An endocrine surgeon is a physician who specializes in invasive procedures on the body’s endocrine glands. These operations are highly specialized and used in some serious cases, such as tumor removal, as well as affecting the body’s hormonal balance. The latter purpose is actually the more common one in an endocrine surgeon’s practice. The glands which an endocrine surgeon may operate on include the adrenal glands and the thyroid gland, and in some rare cases the testicles/ovaries, despite those not being considered endocrine glands primarily. According to a research, the most common operation for an endocrine surgeon is the removal of the thyroid.
Getting a job as an endocrine surgeon involves most of the standard training that surgeons go through – starting with four years of general medical training and followed by 5-7 years of internship under the supervision of more experienced surgeons. The specific training for endocrine surgeons encompasses several subjects normally not covered in the curriculum of general practice physicians, though the educational process is seen as slightly less demanding than that for other physicians.
The median salary for endocrine surgeons in 2009 was $248,000, which by the standards of most physicians and especially surgeons, is a satisfyingly high one. The demands of the job aren’t that high compared to those of other surgeons, and the general complexity of the operations performed by endocrine surgeons is substantially lower than the average for most surgeons – factors which make the job a very attractive one in the medical sector.