A NEWSLETTER FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY

at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston

August 2025

Women in Medicine & Sciences Features:

Laura J. Moore, MD, FACS

Each month, the Women Faculty Forum presents its Women in Medicine and Sciences Feature, highlighting the women faculty at McGovern Medical School who are leaders in medicine, research, and education.

This month’s feature is Laura J. Moore, MD, FACS, professor in the Department of Surgery.

Read the full story…

National Think Tank Advances Pediatric Burn Care

The second annual Pediatric Burn Think Tank convened national experts to define gaps, identify resources, and develop solutions to improve care for children with burn injuries. Supported by the Pediatric Pandemic Network, the meeting is part of a national effort to help healthcare systems and communities prepare to deliver high-quality pediatric care during emergencies, disasters, and global health threats.

Lillian F. Liao, MD, MPH, FACS, professor in the Department of Surgery, spoke on the workforce gap related to non-burn surgeons in rural communities and the limited ability of local hospitals to provide acute burn care for children. She emphasized the need for collaboration with national organizations, including the Pediatric Trauma Society (PTS), American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST), American Burn Association (ABA), and Committee on Trauma (COT), to expand education and ensure consistent quality of care across institutions.



Dr. Liao also introduced a new PTS Task Force, which she co-chairs, created to involve acute care surgeons in the care of pediatric burn patients. The initiative aims to serve as a catalyst for further engagement and collaboration nationwide.

Mission Accomplished - The McGovern Medical School Crew Achieves its Goals at the ACS Quality and Safety Conference

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) celebrated its 20th anniversary of the annual Quality and Safety Conference from July 17-20 in San Diego, California. With a focus on “Embracing Change and the Future of Quality,” innovative technology and artificial intelligence were front and center. At the same time, there was a continued emphasis on the age-old tenets of effective communication, standardization of care, and teamwork. Given that the meeting was held across the street from the location of an iconic scene from “Top Gun”, it was only fitting that the keynote speaker was a Navy fighter pilot who talked about crew resource management to reduce errors.

The Departments of Surgery and Pediatric Surgery were well represented at this year’s conference. Faculty served as facilitators of courses and as content experts and moderators of breakout sessions. Faculty, residents, and students presented the results of quality improvement projects conducted at our UTHealth Houston-affiliated hospitals across various specialties.

A few highlights:

• Kevin Lally, MD, MS, professor and chair of pediatric surgery, led a pre-conference meeting of the Pediatric Surgery Quality Collaborative.
• Lillian Kao, MD, MS, professor of surgery, facilitated the pre-conference all-day workshop entitled “QI: The Basics” and spoke in a general and a breakout session.
• Jonah Stulberg, MD, MPH, PhD, associate professor of surgery, led a session entitled “Innovative Approaches to Opioid Stewardship: Nudges, Surgical Practices, and Patient Education” and moderated an oral presentation session.
• Michael Wandling, MD, MS, assistant professor of surgery, spoke on “Emergency General Surgery-Verification Program (EGS-VP): All Things Data” and “The EGS Targeted Module: Using your data to support EGS verification” as well as moderated an oral presentation session.
• Tamara Saunders, MD, associate professor of surgery, presented the department’s work on developing a QI curriculum for surgical residents as well as LBJ’s improvement in outcomes and sustained quality over 10 years of NSQIP participation.
• Victoria Tang, MD, MAS, associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, led a pre-course on “Surgical Excellence for Older Adults” and moderated a session entitled: “Examining Surgical Decision-Making for Cognitively Impaired Populations”.
• Parker Towns (medical student) and James Klugh, MD, MS, had oral presentations.
• Elizabeth Harris (medical student), Carley Isbell, MD, Neha Malik, MD, MS, Renee Walker, MD, Will Rieger, MD, Erin Santos, MD, Erin Morris, MD, and Jeanette Joly, MD, all presented their QI projects in the poster session.

Although McGovern Medical School has a long-standing history of engagement in quality and safety and attendance at this conference, there is still much uncharted territory for optimizing patient safety and quality. Led by Dr. Saunders and facilitated by Terry Fisher, MPH, PMP, CPHQ, the QI Resident Curriculum Committee continues to innovate and identify opportunities to train, engage, and empower residents to optimize patient outcomes.

Cleft and Craniofacial Team Shines at ACPA Annual Meeting

Danielle Sobol, MD, assistant professor in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and the cleft and craniofacial team had a strong showing at the American Cleft Palate Craniofacial Association (ACPA) annual meeting in May 2025. As the primary cleft and craniofacial medical association in the U.S., ACPA draws multidisciplinary professionals and patient advocates from across the country.

The UTHealth Houston team made a significant impact, presenting seven research projects, including two podium presentations with Q&A sessions. These presentations focused on prospective, patient-reported outcomes in children and adolescents with cleft lip and palate. By incorporating perspectives from patients, caregivers, and providers, the team aims to deliver more holistic care and improve understanding of long-term outcomes for individuals born with cleft.

Welcome, New Urology Interns!

The Department of Surgery is pleased to welcome our new urology interns, who officially began training on June 24, 2025. Please join us in extending a warm welcome to this talented group as they embark on their residency journey here at McGovern Medical School.

Tharun Somasundar

Medical School: Boston University School of Medicine

Undergraduate: Boston University

Hoi Duc Doan

Medical School: University of New Mexico School of Medicine

Undergraduate: University of New Mexico – Main Campus (Albuquerque, NM)

Adithya "Adi" Chandrasekaran

Medical School: Chicago Medical School

Undergraduate: University of Michigan – Ann Arbor

We are excited to have Tharun, Hoi, and Adi join the Urology team and look forward to their contributions in the years ahead.

Fellowship Graduation: UTMIST

The Department of Surgery recently celebrated the graduation of the Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship Class of 2024–25. The MIST Fellowship Consortium, directed by Erik B. Wilson, MD, professor of surgery, Lynn and Oscar Wyatt Chair in Metabolic Research, and director of the Division of Elective Surgery, and Melissa Felinski, DO, associate professor in the Department of Surgery, comprises five distinct programs, four surgical fellowships, and one clinical obesity medicine fellowship. Fellows spend most of their time with designated faculty but also rotate among the participating groups to gain broad operative, clinical, and academic experience.

The strength of the MIST Fellowship Consortium lies in its collaborative structure and the depth of expertise among its faculty, who offer a wealth of advanced laparoscopic and minimally invasive knowledge. To date, the consortium has graduated more than 150 fellows.

Congratulations to this year’s graduates:

• Christopher Carnabatu, MD - Advanced MIS & Bariatrics Fellowship, UTHealth Houston; next step: Endocrine Surgery Fellowship, UT Southwestern Medical Center, then joining the University of Tennessee School of Medicine
• Mercedez Hernandez, MD - Obesity Medicine & Metabolic Performance Fellowship, UTHealth Houston; next step: CU Health and Wellness Center, Aurora, CO
• Amy DeKerlegand, MD - Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship, Houston Northwest Medical Center; next step: Austin Surgeons, Austin, TX
• Haley Lanser, DO - Advanced Colorectal Surgery Fellowship, Houston Colon; next step: Colorectal Surgery Fellowship, UTHealth Houston
• Erin McAtee, DO - Advanced Colorectal Surgery Fellowship, Houston Colon; next step: Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship, University of Kentucky
• Jordan Purewal, MD - Bariatric Surgery Fellowship, Bariatric Medical Institute of Texas; next step: Joining BMI of Texas, San Antonio
• Andrea Stark, DO - Obesity Medicine & Metabolic Performance Fellowship, UTHealth Houston; next step: Internal Medicine, UTMB
• Alex Tse, MD - Bariatric Surgery Fellowship, Bariatric Medical Institute of Texas; next step: Houston Weight Loss
• Patrick Vallance, MD - Abdominal Wall Reconstruction Hernia Fellowship, UTHealth Houston; next step: Alberta Health Services, Calgary, Canada
• Clara Zhu, MD - Advanced MIS & Bariatrics Fellowship, UTHealth Houston; next step: Associated Surgeons of San Luis Obispo, CA

The Department congratulates the 2024–2025 MIST fellows on their accomplishments and wishes them continued success in their careers.

Fellowship Graduation: Colon & Rectal Surgery

The Department of Surgery recently celebrated the graduation of the Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship Class of 2024–25. McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston hosts one of the country's largest colon and rectal surgery fellowship programs, training four fellows each year under the leadership of Program Director Michael Snyder, MD, FACS. During this rigorous year, fellows work with 12 faculty members across 10 hospitals throughout the Houston area, gaining a wide variety of colorectal surgery experience.

The department congratulates the graduates on their achievements and wishes them well as they begin their careers and join the extensive alumni network of colon and rectal surgeons trained at McGovern Medical School, now practicing across the U.S.

• Arthur Affleck, MD – Returning to Maryland to begin practice
• Steven Capece, MD – Joining Kelsey-Seybold in Houston, Texas
• Elias Chamely, MD – Joining the UTHealth Houston faculty at Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital
• Dena Nasir, MD – Entering private practice in Los Angeles, California

ANNOUNCEMENTS & HIGHLIGHTS

Publications of Note

Sanders KE, Hatton GE, Karpe AS, Luciano MP, Bavishi DA, Burczak KW, Van Gent JM, Mokhtari A, Cotton BA, McNutt MK, Puzio TJ. Pre-injury statin therapy is associated with lower VTE after traumatic brain injury. Am J Surg. 2025 Jul 7;250:116509. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116509. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40651086.

Deboever, Nathaniel MD, MSc; Al-Tashi, Qasem PhD; Eisenberg, Michael MD, MSc; Saad, Maliazurina B MD; Antonoff, Mara B MD; Hofstetter, Wayne L MD; Mehran, Reza J MD; Rice, David C MD; Roth, Jack MD; Swisher, Stephen G MD; Vaporciyan, Ara A MD; Walsh, Garrett L MD; Wu, Jia MD, PhD; Rajaram, Ravi MD. Machine Learning Prediction of Financial Toxicity in Patients with Resected Lung Cancer.

Journal of the American College of Surgeons 241(2):p 107-116, August 2025. | DOI: 10.1097/XCS.0000000000001373

Bernhardt IM, Moore EE, Sauaia A, Cotton BA, Cannon JW, Schreiber MA, Namias N, Minei JP, Wisniewski SR, Guyette FX, Sperry JL; Shock, Whole Blood, and Assessment of Traumatic Brain Injury (SWAT) Study Group. Timing of trauma deaths due to uncontrolled bleeding have not changed in three decades: A multicenter study of patients in hemorrhagic shock. Am J Surg. 2025 Jul 8;250:116510. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116510. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40706451.

Carney PR, Zarzaur BL, Holcomb JB, Fox EE, Wade CE, Savage SA. The impact of transfusion kinetics on the inflammatory response following major injury. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2024 Dec 1;97(6):904-909. doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000004399. Epub 2024 May 27. PMID: 40608534.

Kregel HR, Van Gent JM, Sunez F, Wandling MW, Mueck KM, Cotton BA, Meyer DE, Moore LJ, Kao LS, Puzio TJ. Looking Beyond Hospital Discharge: One-Year Mortality Following Tracheostomy Creation in Traumatically Injured Older Adults. J Surg Res. 2025 Jul 15;313:171-176. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2025.05.028. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40669374.

Martinez Ugarte S, Fajemisin MO, Kao LS. Moving from prognostication to prevention of SSIs in LMICs. Trauma Surg Acute Care Open. 2025 Jul 1;10(3):e001946. doi: 10.1136/tsaco-2025-001946. PMID: 40612644; PMCID: PMC12215129.

Rajesh A, Barry L, Giersch C, Danko KL, Bowers A, Braverman M, Epley E, Rose T, Whole Blood Consortium SA, Bryan Cotton, Eastridge B, Jenkins D. Prehospital whole blood transfusion improves probability of survival over transfusion within one hour of arrival to a trauma center. Am J Surg. 2025 Jul 17;250:116530. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116530. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40714718.

Sutyak KM, Fisher T, Kim DH, Wandling MW, Kawaguchi AL, Adams SD, Kao LS, Lally KP, Saunders TE. A Recipe for a Continuous Quality Improvement Program in Surgical Residency. J Surg Educ. 2025 Jul 18;82(9):103589. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2025.103589. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40682991.

Testa A, Bluth E, Monroe L, Harris K, Abbott SB, Aitken ME, Fox EE, Heckler B, Kao LS, Li R, Michael SM, McPherson HM, Nieves M, Owen CP, Rix K, Jalaparthi HS, Schick V, Sharma SV, Stratemann C, Thompson AMV, Tsai J, Yang Z, McKay S. Protocol for the Houston Hospital-based violence intervention program. PLoS One. 2025 Jul 2;20(7):e0325569. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0325569. PMID: 40601592; PMCID: PMC12221051.

Testa A, Bluth E, Monroe L, Harris K, Abbott SB, Aitken ME, Fox EE, Heckler B, Kao LS, Li R, Michael SM, McPherson HM, Nieves M, Owen CP, Rix K, Schick V, Sharma SV, Stratemann C, Thompson AMV, Tsai J, Yang Z, McKay S. Protocol for the Houston Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 May 19:2025.05.18.25327870. doi: 10.1101/2025.05.18.25327870. Update in: PLoS One. 2025 Jul 2;20(7):e0325569. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0325569. PMID: 40661309; PMCID: PMC12258744.

IN THE NEWS

GRAND ROUNDS

SOCIAL MEDIA SPOTLIGHT

utplastics: Welcoming the new interns/independents. Bring on 2025-2026!

uturology: Big roll energy 🍣🍱 #sushinight

Editorial Team: Dr. Lillian S. Kao, Dr. Casey B. Duncan, Dr. Peter A. Walker, and Dr. Elias A. Chamely

For content submissions, email Sophia.M.Solis@uth.tmc.edu.