April 21, 2010 — Neurosurgery will no longer be a division under the Department of Surgery. Effective July 1, 2010, UNC will have the new Department of Neurosurgery Chaired by Dr. Matthew Ewend, the current neurosurgery Chief of Division. The department status will boost UNC in both retaining existing neurosurgery faculty and recruiting new faculty and residents. These changes will enhance patient care by increasing the division’s ability to treat and care for citizens suffering from neurological problems. Furthermore, the new status will also aid in improving neurosurgery educational and research programs at UNC.

April 15, 2010 – Dr. David Gerber, UNC Transplant Surgery Division Chief, was honored as an Outstanding Clinical Co-Mentor at the 2010 Translational Medicine Program Symposium at UNC-CH. Translational Medicine Program stemmed from a Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant awarded to UNC in 2006 and strives to engage graduate students in translational medicine. Students enter the program at the end of their first year and remain in the program until graduation.

April 14, 2010 – UNC Healthcare Ambulatory Care annually presents two nursing awards. The recipients not only excel in nursing practice, but also demonstrate special qualities of caring and compassion. Cynthia Conway was recognized as one of the 2010 award winners. The Award, which includes an educational stipend, may be used by the nurses over a three-year period to further enhance their knowledge and abilities in the health care setting.

March 25, 2010 — In an effort to help patients choose the best hospital when facing surgery, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina recognized select North Carolina hospitals for excellence in spinal surgery, knee replacement, and hip replacement. “We recognize these facilities not only for the volume of procedures they do, but for the superior expertise that comes from this experience.”

March 05, 2010 — Dr. David Gerber, Division Chief of Abdominal Transplant Surgery, will be co-instructing Entrepreneurship in Life Sciences, this fall on Mondays from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM. The course, which is sponsored by the Department of Surgery, is part of UNC’s Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship, directed by the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

March 03, 2010 — On Saturday March 6th, the Health Policy and Advocacy Group will be hosting a conference, lead by Dr. Michael Johns, Chancellor at Emory University, in Washington D.C. to discuss health care reform. Dr. George Sheldon will present at the conference on behalf of the Health Sciences Advisory of the American College of Surgeons. His presentation, Comparison of Workforce Provisions in the House and Senate Health Reform Bill, will concentrate on the workforce shortage for surgeons.

February 4, 2010 — Courtney Sommer, currently a fourth year General Surgery Resident, was awarded one of five TraCS $2K grants by the North Carolina Transitional and Clinical Sciences Institute (TraCS) for clinical and transitional research projects. Karyn Stitzenberg, UNC Surgical Oncology, will be Dr. Sommer’s mentor for the Project.

February 22, 2010 — Drs. Robert Mendes and Houman Tamaddon are featured in the October-December 2009 volume of Health U for their efforts to educate people about vascular disease. In August, 2009, both physicians joined University Hospital, a 581 bed, not-for-profit community facility in Augusta, GA, where Mendes serves as the Medical Director of Vascular Services and Tamaddon as Medical Director of the University’s Peripheral Vascular Lab. (See University Health Care System’s press release.)