Remembering Charles Hatcher

Charles Ross Hatcher Jr., MD, former vice president for health affairs at Emory University and director of Emory's Woodruff Health Sciences Center, passed away peacefully at Emory University Hospital on March 27, 2021, at the age of 90. Among his various Emory positions, Dr. Hatcher served as chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and program director of the cardiothoracic surgery residency from 1971-1990. During his tenure as chief, Emory CT Surgery began recruiting young, energetic, and innovative cardiac surgeons; attracting high-achieving trainees; and establishing its position as a dependable and compassionate clinical service with superior outcomes.

Two Emory surgical centers named in Newsweek's list of America's Best Ambulatory Surgery Centers

Among the 400 national centers awarded in this Newsweek listing, Emory Ambulatory Surgery Center Clinic at 1365 Clifton Road ranked No. 14 and Emory Ambulatory Surgery Center at Dunwoody ranked No. 26. The two facilities were also named No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in Newsweek's rankings for Georgia.

Welcome new faculty member M. Drew Davis

In addition to his duties as a trauma surgeon and working to develop quality improvement projects within the trauma program at Grady Memorial Hospital, Dr. Davis will direct perioperative medical services at the facility. Prior to returning to Grady, where he completed his trauma surgery and surgical critical care fellowships, Dr. Davis was on the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine and a trauma surgeon/intensivist at Ben Taub Hospital, one of only two Level 1 trauma centers in Houston.

Faculty Profile

New robots at Emory Saint Joseph’s & Emory Johns Creek hospitals

The new Ion robot at Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital will be the first in the state with the capability of diagnosing lung cancers earlier and less invasively, while the second da Vinci Xi surgical system added at Emory Johns Creek Hospital will support the growth of robotic surgery at the hospital.

Randi Smith and Deepika Koganti partner on trauma-related grants

Randi N. Smith, MD, MPH, and Deepika Koganti, MD, both Emory trauma surgeons, emergency/elective general surgeons, and surgical critical care intensivists based at Grady Memorial Hospital, are partnering on two grants. One award is from the Atlanta Global Research and Education Collaborative, and the other is a collaborative grant from the Halle Institute for Global Research at Emory and the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

HSRC Pilot Grant available

The application period for the Health Services Research Center Pilot Grant is now open until July 30, 2021. Department of Surgery faculty at all levels are encouraged to apply. The grant will provide seed funding for one year, with potential for competitive renewal for a second year. Proposals should examine innovative solutions for issues such as healthcare quality, costs, equity/access to care, or dissemination research in surgical patients, and would ideally involve multiple disciplines.

Grant Details

Emory Surgery physicians honored on Doctors' Day

In recognition of Doctors' Day on March 30, the Emory School of Medicine Recognitions Committee sent out a call for nominations for doctors across the School of Medicine who go above and beyond. Among the featured honorees were (pictured, clockwise from left) Drs. Olamide Alabi, Angela Cheng, Tom Dodson, Guillermo Escobar, Edward Lin, Denise Lo, Charles Staley, and Mark Walsh.

Shelly Abramowicz elected to JOMS editorial board

Shelly Abramowicz, DMD, MPH, associate professor of surgery in the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, has been elected to the editorial board of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Dr. Abramowicz is chief of the section of oral and maxillofacial Surgery at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and also serves on the editorial boards of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Cases and Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, and Oral Radiology.

Faculty Profile

Michael Turgeon presents multi-institutional study at ASA Annual Meeting

Michael Turgeon, MD, was first author, and his mentor Shishir Maithel, MD, was senior author of this study, which involved 20 of the highest volume liver transplant centers in the U.S. The study aimed to determine the optimal time to administer direct-acting antiviral medication therapy for patients with hepatitis C-associated hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing liver transplantation. The complete manuscript will also be published in Annals of Surgery.

Charles Frank joins BARDA to support sepsis research

Charles E. Frank, MD, has been named a medical advisor to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which provides an integrated, systematic approach to the development of vaccines, drugs, therapies, and diagnostic tools for public health medical emergencies. An Emory general surgery resident, Dr. Frank is in the second year of his two-year research sabbatical under the mentorship of Emory critical care specialist Timothy G. Buchman, PhD, MD, who also serves as a medical advisor to BARDA. Dr. Frank will be working with BARDA's Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures (DRIVe) supporting the Solving Sepsis Team.

Abe Matar and David Faber's abstracts selected for ATC 2021

General surgery residents Abe Matar, MD, and David Faber, MD, have been recognized for their abstract submissions to the 2021 American Transplant Congress. Dr. Matar received a Young Investigator Award, and Dr. Faber's top-rated abstract was awarded a plenary session.

Constance Shreckengost awarded VECD Fellowship

As a VECD Fogarty Global Health Fellow, Constance Shreckengost, MD, PhD, will study breast cancer pathology in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and implement smartphone-based digital whole slide imaging and immunohistochemistry at the Oncology Institute of Eastern Bolivia.

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