Newsmakers

Surgeon Choti named holder of Bayoud professorship

Dr. Michael Choti headshot
Dr. Michael Choti

Dr. Michael Choti, Professor of Surgery, has been selected to hold the Joan and Dr. George Bayoud Professorship in General Surgery.

Dr. Choti is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on gastrointestinal cancers, including pancreatic cancer, one of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat forms of the disease. He joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2013 as Chairman of the Department of Surgery.

Dr. Choti previously spent 21 years serving at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he was Vice Chair of Surgery, and Professor of Oncology and of Radiology. He also was a Professor in the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins, where he conducted research directed at surgical innovation, robotics, and image-guided surgical cancer therapy.

Dr. Choti earned his medical degree in 1983 from the Yale School of Medicine before completing his general surgical training at the University of Pennsylvania and a surgical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

He serves in various leadership positions in national and international societies, and has led study sections and task forces for the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Choti’s research interests include experimental therapeutics, investigative therapy in gastrointestinal malignancies, molecular genetics related to cancer and cancer biology, clinical research in outcomes, computer-assisted surgery, robotics in cancer therapy, and other surgical innovations.

DeBose-Boyd now holding Elias distinguished chair 

Dr. Russell A. DeBose-Boyd headshot
Dr. Russell A. DeBose-Boyd

Dr. Russell A. DeBose-Boyd, Professor of Molecular Genetics, has been selected to hold the Beatrice and Miguel Elias Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science.

A faculty member since 2003, Dr. DeBose-Boyd initially arrived at UT Southwestern in 1998, when he joined the laboratory of Nobel Laureates Drs. Joseph L. Goldstein and Michael S. Brown as a fellow of the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research.

His own lab currently focuses on the regulation of HMG CoA reductase. Dr. DeBose-Boyd has received numerous honors for his research, including the Early Career Scientist Award from Howard Hughes Medical Institute (2009), the W.M. Keck Distinguished Young Scholar in Medical Research (2006), the David L. Williams Memorial Lectureship Award (2005), and Established Investigator of American Heart Association (2005).

Dr. DeBose-Boyd graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1993, majoring in Chemistry with minors in Mathematics and Biology. He then earned his doctorate at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 1998.

Dr. DeBose-Boyd’s research focuses on how the body regulates and controls cholesterol production, work that might shed light on the prevention and treatment of heart disease. Of particular interest to his lab is the enzyme HMG CoA reductase, a key player in cholesterol synthesis and the target of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. His research has shown in detail how this enzyme is targeted for rapid degradation when certain sterols build up in cells, thereby stopping cholesterol synthesis. 

Goodman elected as AAAS Fellow 

Dr. Joel Goodman headshot
Dr. Joel Goodman

Dr. Joel Goodman, Professor of Pharmacology at UT Southwestern, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

Dr. Goodman is one of 391 members selected in honor of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New Fellows will be presented on Feb. 18 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2017 AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston.

This year’s AAAS Fellows were formally announced in the AAAS News & Notes section of the journal Science on Nov. 25, 2016.

Dr. Goodman was elected to the Section on Biological Science for his “major contributions to our understanding of the assembly, structure, and function of peroxisomes and lipid droplets.”

Dr. Goodman, 2017 President of SWAT (Southwestern Academy of Teachers), also leads the STARS (Science Teacher Access to Resources at Southwestern) program. STARS offers professional development for secondary school teachers as well as research opportunities and science instruction for students. During the 2015-2016 academic year, more than 6,000 students and 2,000 teachers participated in STARS programs.

Dr. Goodman, who holds the Jan and Bob Bullock Distinguished Chair for Science Education, joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 1982. As a scientist, his contributions include the identification of the first peroxisomal membrane sorting signal, the first peroxisomal fission factor, and the oligomeric import pathway. Dr. Goodman’s many honors as a teacher and mentor include the Minnie Stevens Piper Professorship (2014-2015) and the UT Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award (2013). 

Rege honored with Shannon distinguished chair 

Dr. Robert Rege headshot
Dr. Robert Rege

Dr. Robert Rege, Professor of Surgery, has been selected as the new holder of the Hall and Mary Lucile Shannon Distinguished Chair in Surgery.

An eminent surgeon and educator for more than four decades, Dr. Rege joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 1998 following a distinguished career as Chief of Surgery at the VA Hospital/Lakeside in Chicago. He served as Chairman of the Department of Surgery at UT Southwestern from 2001 to 2013.

Dr. Rege has been a leader in the development of advanced laparoscopic surgery, including laparoscopic hernia repair, Nissen fundoplication, esophagomyotomy, colectomy, and splenectomy.

During a 15-year tenure at Northwestern University Medical School, Dr. Rege developed the first successful laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy program in the Midwest. The program now functions independently and annually harvests more than 100 kidneys.

Dr. Rege earned his medical degree from the Milton S. Hershey Medical School at Pennsylvania State University, in 1975. Dr. Rege remained at Hershey for his first year of residency in general surgery, and then served two years as a general medical officer in the U.S. Navy. He returned to Hershey in 1978 and completed his surgery residency in 1982.

He was recruited to UT Southwestern as Professor and Chief of the Division of Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Surgery. Dr. Rege maintains an active basic research program to study the pathogenesis of gallstones, which has been continuously funded via external sources since its inception in 1983.

Rubin selected as holder of education professorship

Dr. Craig D. Rubin headshot
Dr. Craig D. Rubin

Dr. Craig D. Rubin, Director of the Mildred Wyatt and Ivor P. Wold Center for Geriatric Care, has been selected to hold the Sinor/Pritchard (Katy Sinor and Kay Pritchard) Professorship in Medical Education Honoring Donald W. Seldin, M.D.

Dr. Rubin, a Professor of Internal Medicine, specializes in geriatric medicine and also holds the Margaret and Trammell Crow Distinguished Chair in Alzheimer’s and Geriatric Research, the Seymour Eisenberg Distinguished Professorship in Geriatric Medicine, and the Walsdorf Professorship in Geriatrics Research.

Dr. Rubin earned his medical degree in 1982 from the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at UT Southwestern before joining the faculty in 1985.

In 1989, Dr. Rubin helped found the Geriatrics Section at UT Southwestern, which evolved into the Division of Geriatric Medicine in 2013. During that time he recruited faculty, developed ambulatory and housecall clinical geriatrics programs, established UT Southwestern’s geriatric fellowship program, and in December 2014 opened an ACE unit at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.

Dr. Rubin has studied and published extensively in the areas of geriatrics medical education, comprehensive geriatric assessment, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease. His research interests include age-related osteoporosis and functional MRI in the assessment of Alzheimer’s disease. He has made numerous trips to Capitol Hill to promote funding for the Geriatrics Health Professions Education and Training Programs under Title VII and to support expanding aging research at the National Institute on Aging.

Sarode honored by American Society of Hematology

Dr. Ravi Sarode headshot
Dr. Ravi Sarode

The American Society of Hematology recognized the work of Dr. Ravi Sarode, Professor and Chief of Pathology at UT Southwestern, as a Choosing Wisely Champion at the group’s annual meeting in San Diego.

The three inaugural honorees spoke about their projects during a special session at the December 2016 meeting. Their awards, funded by the ABIM Foundation, were created to recognize eminent clinicians who have implemented successful projects to improve quality at their institutions. Specifically, for ASH that meant clinicians working to tackle overuse of hematology tests and treatments.

Dr. Sarode, Medical Director of Clinical Laboratory Services as well as the Medical Director of the Division of Transfusion Medicine and Hemostasis at UT Southwestern, holds the John H. Childers, M.D., Professorship in Pathology.

Dr. Sarode’s team developed local guidelines for thrombophilia tests – tests of blood clotting usually ordered by non-hematologists – for which false positives can result in patients being inappropriately put on long-term anticoagulation therapy.

To promote appropriate use of testing, the team implemented its guidelines in the University’s electronic medical record system via a series of cascading questions that providers needed to answer before ordering tests. The implementation and associated education campaign significantly reduced such testing within UT Southwestern University Hospitals.