A NEWSLETTER FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY
at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston
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Doctor Day #1 for this amazing group of interns @UTHealthSurg! Looking forward to a great year!! | |
2022 Champions of Learning Environment | |
In an effort to continue to enhance professionalism and encourage a positive learning environment, Directors of Learning Environment Vineeth John, MD, MBA, and John Riggs, MD, have announced 24 McGovern Medical School faculty as the 2022 Champions of Clinical Learning Environment.
Selected for upholding aspects of a positive and vibrant learning environment, the Champions of Learning Environment create opportunities to promote and encourage professionalism amongst all of their colleagues.
The process of selecting the faculty involved a detailed review of the Learning Environment Survey (LES) completed by third-year medical students to choose faculty who are consistently described as exceptional role models. In the survey, medical students were effusive in their praise and pointed out hundreds of faculty members who demonstrated patient-centered teaching and care, served as role models of care and compassion toward learners and patients, and exemplified professional behavior while consistently demonstrating respect for the learner, patient, and other health care providers.
In addition, the faculty members received accolades for being enthusiastic and creating enjoyable and safe learning environments.
2022 awardees for the Department of Surgery - Champions of Learning Environment are:
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Todd Huzar, MD, associate professor, Surgery
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Saleem Khan, MD, professor, Surgery
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Ethan Taub, DO, assistant professor, Surgery
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Huzar Receives Dr. Steven Gitelis Inspiration Award | |
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Dr. Todd Huzar, Associate Professor for Acute Care Surgery has been awarded AlloSource’s Dr. Steven Gitelis, MD Inspiration Award. This award honors doctors and clinicians that inspire through their work in treating people with allograft tissue. Dr. Huzar’s passion for helping others, including honoring tissue donors by using allografts to treat children for acute burns is what inspired AlloSource to select Dr. Huzar for this prestigious award. Congratulations, Dr. Huzar!
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Andrassy Joins the President's Office as Senior Vice President for Clinical Affairs | |
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UTHealth Houston President Giuseppe N. Colasurdo, MD, announced July 29 that following two years serving as the medical school’s executive dean ad interim, Richard Andrassy, MD, will be joining the President’s Office in the role of senior vice president for clinical and faculty affairs. Andrassy will continue to serve as chair of the Department of Surgery and, in this new position, will join the leadership team of the academic group practice and continue to co-chair the Clinical Leadership Council.
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American College of Surgeons Quality and Safety Conference 2022 | |
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The American College of Surgeons (ACS) held their annual Quality and Safety Conference from July 15-18 in Chicago, IL. After canceling this meeting in 2020 and holding a virtual meeting only in 2021, this marked the first in-person Quality and Safety meeting in 3 years. Among the highlights included:
- Roll-out of the in-person Quality Improvement (QI) Basics Workshop, an all-day in-person course to teach QI principles and provide attendees with the tools necessary to implement and track initiatives in their institutions. Drs. Lillian Kao and Tamara Saunders both served as facilitators for this course.
- Introduction of the Emergency General Surgery (EGS) Registry which will include both operative and non-operative cases to better risk-adjust and evaluate outcomes after urgent and emergent procedures for conditions such as acute diverticulitis and acute abdomen. Dr. Michael Wandling presented this initiative, which is a continuation of his work from when he was an ACS Clinical Scholar.
- Acknowledgement of the first 25 hospitals to participate in the ACS' new Quality Verification Program (QVP), which provides 12 standards to ensure optimal patient safety and quality in surgery. Dr. Lillian Kao, with the support of Dr. Richard Andrassy, UTHealth and Memorial Hermann Hospital leadership, led Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center through the verification process in December 2019. She is also a site reviewer for the program.
For more information about the conference, please see the official website:
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Teen Patient Becomes Role Model for Others Diagnosed with Cleft | |
From time to time, Charlotte “Charlie” Brown will be asked questions about her face and why it’s a little different. Although that may seem off-putting to some, she sees it as an opportunity to educate and spread awareness about cleft conditions.
“It’s nothing to hide. I feel like it could make some people insecure, but I’m proud of it,” she explained. “It’s made me unique, and I want to share that with other people.”
Originally from Scotland, Charlie’s diagnosis of bilateral palate and single cleft lip caught her parents off guard because of the complete lack of family history of the disorder. As an infant, she underwent multiple surgeries to repair her palate and lip. For years, everything remained stable and her family relocated to Texas.
Read full story featuring Dr. Matthew Greives...
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WonderKids Event Rocks Cleft & Craniofacial Awareness Month | |
The division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery held their annual WonderKids Workshop and family concert on Friday July 15th to support Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness Month. This event is a fun filled day for families that are part of our Texas Cleft-Craniofacial Team. The kids spend 7 hours in the WonderKids Workshop participating in a variety of events such as: ice-breakers, relay races, sharing what they like about each other, learning about kindness, and guest speakers (including former cleft team patients, Dr. Wendy Chen with her therapy dog, and Dr. Paloma Nguyen, DDS sharing about dental hygiene and smile care). When the workshop was over, all family members as well as additional families from our Texas Cleft-Craniofacial Team came to join in for an 80’s Rock Concert. The band features two current and one former UTHealth Physicians; Dr. Phuong Nguyen from Plastic Surgery, Dr. Mark Dannenbaum from Neurosurgery, and Dr. Soham Roy from ENT, currently at Children’s Colorado. The purpose of the day’s events is to allow kids and families to come together with others that have been through the same experiences, to create friendships, and build a support network. When asked how the day rated on a scale of 1 to 10, the kids exclaimed 1000! | |
GRAND ROUNDS
Date: August 4, 2022
Presentation Title: Research Overview
Speakers: Drs. Jonah Stulberg and Lillian Kao
Date: August 11, 2022
Presentation Title: Reported Quality Measures - why are they and why do they matter to surgeons?
Speakers: Drs. Phillip Chang (Memorial Herman) and Michael Wandling
Date: August 18, 2022
Presentation Title: TBA
Speaker: Dr. James Fleshman
Date: August 25, 2022
Presentation Title: TBA
Speaker: Dr. Allison Speer
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IN THE NEWS
Steven Canfield, MD, was quoted in a Medscape story about research from Australia showing that the length of positive surgical margins after surgery in patients with prostate cancer can determine biological recurrence.
Steve Bynon Jr., MD, talked to KHOU-TV Channel 11 and Telemundo Houston Channel 47 about the high incidence of kidney failure among Hispanic people, increasing the need for kidney donors.
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RESIDENT & STUDENT CORNER | Nye Awarded Honorable Mention for Poster Presentation | |
Jessica Nye, MS3, was awarded Honorable Mention for her poster presentation “Rapid Response to Sirolimus in Patients with PIK3CA Related Overgrowth Spectrum (PROS)” at the Texas Pediatric Society Meeting in Galveston, TX. Jessica was a Summer Research Program (SRP) student of Dr. Matthew Greives in the Division of Plastic Surgery. Her research is the first report from the UTHealth Vascular Anomalies (VA) Clinic on the use of this novel medical therapy to treat many of the overgrowth patients in their clinic. Jessica’s work noted that patients with a PIK3CA mutation demonstrated rapid reduction in the size of these malformations, resulting in improved patient symptoms and quality of life. Besides Dr. Greives, who is the Surgical Director for the VA team, Jessica’s work was a collaboration with Dr. Autumn Atikinson of the Department of Pediatrics who is also the Medical Director of the VA team, Dr. Adelaide Hebert of Pediatric Dermatology, and Dr. Neethu Menon of Pediatric Hematology.
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utplastics
In lieu of journal club, every third month, UT Plastics Crew gives back to the Houston community.
Today, it was at Houston Food Bank!
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mcgovernmed
Meet Birdie and Scout! These two pups have "office hours" at #McGovernMedSchool to help students relieve anxiety and stress!
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uthealthhouston
Summer is coming to an end and it’s time to start preparing for back to school!
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