Department of Surgery

More than 65 faculty and 150 staff members in the UK Department of Surgery are committed to caring for patients, training the next generation of doctors and researchers, and seeking a better understanding of disease and injury. The UK Department of Surgery comprises six divisions and one section.

Faculty in a number of these specialties also play a role in multidisciplinary centers, which draw together faculty and staff from several departments to enhance patient care and research. For example, Surgery's Section of Transplantation, which handles kidney, liver, and pancreas transplants, and the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery play essential roles in UK Hospital's Transplant Center. In the Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), faculty who specialize in laparoscopic surgery collaborate with engineers and specialists from other disciplines to improve instruments and training techniques.

In 2008-2009, Department faculty participated in 15,114 surgical procedures in the UK Hospital. They saw many patients during emergency service and in specialty, multidisciplinary, and regional office visits. They helped train 99 third-year and 61 fourth-year medical students and graduated 10 designated surgical specialists. And finally, some were devoted to basic research and many carried out clinical trials to improve current methods of treatment.

Departmental News

Who will be the Next Surgical Device Millionaire??
Follow this link to the annotated presentation given by Ronald J. Thompson, MD, FACOG at our last Research Colloquium.

Kathy Grzech, MA, gave a presentation entitled "What's New at the NIH?" at the Surgery Department Research Colloquium on December 15. There are significant changes in the application process and her expertise was informative and helpful to many researchers in the Surgery Department and beyond. To view the presentation, click here.

Related Documents
Flyer for Application Changes
Review Criteria at a Glance
Critique Template Example
Section of NIH Application with Page Limits
Sample Biographical Sketch

Faculty Teaching Awards

At the close of the year, medical students and residents cast votes for faculty who exhibit excellence in surgery teaching and instructing. This year, 12 faculty were awarded with plaque and a hearty congratulations.

Recipients
Pictured left to right
Joseph Zwischenberger, M.D., Chairman
Bernard Boulanger, M.D., General Surgery (Trauma and Critical Care)
Richard Haydon, M.D., Otolaryngology
Daniel Kenady, M.D., General Surgery (Oncology)
Andrew Bernard, M.D., General Surgery (Trauma and Critical Care)
Paul Kearney, M.D., General Surgery (Trauma and Critical Care)
Ehab Sorial, M.D., General Surgery (Vascular)
David Preston, M.D., Urology
Andrew Pulito, M.D., Pediatric Surgery
Roberto Gedaly, M.D., Transplant Surgery
Henry Vasconez, M.D., Plastic Surgery
Joseph Valentino, M.D., Otolaryngology
Erik Ballert, M.D., General Surgery (Gastrointestinal)

Chairman of the Surgery Department, Dr. Joseph Zwischenberger was recently featured in the WUKY public radio segment, "Dr. Greg Davis On Medicine". He spoke about his research on the artificial lung. Click here to hear the interview.