Honors

Parsia Vagefi, M.D., was inducted into the Society of Clinical Surgery, one of the most prestigious surgical honor societies in the country. His fellow society members include Drs. Herbert Zeh, Fiemu Nwariaku, and Dai Chung.

Awards

Natasha Corbitt, M.D., Ph.D., received a two-year fellowship award from the American Surgical Association for her work on the role of genes in the development of biliary atresia.

Raghav Chandra, M.D., was awarded a “Looking to the Future Scholarship” from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. 

Gary Iwamoto, Ph.D., a professor of cell biology in our anatomy section, received the Katherine Howe Muntz Award from the UT Southwestern Academy of Teachers. The award recognizes excellence in the teaching of anatomy. Dr. Iwamoto is a repeat winner of the award.

Rui Kang, M.D., Ph.D.; Daolin Tang, M.D., Ph.D.; and Herbert Zeh, M.D., have been listed as “Highly Cited Researchers” by Clarivate, one of the largest companies that tracks data related to science. Only 0.1% of the researchers tracked by Clarivate receive this designation.

Madhuri Nagaraj, M.D., received the Excellence in Research in Award at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress for At-Home Medical Student Simulation: Achieving Knot-Tying Proficiency Using Video-Based Assessment.

Ganesh Sankaranarayanan, Ph.D., and Babak Namazi, Ph.D., with collaborators at the Texas A&M College of Dentistry, received the Stephen B. Milam Award from the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation. The award will fund their proposal, Orbital Trauma and Artificial Intelligence.

William Turner, M.D., received a Leaders in Clinical Excellence Award for Mentoring at UT Southwestern. Dr. Turner holds many distinguished positions in our department, including the Carla and Paul Bass Professorship in Medical Education Honoring Charles C. Sprague, M.D., and the Alvin Baldwin, Jr., Chair in Surgery.

Alisa Winkler, Ph.D., an associate professor and Distinguished Teaching Professor in our anatomy group, received the Distinguished Biomedical Science Educator Award from the UT Southwestern Academy of Teachers. She is a past recipient of similar awards, including the Regent’s Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Texas and the Outstanding Educator Award from UT Southwestern.

In the News

Benjamin Levi, M.D., and his team at the Center for Organogenesis & Trauma, along with collaborators, recently discovered that blocking the growth of sensory nerves into damaged tissue may prevent heterotopic ossification, a disease involving abnormal bone growth after injury. Their results were published in Nature Communications.

Announcements

Kareem AbdelFattah, M.D., was selected for the editorial board of the Surgical Council on Resident Education (SCORE) that is sponsored by the American Board of Surgery. He was also invited to join a committee to develop the Senior Resident Readiness Assessment program for the American College of Surgeons. The program will assess the decision-making skills of senior-level surgery trainees. 

Sneha Bhat, M.D., was selected to be an associate member of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma.

Anthony Froix, M.D., was selected to be the inaugural vice chair for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the Department of Surgery.

Emina Huang, M.D., was selected to be a mentor and study section panelist for the National Surgeon Scientist Program, which supports early career surgeons for oncology research. The program uses resources from the American College of Surgeons and the National Cancer Institute in partnership with extramural surgery departments.

Benjamin Levi, M.D., was inducted into the American College of Surgeons Surgical Biology Club. In addition, he was selected to be the co-chair of the basic science study section of the Plastic Surgery Foundation for 2022, and a speaker and facilitator for grant writing courses at next month’s Academic Surgical Congress.

Caroline Park, M.D., became an adjunct professor of biomedical engineering at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Grants

Kareem AbdelFattah, M.D., and Valerie-Sue Emuakhagbon, M.D., and their team were awarded an “Innovative Grant for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti‐Racism” from the American College of Surgeons for Development and Implementation of Structural Disadvantage Curriculum for the Department of Surgery Trainees and Faculty.

Presentations

Kristen Burke, M.D.

(Coauthors: Nagaraj MB, Kuhlenschmidt K, Marinica AL, Lowe JE, Park C, Vela MA, Holena DN, Cripps MW, Dumas RP)

Under the Lens: Provider Perception of Trauma Video Review

American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress

October 24, 2021 (virtual)

Raghav Chandra, M.D.
(Coauthors: Flaming J, Nguyen A, Peyton M, Das A, Gao B, Horrigan SH, Brekken RA, Minna JD)

Tegavivint Reduces the Immunosuppressive Macrophage Phenotype in a Preclinical Co-Culture Model of the Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Tumor Microenvironment

Annual meeting, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer

November 12, 2021  Washington, DC

Ryan Dumas, M.D.

Modern Surgical Family: Parental Leave in Training and Beyond

Virtual grand rounds, American Association for the Surgery of Trauma

November 17, 2021

Benjamin Levi, M.D.

(Moderator)

Negotiating your Research Contract

Association for Academic Surgery fall research course

October 2, 2021 (virtual)

Staying Funded

Plastic Surgery Foundation grant course

November 9, 2021 (virtual)

Advances in Bone Regeneration

International Federation for Adipose Therapeutics and Science conference

November 19, 2021 (virtual)

Madhuri Nagaraj, M.D.

(Coauthors: Campbell KK, Rege RV, Mihalic AP, Scott DJ)

At-Home Medical Student Simulation: Achieving Knot-Tying Proficiency Using Video-Based Assessment

American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress

October 24-28, 2021 (virtual)

(Coauthors: Gupta VS, AbdelFattah K)

Identifying Correlations Between First-Time General Surgery Oral Board Pass Rates and Institutional Resources

American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress

October 24-28, 2021 (virtual)

(Coauthors: Lowe JE, Marinica AL, Morshedi BB, Isaacs M, Miller BL, Chou AD, Cripps MW, Dumas RP)

Using Trauma Video Review to Assess EMS Handoff and Trauma Team Non-Technical Skills

American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress

October 24-28, 2021 (virtual)

Madhukar Patel, M.D.

(Coauthors: Ghanekar A, Sayed BA, et al.)

A Western Experience of Using Liver Donor Grafts for Liver Retransplantation

International Congress of International Living Donor Liver Transplantation

October 16, 2021  Brussels, Belgium (virtual)

Caroline Park, M.D.

Hybrid Trauma Simulation: Multi-Platform Implementation

American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress

October 27, 2021 (virtual)

(Coauthor: Starr A)

Parkland Trauma Index of Mortality: A Real-Time Predictive Model for Polytrauma Patients

Annual meeting, Orthopedic Trauma Association

October 20-23, 2021  Fort Worth, Texas

Luis Taveras, M.D.

(Coauthor: Dumas R)

A Case of Acute Liver Failure After Blunt Trauma

International Trauma Tele-Grand Rounds, Panamerican Trauma Society

November 29, 2021 (virtual)

Parsia Vagefi, M.D.

A Value-Based Approach to Liver Transplantation

Annual meeting, The Halsted Society

September 8-11, 2021  Washington, D.C.

Liver Transplantation–A Value-Based Approach

Annual meeting, Texas Transplantation Society

November 4-7, 2021  Houston, Texas

View recent publications for the Department of Surgery here.