AWARDS

Department of Surgery Faculty Recognized for Their Teaching

Benjy F. Brooks, MD Outstanding Clinical Faculty Award: Ritha Belizaire, MD

Ritha Belizaire, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, is the 2022 winner of the Benjy F. Brooks, MD, Outstanding Clinical Faculty Award.

“I have never won an award like this, so after the initial shock wore off, I felt incredibly honored and proud,” Belizaire described after winning the award. “I sent the email to my mom (as one does). It’s easy to forget that it is a privilege to teach the next generation of doctors and understand that you can have an impact on the trajectory of someone’s career as a physician. I feel absolutely humbled that they chose me for this award.”

Herbert L. and Margaret W. DuPont Master Clinical Teaching Award: Sasha Adams, MD

Sasha Adams, MD, associate professor in the Department of Surgery, is the winner of the 2022 Herbert L. and Margaret W. DuPont Master Clinical Teaching Award.

Established in 2001 and made possible by a gift from the DuPonts, the award recognizes and preserves the essence and quality of the master clinical teacher, reflecting McGovern Medical School’s top priority of quality clinical medical education.

EDUCATION

General Surgery Residents Present at the Inaugural Department Quality Improvement Day

Last year, the Department of Surgery Quality Improvement Curriculum Workgroup launched an initiative to support real-world, resident-led quality improvement in our partnership hospitals. The workgroup’s approach was to provide didactic training on QI and have each PGY class from 2s to 5s, select a project for each to work on for the entire academic year. On June 2, 2022, the residents presented on their projects and outcomes.

PGY2

Title of project: LBJ Breast Clinic Efficiency

Mentors: Dr. Tamara Saunders and Dr. David Kim.

PGY3

Title of project: Gastrostomy Tubes: Small Procedures, Big Complications

Mentor: Dr. Michael Wandling

PGY4

Title of project: Promoting Enhanced Debridement Interventions for Burns

Mentors: Dr. Linda Li and Dr. Akemi Kawaguchi

PGY5

Title of project: LBJ ASC Consent

Mentors: Dr. Tamara Saunders and Dr. David Kim

The QI Curriculum Workgroup wishes to extend a heartfelt ‘great job’ to each class member for all the work invested in each project. All of the resident-lead QI projects are available for review. If anyone would like a copy of the presentation for each class, please reach out to Terry Fisher, in the Department of Pediatric Surgery, at terry.fisher@uth.tmc.edu.

RESEARCH

Research Retreat Inspires Future Vision

On Tuesday, May 17th, the research and administrative leadership of the Department of Surgery and Department of Pediatric Surgery met for a research retreat. The four-hour retreat was dedicated to developing a vision and plan for growing and supporting research throughout the department. It was a great success and the first step toward our aspirational new vision:

Founded on clinical excellence, we aspire to be a consistently top-tier research department that advances the science of surgery through innovative, impactful research programs which develop future leaders.

Moving forward, the department will work on obtaining the resources and building the infrastructure to support this vision.

Whole blood for trauma resuscitation research published in JACS

Recent research led by Bryan Cotton, MD, professor in the Department of Surgery, on the impact of the use of whole blood for trauma resuscitation was featured in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

The abstract titled “Impact of Incorporating Whole Blood into Hemorrhagic Shock Resuscitation: Analysis of 1,377 Consecutive Trauma Patients Receiving Emergency-Release Uncrossmatched Blood Products,” resulted from a prospective observational cohort study of injured patients receiving emergency-release blood products.

HIGHLIGHTS

Greives Inducted into the American Association of Plastic Surgery

Matthew R. Greives, MD, MS, FACS was inducted into the American Association of Plastic Surgery. The American Association of Plastic Surgeons is the oldest plastic surgery organization in the United States. Membership is by invitation only and Candidates for Active Fellowship must be certified by either the American Board of Plastic Surgery or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Plastic Surgery. The AAPS considers applicants based on their contributions to the specialty of plastic surgery in the areas of academic achievement, teaching, research, administration and service as well as remarkable personal accomplishments.

Dr. Wang speaks at the American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting

The American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting was held in New Orleans, Louisiana, from May 13 to May 16, 2022. The AUA annual meeting has been the largest urological conference globally for the past 117 years. This was the first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic affected international attendance, about 10,000 people attended the meeting in person, and tens of thousands more watched online. As an internationally recognized expert in urological andrology and sexual medicine, Dr. Wang gave a plenary speech about Surgical tips for grafting procedures for Peyronie’s disease. Dr. Wang also gave a lecture regarding the controversy of penile enhancement surgeries at the Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA) – a subspecialty meeting during the AUA. Dr. Wang served as the President of SMSNA before, and he is the current President of the SMSNA Foundation. Another lecture Dr. Wang gave was about testosterone replacement therapy related to prostate cancer risk at the International Prostate Forum, a regular event for the past ten years. Dr. Wang is a Professor of Surgery (Urology), the Cecil M. Crigler, MD Endowed Chair in Urology, and the Director of the Sexual Medicine Fellowship Program at the UTHealth McGovern Medical School.

Medical Students Present at The Society for the Surgery of the Alimentary Tract

In Digestive Disease Week in San Diego at the Society for the Surgery of the Aliment Tract, our medical students had three oral presentations about surgical outcomes of hiatal hernia repair at Memorial Hermann Southeast. One plenary session and two quick shots. They were true stars, says Dr. Farzaneh Banki. In the sessions that we presented at this event, the only medical student presenters were from McGovern. Those that participated were Clarissa Hoffman, MD PhD, Mary Dyson, medical student third year at McGovern Medical School, Raymar Turanga, medical student second year at McGovern Medical School and Megan Mai, presently medical student first year at Texas Tech.