What’s your name and age?
Sara Capoccia Giovannini, 33.
Where do you come from?
Italy.
How long have you been an EHS member?
I’m an EHS member since 2019 my first year of residency in General surgery.
Describe a day at work as a surgeon in your country:
I start each day with ward rounds, visiting patients and discussing compelling clinical cases. We have a weekly meeting to plan and review cases for the upcoming surgical schedule. In the outpatient clinic, I see new patients who are potential surgical candidates and provide follow-up care for those who have already undergone surgery. My daily routine also includes research activities, such as developing new studies, writing research papers, and working on my PhD project, which is a randomized controlled trial on incisional hernia prevention.
What is your favourite AWR procedure/hernia surgery?
Laparoscopic TAPP is my favorite procedure; it’s an anatomical technique and the first complex surgery I learned during my residency. I also particularly enjoy ETEP and the subxiphoid region’s dissection during TAR.
Who inspired you to become a hernia enthusiast/surgeon?
Throughout my residency and continuing now, I’ve had the privilege of meeting excellent abdominal wall surgeons and scientists in Italy and across Europe. My mentor, Cesare Stabilini, has guided my residency and PhD, encouraging me to never give up, to ask myself questions and seek the reasons behind things.
Please, give a small tip or trick to share for this or any other hernia procedure?
The greatest lesson I’ve learned is to always complete a surgical gesture and movement before moving on to the next one and Secondly, ”it’s not the speed but the precision that results in a rapid surgery.”
Have you attended an EHS congress, meeting, or course?
I attended each EHS congress since Hamburg in 2019. In 2023 I spent my EHS grant in Gent visiting Filip Muysoms learning a lot on Robotic abdominal wall repair.
Which made the biggest impression you?
In Hamburg, I was impressed by the novel techniques, the high-quality scientific proposals, and the inspiring, stimulating environment surrounding hernia surgery.
What made it great?
At each EHS congress, I was inspired by the excellent lectures from leading hernia surgeons, and I always found the video sessions particularly useful. I think the most interesting thing for me is the constant evolution of abdominal wall surgery. And it is significantly greater than other general surgery specialties, and this makes the hernia environment particularly vibrant.
How can the EHS help you in the future?
I think EHS has the potential to facilitate collaborative research projects, enabling surgeons to generate strong evidence for numerous areas within abdominal wall surgery.
What is your dream for the future of hernia surgery?
My dream is to establish a network of hernia centers worldwide to improve patient care, standardise procedures and indications, and facilitate clinical trials, data collection, and knowledge sharing. I believe that research on new materials, addressing current infection challenges and becoming more patient-specific, will represent the future of hernia surgery and engineering science.
