Richard Feins, MD

Dr. Feins is a cardiothoracic surgeon with over 30 years of experience and a longstanding interest in the improvement of surgical training using simulation-based training. He was Chairman of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery from 2007 to 2009. He is co-director and faculty member of the Thoracic Surgery Resident Boot Camp in which cardiothoracic surgery residents come to Chapel Hill for several days of intense simulator-based training in surgery techniques. Dr. Feins recently retired as a Professor of Surgery at UNC School of Medicine and Medical Director of Peri-Operative Care at UNC Hospital. He was the Principal Investigator on a $1.05 million, multi-institution grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality which was the largest study of simulation-based surgical training to date and which clearly demonstrated the ability of simulation-based training to improve skills and safety in cardiac surgery. Dr. Feins has a B.S. in Chemistry from Dartmouth College, his M.D. from University of Vermont College of Medicine and completed his residency at the University of Rochester.