Thomas M. Egan, M.D., of the UNC Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery is featured as the “Tar Heel of the Week” in a News & Observer story about Dr. Egan and his pioneering lung transplant research, which would make more donor lungs usable for transplant by treating the lungs ex-vivo (outside the body) to improve their health before transplant.

Kena Sawyers, 46, of Eden, N.C., received a double-lung transplant at UNC Hospitals on Sept. 20, after living 15 years with lungs scarred by pneumonia secondary to adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) that she contracted when pregnant with her daughter, Kayla. Dr. Benjamin Haithcock of the UNC Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery was her transplant surgeon.

Dr. Thomas M. Egan, Richard H. Feins and Michael R. Mill of the UNC Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery are among more than 200 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine physicians who are included in the latest The Best Doctors in America® database.

  Thomas M. Egan, M.D., M.Sc. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has awarded Thomas M. Egan, a professor of surgery at the University of North Carolina, a $1.47 million, two-year grant for research on perfusion and ventilation of lungs outside the body before transplant. The research could lead to a significant increase in … Read more

In July 2010, the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will begin a new six-year integrated residency program, which residents will enter directly from medical school. The Residency Review Committee for Thoracic Surgery, the national residency accrediting body, approved the program in July 2009.  UNC is one of … Read more

Lisa and Russell Ford at SECU Family House in Chapel Hill. Russell Ford received a heart transplant at UNC Hospitals in July 2009 after suffering from congestive heart failure for 10 years. Dr. Michael Bowdish of the UNC Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery was his transplant surgeon.  In “Family House Diaries,” written by Elizabeth Swaringen for … Read more

  (Includes information from a blog by Keith Kocis, M.D., team leader for the Uganda mission.) A UNC medical team provided heart surgery for 10 children with complex congenital heart defects during this year’s two-week medical mission to Mulago Hospital, Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda. All of the children were doing well when the UNC … Read more

Benson R. Wilcox, M.D. The Thoracic Surgery Directors Association has renamed its Resident Award the Benson Wilcox Award for Best Resident Paper in honor of Benson R. Wilcox, M.D., former president of the TSDA. Dr. Wilcox is a professor of surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is emeritus chief of … Read more

  Thomas M. Egan, M.D., M.Sc. The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has made a $30,000 loan to X-In8 Biologicals Corp., a new biotechnology company founded by Thomas M. Egan, M.D., M.Sc., a faculty member in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.   The company is a spinoff from … Read more

Thirty-two new cardiothoracic surgery resident physicians from across the nation attended the second annual Thoracic Surgery Resident Boot Camp July 31-Aug. 2 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During 2½ days of intensive simulator-based training, the incoming residents learned and practiced basic cardiothoracic operating skills that will help them as they begin … Read more