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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 …