December 11, 2009 — As part of UNC’s surgical initiative in Malawi, Dr. Anthony Charles, UNC Trauma and Critical Care Surgery, and a volunteer surgery team from UNC travel to Malawi regularly to provide surgical care, but Dr. Charles aims to make adequate surgical care permanently accessible to Malawians. “Currently, there are only 15 trained Malawian surgeons of any specialty in the entire country of 14 million people.” However, Dr. Charles hopes to change that by initiating a five-year surgical residency program to train Malawian doctors to become surgeons, implementing a patient data collection database to aid surgeons to provide the most effective care, and enouraging a long-term sustainablity of the changes through policy.

November 12, 2009 — Congratulations to the following Department of Surgery doctors who are identified as being among the best physicians in the nation, as compiled by the Boston-based Best Doctors, Inc.

Dr. Lindsee McPhail, a fellow in Laparoscopy and Advanced GI Surgery, reported results of a study involving patients treated for gallstones at the Oct. 14 session of the 2009 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. The study indicated that a more expedient referral for surgery could reduce pretreatment charges, for ER visits and diagnostic tests, by 50%. Read full article at Reuters.

October 15, 2009 — Clara Lee, MD co-authored an article discussing the need to evaluate surgical procedures based on maximization of benefits for the patients. The article entitled “Beyond Outcomes-The Appropriateness of Surgical Care” (.pdf) is published in the October issue of the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA. 2009;302(14):1580-1581).

October 14, 2010 — Dr. Lynn Damitz, of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, has been promoted to Clinical Associate Professor, effective Oct. 14, 2009.

October 13, 2009 — 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 UNC Health Care, Mr. Ford tells the story of his illness, his surgery and the experience his family had at SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals. The Family House is a non-profit hospital hospitality house, offering housing and other support services to adult patients and their families.

The Thoracic Surgery Directors Association has renamed its Resident Award the Benson Wilcox Award for Best Resident Paper in honor of former TSDA president, Dr. Benson R. Wilcox. The award is presented annually at The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Annual Meeting for the best scientific abstract submitted by a cardiothoracic surgery resident. Dr. Wilcox was instrumental in establishing TSDA and drafting the association’s Bylaws. A leader in cardiothoracic surgery education, Dr. Wilcox was TSDA’s first secretary/treasurer from 1977-1980. He also served as president-elect from 1983-1984 and as president from 1985-1986. TSDA remains committed to Dr. Wilcox’s goal to improve cardiothoracic surgery education.

Sept. 23, 2009 — Dr. George Sheldon has been cited in several recent publications and postings on health care reform, including front page articles in The News and Observer (Sept. 23) and General Surgery (Sept. issue). On July 8, Dr. George Sheldon emphasized the looming surgeon shortage to a House of Representative committee. He urged congressmen to take this shortage and its implications into consideration while working on health care reform.