Tamara Fitzgerald, Associate Professor of Surgery

Bass Connections Project Teams: Sustainable Implementation of Laparoscopy in Low Income Countries

Since 2018, Tamara Fitzgerald has led a Bass Connections team dedicated to improving access to laparoscopic surgery in low-income countries. In 2022, she was a finalist for the Bass Connections Leadership Award. She shared advice for other faculty at a Spring 2022 Bass Connections orientation for team leaders.

Keep Team Roles in Mind

Fitzgerald recommends organizing students into subteams, each with a faculty leader or graduate student as a point person. For example, her team is divided into five subteams, each of which is focused on a separate (but interconnected) element of the team’s research. The KeyScope and KeyLoop subteams focus on prototype development and typically include five or six engineering majors or students interested in design. The KeyLaunch subteam and the business and regulatory subteam are comprised of three to four entrepreneurial and business students. The clinical studies subteam includes premedical and medical students. These subteams work as individual units but come together to share research progress, brainstorm new ideas and answer pressing questions.

While reviewing applications, Fitzgerald advised that team leaders think of the specific roles they need filled within each subteam. “What kinds of students do we need, and with what type of expertise should they have?” she asked. It is also important to recruit a diversity of skill levels and maturity. If you recruit all first years or all seniors and you want them to be able to participate over multiple years, everyone will graduate at the same time, and you’ll be left without senior students to serve as guides and mentors to new students.

Build a Flexible Project Plan

Fitzgerald also advised that team leaders create a framework inside of subteams by analyzing what needs to be accomplished and who will do the work. Tasks can be organized using a workplan and timeline that lays out important milestones and the steps it will take to achieve them. Fitzgerald expects students to modify the timetable to fit what they want to accomplish.

Set a Meeting Schedule Early

Fitzgerald’s team meets each week for an hour and a half. “Students who cannot commit to the meetings cannot be on the team,” she said. She occasionally makes exceptions for long-term team members who may have to be away from the team for a semester, but student commitment is imperative for a successful team. During the first hour of each meeting, one subteam presents and the rest of the team gives feedback. For the last 30 minutes, they divide into subteams and subteams can review feedback and plan next steps.

During the fourth week of the month, Fitzgerald leads team-building activities. She started this during the pandemic to encourage more social interaction.

Create an Achievable Grading System

For the first assignment, Fitzgerald asks students to consider what grade they want in the class and write down what they are going to do to earn that grade. “As long as you live up to that [expectation for yourself], you get an A,” said Fitzgerald. It can be difficult to grade performance when everyone is bringing something different to the project. Before implementing this grading system, Fitzgerald said students struggled with taking risks and voicing their opinions, only really saying what they believed the team leaders wanted to hear. She wants the students to give the best to a project not because they want a good grade, but because they “want to change the world.”