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Year in Review: 2014

July 1, 2013 – June 30, 2014

Clinical

The Department of Surgery is the surgical volume leader in the state of Maryland.

The living donor liver transplant program was initiated with liver survival 96% under Dr. Rolf Barth’s leadership.  Kidney transplant volume is #2 in the U.S., second only to University of California, San Francisco.

Cardiac surgical leaders are engaged in 40 actively enrolling clinical trials including a landmark clinical trial of a catheter-based device that enables surgeons to perform mitral valve repair on a beating heart without a breast-bone splitting incision is now underway. The knowledge gained in the performance of these trials is crucial to furthering understanding of the treatment of lung and heart disease.

Vascular surgery volume at the University of Maryland, Medical Center continues to grow.  We have now exceeded for the first time the performance of 1,000 operations in a year.  In addition to the sheer number, the complexity of the operations also continues to grow and the division of vascular surgery has become a local and regional referral center for complex problem

Minhaj Siddiqui joined the Division of Urology faculty in July 2014. He is going to develop a robotic surgical practice in prostate and bladder cancer and has research interests in prostate cancer cell metabolism and focal therapy for prostate cancer.

Research

The Department of Surgery continues to rank highly among surgical departments nationally for NIH funding as we pursue new research opportunities to advance surgical treatments. Among many notable funded projects are the following research and award grants totaling nearly $5 million.

Two Maryland TEDCO Awards 

  • Dr. Sanchez: Bone marrow-derived stem cells to improve lung donor quality
  • Dr. Pearl: Thermal Endoscope for Laparoscopic surgery

Multi-PI award from Living Legacy Foundation administered by Dr. Bartlett and Dr. Bromberg to support research in various transplantation-related topics

Three major NIH research grant awards  

  • Dr. Kaushal: Biological characterization of Cardiac Stem Cells
  • Dr. Bromberg: Migration and trafficking in tolerance
  • Dr. Wang: Mucosal repair in gut surgical disorders

MedImmune grant awarded to Dr. Kaushal: Determining the mechanism of myocardial recovery by human stem cells

Education

The general surgery residency program received more than 1,300 applicants for our six categorical spots, including applicants from the most prestigious medical schools in the country. We are very proud to welcome our newest categorical interns:

Bryan Buckingham, M.D.University of Maryland School of Medicine
Greg Conway, M.D.University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Chelsea Harris, M.D.University of Vermont College of Medicine
Ali Khalifeh, M.D.University of Balamand
Aparna Kishor, M.D.University of Maryland School of Medicine
Philip Wasicek, M.D.University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry
  

The 3rd Annual Update and Workshop on Management of Peritoneal Surface Malignancies led by the course director Dr. Nader Hanna, was conducted on June 12, 13, 2014. This two-day symposium featured distinguished faculty from the University of Maryland School of Medicine as well as national and international renown experts involved in the management of peritoneal carcinomatosis originating for gastrointestinal and gynecological malignancies. The symposium draw a record of 70 attendee from Europe, Canada and the US who attended a series of lectures, videos and round table discussion with focus on up-to-date treatment options, advanced/optimal surgical techniques, improved patient selection, strategies to minimize complications, and improved outcomes.

Leadership

Cardiac Surgery  

  • Richard N. Pierson III, MD, PhD was named Senior Associate Chair for Research

General and Oncologic Surgery  

  • John Olson, MD, PhD was named to the American Surgical Association, appointed to the Executive Council and as Chair of the Research and Education committee of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons

Plastic Surgery  

  • Sheri Slezak, MD was elected chair of the American Board of Plastic Surgery
  • Devinder Singh, MD was named Chair, Maryland Board of Medicine

Thoracic Surgery 

  • Linda Martin, MD was awarded the Carolyn Reed Traveling Fellowship

Transplantation 

  • Jonathan Bromberg, MD, PhD received the Established Basic Science Investigator Award from the American Society of Transplantation

Vascular Surgery 

  • Thomas Monahan, MD was awarded the prestigious Wylie Scholar Award from the Vascular Cures Research Foundation

Philanthropy

The department received $5.9 million in private charitable gifts and pledges from 285 donors.  These charitable gifts are an investment that will impact the healthcare of patients by providing funding for new educational and research initiatives.