Fall 2022

Vol. 3 Issue 1

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Letter from Chair | Promoted Faculty | Clinical Spotlight |Research Spotlight | Welcome New Faculty | Philanthropy | Service Excellence | Resident Updates | Archive

Letter from the Chair

As we end the first quarter of the new academic year, I look forward to Fall's arrival and all that it brings. The Department is thriving and transforming as we continue to grow and expand our footprint across Maryland. With the arrival of our new Dean, Dr. Mark T. Gladwin comes a time of great excitement throughout the School of Medicine. Dr. Gladwin's visionary ideas to grow the tripartite mission (clinical, research, and education) will strengthen the School of Medicine and help drive initiatives system-wide, with the School of Medicine at the forefront. I look forward to introducing him to the faculty at our upcoming mini-retreat in October.

As a Department, we are entering a historical change phase, beginning with the retirement of long-time Division Chief of Pediatric Surgery, Roger Voigt, MBChB. While Dr. Voigt will be hard to replace, I am delighted to welcome Kimberly Lumpkins, MD, MBA, as the newly appointed Chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery and the Surgeon-in-Chief of the University of Maryland Children's Hospital. I am confident she will lead the division to new heights and wish her much success in these roles.

Additionally, in July, we said farewell and congratulations to former Chief of the Division of General and Surgical Oncology, John Olson, Jr., MD. It was a proud moment to see him appointed Chair of Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Dr. Olson has been a great friend and colleague to me over the past several decades and this is an amazing honor for him to return to lead the Department that trained him. Stepping into the role as Interim Division Chief is Jonathan Pearl, MD. Dr. Pearl's successful leadership at our Midtown Campus and VA Hospital will benefit him as he begins his leadership of the Division of General and Surgical Oncology.

I am pleased to have completed another successful promotion and tenure cycle in the Department. We once again had great success with our outstanding faculty reaching new heights of academic success. Please congratulate them when you see them.

We will continue to transform and grow as a Department and an organization. I look forward to where we are going and continuing all of our successes as we embark on another academic year. I look forward to seeing us thrive in FY23.

Best wishes,

Christine Lau, MD, MBA

Recently Promoted Faculty

Faculty were promoted to the titles listed below their name.

Clinical Spotlight

Collaboration and Innovation Saving Quality of Life and Limb

Khanjan Nagarsheth, MD, Associate Professor, Division of Vascular Surgery and Co-Director of the Limb Preservation Program and his colleagues focus on helping more patients avoid amputation. Through a unique surgical approach and partnership with a wound clinic founded and run by vascular nurses, Dr. Nagarsheth and his team make a difference one limb at a time.

Through a limb-salvage procedure called deep vein arterialization (DVA), certain veins in the lower leg and foot turn into arteries for individuals whose original arteries can no longer deliver the blood they need.  “We can save 40% to 50% of limbs by performing DVA,” Dr. Nagarsheth said. “If we save the limbs of 40% of people referred for amputation, that’s significant because every one of them needs amputation without this procedure.”

Severe peripheral artery disease (PAD), a condition where plaque builds up in the arteries outside of the heart, puts the population of patients who undergo DVA at risk of amputation.  This generally occurs in the legs and feet and over time the plaque can narrow the arteries and reduce, or even stop, blood flow to these areas.  As a result, the individual may develop extremely difficult to heal wounds as the limb lacks the necessary blood and oxygen.

Patients with chronic wounds run higher risk for hospitalization.  The complexity of these wounds and the care required precipitated the creation of a vascular wound clinic by a vascular surgery advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) and vascular registered nurse (RN).  The nursing led wound clinic offers a single point of contact for patient’s vascular surgery and wound care needs.  This continuity of care and resulted in the healing of complex wounds and decreased the need for readmission and/or re-operation. 

Through collaborative efforts between a unique surgical approach and innovations to patient care, Dr. Nagarsheth and his team improved the quality of life and limb for the patients in our community.   

Research Spotlight

Fallout of Delayed Cancer Screenings

In an interview done in May 2022 for NPR’s “Here and Now,” Brian Englum, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of Pediatric Surgery discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis of new cancers.  Dr. Englum co-authored a study published in the journal Cancer, which discovered the pandemic caused significant decreases in routine cancer screenings, leading to undiagnosed cancers and more advanced cancers that may be harder to treat.   

Dr. Englum and his team utilized Veterans Affairs (VA) data for the study, since their system contains more than nine-million patients. The encounters studied related to prostate, lung, bladder and colorectal cancers. The team reviewed pre-COVID data beginning in 2016 and compared to what happened after the pandemic began, through 2020.  They found a dramatic decrease in diagnostic procedures necessary to identify cancers and a reduction in the diagnosis of new cancers. 

There was hope for an increase in diagnostic screening encounters as the pandemic slowed down, but Dr. Englum explained “Our study shows not only did we not make up for the blip, we didn’t even get back to baseline by the end of 2020.”  The consequences of these delayed cancer screenings include upstaging of initial diagnosis, increases in the complexity of treatments, and increases in mortality.  Additionally, potential risk exists for a surge in chronic diseases that could overwhelm our healthcare systems again.

Dr. Englum intends to use these findings to prepare for any future pandemics and create innovative ways to improve patient surveillance, with the sincere ultimate goal of preventing history from repeating itself.

NPR Interview

Published Study

Recent Awards

The Office of Technology Transfer presented Rajabrata Sarkar, MD a Technology Advancement Award for his Handheld Central Arterial and Femoral Puncture Device presented at the Medical Device Sprint pitch.

The Office of Technology Transfer presented Khanjan Nagarsheth, MD a Technology Advancement Award for his AR Mirror Therapy Device presented at the Medical Device Sprint pitch.

Welcome New Faculty

Douglas Anderson, DO
Assistant Professor, Division of Cardiac Surgery

Dr. Anderson received his medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed his Cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at Northwell Health – Northshore University Hospital/Long Island Jewish Medical Center.

Mirnal Chaudhary, MD
Assistant Professor, Division of Vascular Surgery

Dr. Chaudhary received his medical degree from Northeast Ohio Medical University and completed his residency in General Surgery at Wright State University. In addition, Dr. Chaudhary earned a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison during his surgical residency.

David S. Zapata, MD
Assistant Professor, Division of Cardiac Surgery

Dr. Zapata received his medical degree from UT Health in San Antonio and completed his residency and fellowship training in cardiothoracic surgery at Emory University.

Philanthropy

Remembering Dr. J. Laurance Hill

As the founding leader of the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Division of Pediatric Surgery, Dr. Larry Hill served as an inspirational leader and mentor to many.  Though he passed away on July 23, 2022, his accomplishments, guidance and dedication to the field of Pediatric Surgery carry on forever. 

From 1977 to 2005, Dr. Hill held the positions of Chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief of Surgical Services for Infants and Children.  In addition, he co-founded the first joint Pediatric Surgery fellowship program in the country, combining University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins Medical Centers.

The American Academy of Pediatrics awarded Dr. Hill the Salzburg Prize for mentoring and UMSOM named him Emeritus Professor of Surgery.  He demonstrated a deep dedication to education and patient care and shared his passion with pediatric surgery fellows, surgical residents and students during his time at UMSOM.

Service Excellence

What’s New in FY23?

Every year, FPI reviews the current Service Excellence goals to ensure they are still in line with the organization’s focus and what matters most to our patients. Creating positive patient experiences and gaining loyalty to drive the likelihood of recommending our practices to others is what we strive for each day.

As we enter FY23, Likelihood to Recommend will remain our overall goal and we will continue to track Staff Worked Together and Care Provider Concern for Questions/Worries. In lieu of Wait Time, we are now focusing on How Well Staff Protected Safety. This is something that has proven important to our patients and a key driver. We are off to a strong start and have the ability to achieve our goals in FY23. Strive for excellence in all that you do and gain the loyalty of our patients to keep them coming back.