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News In Brief

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Matthew P. Jenkins, MD, has joined the Division of Plastic Surgery. Dr. Jenkins completed his general surgery residency at Temple University Hospital in 2013 and remained there for fellowship training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He is board certified and sees patients at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Anirudh Kohli, MD, has joined the Division of Acute Care Surgery. Dr. Kohli completed his general surgery residency at the Montefiore Medical Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, followed by a fellowship in Surgical Critical Care at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ. He is board …

On The Job: Velvet Cain

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

While the Department of Surgery is renowned for operating on people, Velvet Cain specializes in another type of “surgery”: analyzing and managing complex numbers. As the Department’s Senior Financial Analyst, she is instrumental in planning budgets, tracking expenses, generating reports and monitoring various components of compensation for faculty and nonfaculty staff.

Velvet joined Jefferson in 1999 as a staff accountant in the Controller’s Office. She transferred to Jefferson University Physicians’ Finance Department in 2001 before assuming her current position in Surgery in 2007. While she has remained in the same role, her dayto- day work has changed dramatically over the …

Alliric Willis Leads Study Exploring Demographics, Disparities And Outcomes In Substernal Goiters

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Lack of iodine makes goiters— enlargement of the thyroid gland in the neck—common in some parts of the world. In the United States, salt is enriched with iodine, so the condition is far less common. When goiters do occur, it is typically due to other factors, such as Graves’ disease (overactive thyroid) or Hashimoto’s disease (underactive thyroid), as well as an individual’s anatomy or family history. And when goiters go untreated, they can grow down into the chest, spreading behind the breastbone and collarbone; in some cases, they grow all the way down to the arch of the aorta. These …

Meet The Interns

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

The Department has welcomed a dynamic group of categorical interns including one graduate of Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. The interns were selected from over 1200 applicants to our program. These doctors, who recently matched with Jefferson, started on June 20, 2016. Please welcome:

Peter Altshuler, MD Sidney Kimmel Medical College

Kashmira Chawla, MD Mayo Medical School

Thomas O’Malley, MD Tulane University School of Medicine

Arturo Rios Diaz, MD Universidad Central de Venezuela

Steven Woodward, MD University of Maryland School of Medicine

Alicja Zalewski, MD Rutgers University – New Jersey Medical School

We are also pleased to …

Smoking Cessation, Counseling & Therapy Program Helps Patients Kick The Habit

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

The Department of Surgery’s Smoking Cessation, Counseling & Therapy (SCCT) Program offers evidencebased strategies for quitting smoking, including one-on-one counseling, nicotine replacement therapy and prescription medication, such as Chantix and Wellbutrin, to reduce cravings and lessen withdrawal symptoms. Although the program started as a resource for patients preparing for cardiac or thoracic surgery, it is now available to many more patients—and nurse practitioners Chuck Rowland, MSN, CRNP, CTTS, and Sung Whang, MSN, CRNP, CTTS, are eager to spread the word.

Chuck and Sung are both Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialists (CTTS). They each completed an intensive 40-hour course offered by the …

Departmental Retreat: The Big Four And Integration, Charles J. Yeo, Md, Facs

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Fall is here, excitement is in the air, and we in the Department of Surgery have begun the journey towards clinical integration with our partners at Abington and Aria.

On Saturday, September 24, 2016, nearly 100 attendees joined us in the Hamilton Building for our second Department of Surgery retreat in the last 18 months. This retreat differed from our first as we focused on two topics: The Big Four and Jefferson Health System Integration.

The morning commenced with a reminder of our vision and mission statements, a review of the fiscal exigencies which prompted a need for change, and …

Surgeon Speaks

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Patients who undergo liver transplantation go from being very sick to reclaiming their lives. It’s a rapid and rewarding transformation. The notion that there are still places in the world where this surgery isn’t available is a problem. No one should die of liver disease because of lack of funding.

The city of Santa Cruz has surgeons who operate every day. They want to learn how to do liver transplants, but there wasn’t anyone to teach them. It’s an honor to work to help change that.

While our work in Bolivia may not be solving the problem globally, it is …

Stephen Dunn And Warren Maley Volunteer Transplantation Services, Expertise In Bolivia

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

More than 20 years ago, Stephen P. Dunn, MD, FACS, Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Jefferson, encountered a young liver transplant patient who had traveled from his home in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. After inquiring why the boy hadn’t been transplanted in his home country, Dr. Dunn learned that while surgeons in Santa Cruz had a fair amount of experience with kidney transplants, they were not able to perform liver transplants. In order to have these life-saving surgeries, patients in Santa Cruz needed the funds not only to pay for the operation but also to …

News In Brief

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Fernando Blanco, PhD, is working under the mentorship of Jonathan Brody, PhD, Director of the Division of Surgical Research, as a Clinical Pharmacology Fellow. Dr. Blanco came to Jefferson under a training grant with Drs. Scott Waldman and Walter Kraft in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. His work focuses on chemoresistance mechanisms of pancreatic cancer cells.

The annual Surgery Resident Research Presentations will take place on Thursday, May 29, 2014, from 7 – 8:30 a.m. in Foerderer Auditorium in the College Building. All are welcome to attend.

The annual Templeton Grand Rounds lecture is scheduled for 8 a.m. …

Gail Coleman Directs Generous Gift To Pancreatic Cancer Research

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Gail Coleman of Alexandria, Virginia spent three decades as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Labor. Now retired, she enjoys traveling, volunteer activities, and taking history classes at George Mason University. And she still utilizes the analytical skills of an attorney. Indeed, before recommending a $100,000 grant to Jefferson (see “Changing Lives Through Research” on p. 3), Gail educated herself on the landscape of pancreatic cancer research, met with several institutions and evaluated a number of potential projects.

Gail’s initial decision to support pancreatic cancer research was not analytical, but deeply personal: The disease took her mother in 1989, …

Jamie Jay Rothstein, Rn, Ccrc

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

As Clinical Research Nurse and the Project Manager for the Department of Surgery, Jamie Jay Rothstein builds systems for implementing and managing all aspects of the Department’s clinical trials – from protocol development to fiscal management. She also guides the Department’s research coordinators, interacting with them regularly for ongoing education and training.

Before joining Jefferson in July 2013, Rothstein created, developed and managed a research department of 10 physicians. Through strategic planning, analysis, business plan development, quality and performance improvement, the department grew to a staff of several coordinators. She says that while she enjoyed the position, she jumped at …

Innovative Projects Explore Metabolism, Chemotherapy Resistance In Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

A generous contribution via the Gail V. Coleman-Kenneth M. Bruntel Charitable Grant Fund (see “Those Who Give” on p. 4) has enabled Jordan M. Winter, MD, FACS, Associate Professor of Surgery, and his team to initiate two innovative studies in pancreatic cancer. Here, Dr. Winter provides an overview of the purpose – and potential impact – of each project.

Studying Cancer Cell Metabolism

As Dr. Winter explains, metabolism is a fundamental biologic process for the viability of any cell – including cancer cells. “If you can find a way to impair that biology, you have an opportunity to treat cancer …

Susan Lanza-Jacoby, Phd

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

It’s been 35 years since the Chair of Surgery at the time, Dr. Francis E. Rosato, Sr., hired Susan Lanza-Jacoby, PhD, to develop a research function within Jefferson’s Department of Surgery. Since then, her lab has been among the first to show that COX2 inhibitors are protective against the development of breast cancer. More recently, it was the first to identify that a 25-percent decrease in daily caloric intake delayed the onset of pancreatic cancer. And despite growing competition for grant dollars, Dr. Jacoby has been able to remain an independent investigator since coming to Jefferson in 1979.

Outside the …

Treating Acute Respiratory Failure

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

In March, Jefferson’s Adult ECMO Program saved the life of Kennett Square resident and entrepreneur Steve Burkes. Burkes, 59, and his wife, Caroline Henrich, an attorney, report that his symptoms started with chills and fever. Since Burkes had recently been playing with their new Amazon parrot, the couple thought perhaps he had contracted an infection from the bird. Instead, it turned out to be Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), caused by a rare bacterial infection unrelated to the parrot.

By the time Henrich drove her husband to Jennersville Regional Hospital, he was incoherent. (“I felt like I was burning up …

Area Hospitals Turn To Jefferson's Adult Ecmo Program

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

In 2010, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital introduced new capabilities for portable extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which provides both cardiac and respiratory support to individuals with severely diseased or damaged heart and lungs. Since then, the hospital has built the area’s only comprehensive, surgeon-led Adult ECMO Program that includes a dedicated unit and team of clinicians with special training and experience in using this life-saving technology.

“Our program is gaining recognition in the community, with other hospitals increasingly referring critically ill patients to our team,” says Nicholas C. Cavarocchi, MD, FACS, FCCP, Director of the Surgical Cardiac Care Unit and Professor …

From The Chair: Overview

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

One Jefferson

There is palpable excitement in the air here at Jefferson. Efforts to transform our University, led by our new President Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, are well underway. Many from our Department have contributed to the changes we see on the horizon. “Health Is All We Do”…has been embraced as our new motto.

“We will reimagine health care, health education and discovery to create unparalleled value”...has been embraced as our vision statement.

A recent extensive strategic retreat process has generated a Blueprint for Strategic Action (BSA) with four foundational enablers. These are:

• Partnerships

• Diversity

• Technology …

Colon Cancer Vaccine: Clinical Trial Enrollment Continues

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Clinician-researchers at Jefferson are testing a vaccine that may support better outcomes for patients with colon cancer.

For people with Stage 1, 2 or 3 colon cancer, surgery is the standard of care. For most, it turns out to be a cure. But for a minority of patients who undergo surgery for colon cancer, disease later emerges in the liver, lung or another part of the body. When that occurs, the prognosis is poor.

“Once you have metastatic disease in colon cancer, a clock is ticking,” explains Scott Waldman, MD, PhD, Associate Dean, Clinical and Translational Research and Samuel M.V. …

News In Brief

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Benjamin Phillips, MD, FACS, has joined the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery. Dr. Phillips completed residency training in 2005 at University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville and fellowship training in colorectal surgery in 2009 at Jefferson. He is dual- certified in General Surgery and Colon and Rectal Surgery and will practice in Center City and at Methodist Hospital.

Kudos: Drs. Paul J. DiMuzio and Scott D. Goldstein have been promoted to Professor of Surgery, Drs. Scott Cowan and Harish Lavu have been promoted to Associate Professor of Surgery, and Dr. Gurjyot Bajwa has been promoted to Assistant Professor …

Recent Residency Program Graduate Pledges Ongoing Support

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

After graduating from Jefferson’s surgical residency program in 2008, Negar Golesorkhi, MD, went on to complete a prestigious breast surgical oncology fellowship at Allegheny Medical Center. She has since returned to her native Virginia where she is in private practice at the National Breast Center in Lorton. Just a few years into her practice, Dr. Golesorkhi has already pledged to support the surgical residency program that trained and prepared her so well.

Dr. Golesorkhi’s commitment to the newly established Surgical Alumni for Education Fund will support academic enrichment for a surgical resident each year. “Surgical residency education is dual-faceted,” she …

Plant Biologist Shruti Lal, Phd, Identifies New Molecule That Could Prove Key In Treating Pancreatic Cancer

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

When Shruti Lal, PhD, joined the Division of Surgical Research as a post-doctoral researcher, she brought an intriguing blend of experience to the lab.

A veritable Renaissance woman, Dr. Lal has earned Master’s degrees in both Botany and Computational Biosciences. She holds a two-year diploma in e-commerce and web design, and has more than six years of professional experience in software development, teaching and research. She also studied Molecular Biology techniques at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute and explored microarray printing, scanning and hybridization at the University of California, San Francisco.

As a doctoral student at the …

Faculty Profile: Herbert E. Cohn, Md, Facs

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

One might say if you don’t know Dr. Herbert Cohn, you don’t really know Jefferson. Dr. Cohn arrived at Jefferson Medical College in 1951 as a medical student (JMC ’55). Since that time, he has left only for his intern year at Atlantic City Hospital and two years of service in the U.S. Air Force. After graduating from the medical school, he completed his residency training on the service of John H. Gibbon, Jr., MD and his fellowship training in cardiovascular surgery. He was appointed to the faculty in 1962 and that was just the beginning.

In the following decades, …

Jefferson Vascular Center Among The First To Implant Fenestrated Aortic Grafts

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

The Jefferson Vascular Center brings together surgical and medical specialties to provide comprehensive care to patients with vascular diseases (diseases of blood vessels) and thrombotic (blood-clotting) disorders, as well as care of complex vascular wounds.

The multidisciplinary center, launched in July 2009, is co-directed by Paul J. DiMuzio, MD, FACS, the William M. Measey Professor of Surgery and Director of the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery; Geno Merli, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital; and Laurence Needleman, MD, Associate Professor of Radiology and Director of the Division of Abdominal Imaging. In the …

60 Years Of Cardiothoracic Surgery At Jefferson: From The Heart-Lung Machine To The ‘Portable’ Total Artificial Heart

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

On May 6, 1953, John H. Gibbon, Jr., MD – the third Samuel D. Gross Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery (1946 –1967) and Director of Experimental Surgery at Jefferson – performed the first successful surgery with the groundbreaking heart-lung machine he developed. With this operation, Dr. Gibbon launched a new era in cardiac surgery.

As we commemorate the 60th anniversary of Dr. Gibbon’s milestone, patients of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery continue to benefit from Jefferson’s commitment to continual innovation under the leadership of James Diehl, MD, FACS, and two highly specialized programs.

State-of-the-art life support

The …

News In Brief

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Babak Abai, MD, FACS, has joined the Jefferson Vascular Center and Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. Dr. Abai completed residency training in 2005 at Drexel University and a fellowship program in vascular surgery in 2007 at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He will practice in Center City and at Methodist Hospital.

John (Trey) Entwistle, III, MD, PhD, has joined the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Dr. Entwistle was a resident in general surgery at the Medical College of Virginia from 1990 – 1998 during which time he also spent three years as a research …

On The Job-Chuck Rowland, Msn, Crnp

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Chuck Rowland, MSN, CRNP, first came to Jefferson in 1986 as a newly graduated clinical perfusionist. Over the next 25 years, he worked in several states and returned to Jefferson as a perfusionist before pursuing a career in nursing. In 2007, he completed his BSN in Villanova University’s accelerated nursing program and continued his studies to earn his MSN as an Adult Nurse Practitioner in 2010.

Since April 2011, Rowland has been supporting Jefferson’s Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery as an outpatient nurse practitioner. More recently, he assumed additional responsibilities as director of the Smoking Cessation, Counseling and Therapy (SCCT) Program, …

Susan Donahue Honors Husband With Endowed Lectureship In The Department Of Surgery

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Susan Donahue has made a gift to establish the Philip E. Donahue, MD, Lectureship in Benign Gastrointestinal Diseases, an endowed lectureship in the Department of Surgery.

Dr. Donahue was a graduate of La Salle College High School, La Salle College and Jefferson Medical College (class of 1968). After completing his surgical residency and a fellowship in Surgical Gastroenterology at the University of Illinois in Chicago, he extended his interest and expertise in gastric and esophageal diseases to include highly selective vagotomy procedures for peptic ulcer disease.

Dr. Donahue and his colleagues at the University of Illinois developed the principles and …

Jefferson And Lankenau Institute Of Medical Research Collaborate On Cancer Research

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Located along Philadelphia’s Main Line in Wynnewood, Pa., the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research (LIMR) aims to advance health and well-being through research to improve the detection and treatment of disease; the rapid transfer of new technology to the clinic; and the training of the next generation of scientists and physicians.

Founded in 1927, LIMR now has a team of 120 – including 20 resident faculty members – working to advance its mission. Those investigators include LIMR President and CEO George C. Prendergast, PhD, who also serves as editor in chief of Cancer Research, the most highly cited journal in …

Meet Our Surgical Interns

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

The Department has welcomed an impressive new group of categorical interns, selected from over one thousand applicants to our program. These doctors, who recently matched with Jefferson, started on June 20, 2012. Just a few months into their Jefferson surgical residency, we have all noticed their dedication to patient care, their energy and their excitement in joining the Jefferson community.

Please welcome (from left to right):

Adam Strickland, MD, East Carolina University, Danika Giugliano, MD, Drexel University, Adam Johnson, MD, Tulane University, Sami Tannouri, MD, Pennsylvania State University, Deepika Koganti, MD, University of Miami, Talar Tatarian, MD …

Jefferson Surgeon Performs Minimally Invasive Robotic Mitral Valve Repair

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

Routine physical exams often reveal the presence of a heart murmur, which can be the first sign of mitral valve prolapse. Typically diagnosed with an echocardiogram, mitral valve prolapse is a condition in which the valve separating the upper and lower chambers on the left side of the heart doesn’t close properly. For some individuals, the condition is asymptomatic; for others, mitral valve prolapse results in mitral regurgitation, leading to symptoms of heart failure as the disease progresses.

Until the last decade, the best surgical treatment was to replace the valve – which traditionally required invasive surgery, a lengthy recovery …

Philly Preschooler Shares Liver With Rock And Roll Legend

Jefferson Surgical Solutions

The same liver that’s helping restore the health of rock and roll legend Bobby Rydell is also giving a little girl her first chance at a normal childhood.

Born in Philadelphia in May 2008, Assiah Phinisee spent the first four years of her life battling biliary atresia – a blockage of the ducts that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder and intestines. By the time Assiah’s mother, Rasheena, visited Stephen P. Dunn, MD, Chair of the Department of Surgery at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children and Professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College, in 2010, Assiah had …