A NEWSLETTER FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY

at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston

March 2025

Department of Surgery Honors its STAR Award Recipients

Employees are the heart of the Department of Surgery at UTHealth Houston, and their dedication, expertise, and hard work drive our mission forward in patient care, research, and education.

Each year, UTHealth Houston recognizes employees celebrating milestone years of service through the STAR Awards. This year, we are proud to honor members of our department for their commitment, with awards recognizing service ranging from 5 to 45 years.

Congratulations to Our Honorees!

35 Years of Service: Encar Primacio

30 Years of Service: Lisa Chelette and Sophia M. Solis

25 Years of Service: Emily Robinson and Kimberly Curtis

20 Years of Service: Brijesh S. Gill, Kimberly Mankiewicz, and Kandice Lyann Motley

15 Years of Service: Kulvinder Bajwa, Farzanah Banki, Bryan Cotton, Stefanos G. Millas, and Laura J. Moore

10 Years of Service: Sasha Adams, Vickie Bigham, Matthew R. Greives, John Primomo, and Nirav Thosani

5 Years of Service: Ritha M. Belizaire, Luke Crawford, Dalya M. Ferguson, Julie Holihan, David C. Hopkins, Veronica Luna, Juanita Macias, Krislynn Mueck, Thaddeus Puzio, Shahrooz Rashtak, and Michael Wandling 

McGovern Medical School Students and Residents Showcase Research at Academic Surgical Congress

The 20th Academic Surgical Congress (ASC) was held February 11-13 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The ASC is a joint meeting between the Association for Academic Surgery (AAS) and the Society of University Surgeons (SUS). Both the Department of Surgery and the Department of Pediatric Surgery had a strong showing from medical students and residents alike, highlighting diverse projects ranging from basic science to clinical research.

Faculty from the UTHealth Houston Department of Surgery have a long-standing history with the ASC. Dr. David Mercer, former Professor and Chief of Surgery at LBJ General Hospital in the 2000s, helped to make the joint meeting between AAS and SUS a reality when he was President of SUS in 2004. 

Regional Meeting Unites the South Texas "House of Surgery"

The 2025 South Texas Chapter of the American College of Surgeons Annual Meeting took place in Houston, Texas, from February 20 to 22. The event opened with remarks from Chapter President Lillian Kao, MD, FACS, Professor of Surgery. The meeting was a resounding success, thanks to the dedication of the program co-chairs, including Julie Holihan, MD, MS, FACS, Assistant Professor of Surgery.

The Surgical Jeopardy dynamic duo of Devishi Bavishi, MD, and Artem Boyev, DO, defeated the team from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio to compete in the chapter finals. After a valiant effort, they came in second place. The Surgical Skills Round-Up duo of Shah-Jahan Dodwad, DO, MS, and Renee Walker Green, MD, also had a strong showing. 

McGovern Medical School faculty were featured in several key talks at the meeting. Jonah Stulberg, MD, MPH, PhD, FACS, Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Research, delivered the Pokorney Lecture on "Using Data to Move from Surgical Competence to Excellence." Ana Leech, MD, MS, Associate Professor in the Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine, presented an Ethics Talk on "Palliative Medicine for Busy Surgeons." Julie Holihan, MD, MS, FACS, Assistant Professor of Surgery, spoke on "Turning the Scale: Optimizing Preoperative Weight through Anti-Obesity Medications." Thaddeus Puzio, MD, MS, FACS, and Dalya Ferguson, MD, MS, both Assistant Professors of Surgery, served as panelists for "Stump the Attendings." Nicole Villafane, MD, Assistant Professor, and Jessica Buicko, MD, FACS, Associate Professor, moderated sessions. H. Randolph Bailey, MD, FACS, Professor Emeritus, presented an update on the ACS Foundation, where he serves as Chair.

However, the real stars of the meeting were the medical students and residents who presented their research as oral presentations, mini-talks, and posters. Their preparedness and poise reflected not only the immense amount of work that they all put into their presentations but also the investment of the faculty and co-investigators with whom they collaborated. 

While all of the presenters and their mentors should be congratulated, special kudos to those who won awards:

Presidential Session Presentation Winner

C60-Serinol Modulates Oxidative Stress and Immune Responses in Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells and Mononuclear Cells: Implications for TBI-Related Inflammation

Gabriel Dominguez

Trauma Presentation Winner

Pre-Injury Statin Therapy is Associated with Lower VTE after Traumatic Brain Injury 

Kelly Sanders, DO 

EPoster Winners

Code Status Discussions in Injured Older Adults: Are We Hitting The Mark? 

Ashna Karpe

Ventral Hernia Recurrence by Location: A Retrospective Review 

Abigail Wrather 

Drs. Mabel Luciano and Kelly Sanders.

Dr. Jonah Stulberg provided the Pokorny Lecture "Using Data to Move from Surgical Competence to Excellence."

Dr. Stephanie Martinez Ugarte, a T32 research fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Kao, presented her project titled "Drains After Trauma Splenectomy: Helpful or Harmful?"

Medical Student Gabriel Dominguez presenting his project titled, "C60-Serinol Modulates Oxidative Stress and Immune Responses in Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells and Mononuclear Cels: Implications for TBI-related Inflammation", under the mentorship of Dr. Cox. 

Dr. Devi Bavishi (PGY-4) presented her project during the ACS Presidential Session titled "Neck, Knives, and Nobel Prizes: Thyroid Surgery through the Ages" under the mentorship of Dr. Buicko.

Dr. Shah-Jahan Dodwad, and Dr. Renee Walker Green at the Surgical Skills competition.

Dr. Devi Bavishi and Dr. Artem Boyev with the judges after they won their first round of Jeopardy.

Education Conference SHINES a Light on Technology

The Kenneth I Shine MD Academy of Health Science Education held the 2025 Innovations in Health Science Education Meeting in Austin, Texas, on February 20 and 21, 2025. The theme of the conference was “Harnessing Technology and Personalized Learning to Improve Health Science Education.” 

Surgery resident William Rieger, MD, participated on a panel entitled: "Artificial Intelligence in Health Science Education: Promises, Pitfalls, and Possibilities." In particular, he spoke on the topic of "Can Artificial Intelligence Help Teach Communication in Health Education?"

Krislynn Mueck, MD, MPH, MS, Assistant Professor of Surgery, received a Shine Academy Small Grant for her project entitled Clinical Language Evaluation with AI for Residents (CLEAR). The project aims to use transcripts from resident encounters with simulated patients to train a large language model (LLM) to assess the complexity and quality of communications. After testing, the goal is for the LLM to act as an educational tool by providing communication feedback that might enhance trainees' interactions with patients. The project includes co-investigators from the Department of Educational Programs at McGovern Medical School and from the McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics.

Stronger Together: Texas Trauma Quality Improvement Program (TQIP) Collaborative

The Texas TQIP Collaborative met on March 4th in Austin, Texas, to work together to improve the care of trauma patients in Texas. Michael Wandling, MD, FACS, Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at McGovern Medical School and Trauma Medical Director of the Red Duke Trauma Institute at Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center, gave a lecture on "Strength in Numbers: Leveraging Institutional Experiences for Collaborative Quality Improvement."

Stakeholders Convene to Discuss Innovations in Trauma Care

Stakeholders convened February 10-11 for the Second Annual UT System Trauma Research Symposium, hosted by the Trauma Research and Combat Casualty Care Collaborative (TRC4). Founded in 2023, the TRC4 is a collaborative effort that is funded by the UT System Board of Regents and the Texas Legislature. The mission of the TRC4 is to "harness the power of the University of Texas System to transform trauma care both on the battlefield and in the civilian sector."

All 14 UT System institutions, including UTHealth Houston, were well represented at the symposium. Charles Cox, MD, Professor and Director of the Center for Translational Injury Research (CeTIR), gave one of the five keynote addresses entitled: "Clinical Trial Planning: Precision Medicine Trial Identifying Glyburide Responsive Genotypes to Reduce Contusion Expansion After TBI." 

Speakers included Bryan Cotton, MD, MPH, Professor in the Department of Surgery, and Natalie Drucker, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatric Surgery. Both were funded in the first cycle of TRC4 grants last year. Other UTHealth Houston attendees displayed posters, including general surgery residents Janet Ashley, MD, Jared Covell, MD, and Kelly Sanders, DO, as well as acute care surgery fellow Gabrielle Hatton, MD, MS.



Letters of intent for the next round of TRC4 funding were due March 1, 2025. 

Dr. Janet Ashley, a general surgery resident, presents her research.

Dr. Jared Covell, a general surgery resident at UTHealth Houston, stands with Dr. Brijesh Gill.

Dr. Bryan Cotton delivers a presentation.

Dr. Charles Cox, delivers a keynote address .

LBJ Colorectal Surgery Team Is a Top Enroller in the COSMID Multicenter Trial

Congratulations to the colorectal surgeons and research team at LBJ General Hospital. They are one of the top 5 enrollers in a PCORI-funded multi-center randomized controlled trial led by the University of Washington. COSMID, or Comparing Surgery and Medical Management for Treating Diverticulitis, aims to compare two strategies in the care of patients with either recurrent uncomplicated diverticulitis or with persistent signs, symptoms, or concerns 3 or more months after recovery from an episode. The trial is only 30 patients away from reaching the planned sample size before its end date in October 2025. This is one of several PCORI-funded projects in which the LBJ surgeons and research team have participated. 

Publications of Note

Erabelli N, Bui E, Shah S, Hoffman C, Fritz C, Banki F. Feasibility, Outcomes, and Odds of Same-Day Surgery in Laparoscopic Elective Repair of Type IV Hiatal Hernia with Intrathoracic Stomach. J Am Coll Surg. 2025 Feb 13. doi: 10.1097/XCS.0000000000001357. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39945438.

Barrera JE, Wei S, Obinero CG, Tang C, Cao E, Osamor C 3rd, Nye JR, Hatton GE, Bhadkamkar M, Wu-Fienberg Y, Kao LS, Greives MR. Is more better? Evaluating the impact of early surgical debridement on Morel-Lavallee lesions. Am J Surg. 2025 Feb 6;244:116238. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116238. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39923738.

Cha J, Clements TW, Ball CG, Kirkpatrick AW, Bax T, Mayberry J. Damage control packing: How long can it stay? Am J Surg. 2025 Jan 31:116232. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116232. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39919933.

Chipman AM, Luther JF, Guyette FX, Cotton BA, Cannon JW, Schreiber MA, Moore EE, Namias N, Minei JP, Yazer MH, Vincent L, Cotton AL, Agarwal V, Brown JB, Leeper CM, Neal MD, Forsythe RM, Wisniewski SR, Sperry JL; SWAT Study Group. Early achievement of hemostasis defined by transfusion velocity: A possible mechanism for whole blood survival benefit. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2025 Jan 27. doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000004507. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39865522.

Croft CA, Lorenzo M, Coimbra R, Duchesne JC, Fox C, Hartwell J, Holcomb JB, Keric N, Martin MJ, Magee GA, Moore LJ, Privette AR, Schellenberg M, Schuster KM, Tesoriero R, Weinberg JA, Stein DM. Western Trauma Association critical decisions in trauma: Damage-control resuscitation. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2025 Feb 1;98(2):271-276. doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000004466. Epub 2024 Nov 13. PMID: 39865549.

Maiga AW, Lin HS, Wisniewski SR, Brown JB, Moore EE, Schreiber MA, Joseph B, Wilson CT, Cotton BA, Ostermayer DG, Harbrecht BG, Patel MB, Sperry JL, Guyette FX, Wang HE. Adverse Prehospital Events and Outcomes After Traumatic Brain Injury. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Jan 2;8(1):e2457506. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.57506. PMID: 39888614; PMCID: PMC11786231.

Massoud AT, Noltensmeyer DA, Juranek J, Cox CS Jr, Velasquez FC, Zhu B, Sevick-Muraca EM, Shah MN. Insights into the Role of the Glymphatic System in the Pathogenesis of Post-hemorrhagic Hydrocephalus. Mol Neurobiol. 2025 Jan 16. doi: 10.1007/s12035-025-04692-0. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39821726.



Schellenberg M, Coimbra R, Croft CA, Fox C, Hartwell J, Keric N, Lorenzo M, Martin MJ, Magee GA, Moore LJ, Privette AR, Schuster KM, Tesoriero R, Weinberg JA, Stein DM. The diagnosis and management of acute traumatic diaphragmatic injury: A Western Trauma Association clinical decisions algorithm. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2025 Jan 28. doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000004554. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39874492.

IN THE NEWS

SAVE THE DATE

UTHealth Houston Department of Surgery Research Day

Date: Thursday, April 3, 2025

Time: 7:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Location: McGovern Medical School, MSB 3.001

Prepare to be inspired at this year's Research Day, where innovation, collaboration, and discovery come together!

Keynote Speaker: Ben L. Zarzaur Jr., MD, MPH, FACS - Learn from a national leader in Trauma Outcomes Research as Dr. Zarzau shares valuable insights and groundbreaking research.

Resident Research Competition: Cheer on our talented residents as they showcase their pioneering research projects and compete for the coveted resident research awards.

Outstanding Medical Student Presentations: Celebrate the future of medicine with brilliant presentations from our exceptional medical students.

Food and Fellowship: Enjoy delicious food while reconnecting with colleagues and fostering camaraderie within the department.

This is not just an event—it's a celebration of the incredible work happening across all divisions in our department. Let's unite, learn, and honor the remarkable research driving us forward.



We look forward to seeing you there and sharing this extraordinary day of discovery and unity.

GRAND ROUNDS

SOCIAL MEDIA SPOTLIGHT

uthurology: Celebrating Galentine’s with the UT Urology girlies! So grateful to find the one day none of us are on call! 💖 #womeninurology

utplastics: Snapshots with @dr.matthewgreives, @dr.acevedo.md and UTPlastics staff Sandy and Mimi from their mission trip providing cleft and craniofacial care in the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴

mcgovernmed: Please join us in congratulating LaTanya Love, MD, on being named the interim president of @uthealthhouston, effective March 1.

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.