Department of Surgery

LEVI PROCTER SPENDS PRODUCTIVE YEAR IN RESEARCH

Levi Procter, MD, a third year resident in General Surgery, has spent the last year in Dr. Andrew Bernard’s lab, initiating investigations, writing manuscripts and winning awards. Levi’s recent manuscript, “Membrane y+ Amino Acid Transporter Contributes to Extracellular Arginine Depletion by Stored Packed Red Blood Cells,” won the Kentucky American College of Surgeons Committee On Trauma paper competition. The paper went on to win in the Southeast Regional competition as well.

Levi can also add a few abstracts to his CV. He presented two abstracts at the Association for Academic Surgery Meeting:

1. Plank Fence Penetration Into Automobiles – Implications for Prevention Initiatives
2. Arginine Catabolism to Ornithine in Stored Packed Red Blood Cells is Dependent Upon the y+ Transporter

A third abstract titled “Packed Red Blood Cells Suppress T-Cell Proliferation” was presented at the Autumn 2008 Immunology Conference in Chicago, Illinois. A fourth abstract has been accepted by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma for a meeting later this year. Its title is “Intracellular Arginine Uptake is Increased in Older Stored PRBC.”

Levi is a Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) scholar and was awarded the CCTS Seed Grant, a $5000 scholarship to study Packed Red Blood Cell Transfusion and Transfusion Related Immunomodulation. He will complete his CCTS scholar certificate program in the fall of 2009.

Additionally, Procter has submitted two book chapters. One chapter entitled “Trauma in Appalachia” was co-authored with Dr. Andrew Bernard. The other, entitled “Abdominal Wall Hernias and Biomaterials” was co-authored with Dr. Scott Roth. Procter plans to submit the following manuscripts:

1. Arginine Utilization and Transport in Human Red Blood Cells – A Review
2. Blood Transfusion and Infection
3. General Surgical Operative Duration Increases Risk-Adjusted Infectious Complication Rates and Length of Hospital Stay
4. Plank Fence Penetration into Automobiles: Implications for Prevention Initiatives
5. Strangulated Appendix After Trans-Abdominal Pre-Peritoneal (TAPP) Inguinal Hernia Repair to Surgical Laparoscopy and Percutaneous Techniques
6. Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia with Thrombosis Syndrome During Activated Drotrecogin-alpha Infusion

Because Procter spent his third year in residency conducting research, he will matriculate into the third year General Surgery program when the new academic year starts. Congratulations, Levi, on a very productive year!

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Published February 2009