-Present.
Subcommittee Responsibilities: Peer Evaluation, Resident and Student Performance Assessment Resident and Student Performance Evaluation - Personnel Committee, Member. 2002-2003.
- ACGME-RRC Accreditation preparation for competency development. 2000-Present.
- AgroMedicine Research Group. 1999-2003.
University-wide:
Faculty Senate. Senator from School of Medicine. 1999-2005.
Academic Committees:
- Teaching Grants. School of Medicine Representative. 2001-2004.
- Radiation Safety, Basic Science Subcommittee for Non-human use. Member as ECU-Chairman of the Faculty Senate Delegate. 1994-2001.
- Copyright Policy Committee. Member as Chairman of Faculty Senate Representative. 2001-2005.
