News

The 2015 edition of the CT Surgery Symposium covered a wide range of topics on Saturday morning, Oct. 3 for an audience of approximately 40 attendees.

Following welcome remarks from Sibu Saha, MD, MBA, chair of the division of CT Surgery, and Jay Zwischenberger, chair of the department of Surgery, 10 presentations were scheduled to follow. Unfortunately, the presentation on “Percutaneous Approaches to Structural heart Disease” had to be postponed due to Dr. John Gurley being called away.

A fellow and resident duo from the UK division of CT Surgery were named one of the top six two-person teams in the annual North American Cardiothoracic Surgery Resident “Jeopardy” competition sponsored by the Joint Council on Thoracic Surgery Education (JCTSE). The UK team will participate in the Jeopardy finals during the annual meeting of the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association (STSA) in November.

LEXINGTON, Ky , Sept. 21, 2015 – In response to the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in the Commonwealth, UK HealthCare announced the creation of the UK Vascular Medicine Clinic in the Kentucky Clinic.

The Exatherm Total Body Hyperthermia System heats the patient’s blood to potentially damage or kill lung cancer cells throughout the body. UK is the only site in the country approved to test this new treatment in advanced lung cancer patients.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 28, 2015) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved clinical trials for an investigational cancer treatment pioneered by University of Kentucky researchers in the Department of Surgery.
The Exatherm Total Body Hyperthermia System (Exatherm-TBH) was developed at UK in a public-private partnership with Exatherm, LLC, explained medical researcher Cherry Ballard-Croft, Ph.D. The project received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health.

The 2015 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the American College of Surgeons, who is also of the nation’s leading voices in surgical education, will be offering his insights and commentary at the second annual Richard W. Schwartz Memorial Lecture and Symposium in the W.T. Young Library Auditorium on Thursday afternoon, October 22.

A cardiothoracic surgery resident’s clinical research paper was among the top three finishers at a competition on trauma at the annual meeting of the Association of Veterans Administration Surgeons (AVAS) in Miami Beach last May. As a result, it will be presented as one of the regional finalists in the American College of Surgeons – Committee on Trauma (ACS-COT) Region 13-VA clinical research competition later this year.

Michael Bolanos, MD

Dr. Michael Lynch, middle, with Dr. Bruce Mast, Glancy Competition Chair and Dr. Henry Vasconez,
SESPRS President and Chief of UK Plastic Surgery

A pioneer in the study and development of Endourology, minimally invasive Urology, will be the Spring 2015 Edward Hunt Ray, Sr. Visiting Professor in Urology on Friday, June 26.

Ralph Clayman, MD, Founder of the Endourology Society and Professor of Urology at the University of California-Irvine, will make three presentations throughout the day on Friday in the MN 263 lecture hall in the William R. Willard Medical Education Building.

Dr. Mark Evers, director of the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center and professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Surgery, has been elected treasurer for the American Surgical Association. Evers will serve as treasurer through 2020. The American Surgical Association is the nation's oldest and most prestigious surgical organization. They strive to benefit the patient and the profession of surgery by advocating and promoting excellence, innovation and integrity.

The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center will host a special gala on Saturday, Feb. 7, to support its second annual Expressions of Courage exhibit this summer. Markey's Expressions of Courage exhibit is a yearly art showcase featuring original, artistic expressions connected in some way to an experience with a cancer diagnosis, or crafted by or in memory of a Markey patient whose battle has ended.

When presented with a national award for his contributions to music therapy, Dr. Jay Zwischenberger showed his appreciation with a felicitous expression of music.

Before graduating from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, fourth year medical students participate in a simulated-based internship "prep week" that includes training on adult and pediatric patient scenarios with high tech patient simulators. This experience incorporating clinical simulation is just one example of the vital and growing use of simulators in providing individual as well as team training in a safe clinical environment without compromising patient safety, said Dr.

A multicenter study including University of Kentucky researchers found that a new nerve repair technique yields better results and fewer side effects than other existing techniques. Traumatic nerve injuries are common, and when nerves are severed, they do not heal on their own and must be repaired surgically.

UK HealthCare has been designated a Comprehensive Stroke Center by The Joint Commission (TJC) and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

UK HealthCare is one of 63 U.S. institutions and the only in Lexington to be awarded this designation, which is the highest honor The Joint Commission awards to stroke centers.

Dr. Rinker's manuscript, “The Use of Dermal Autograft as an Adjunct to Breast Reconstruction with Tissue Expanders”(Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 130: 1179, 2012) has won “BEST BREAST PAPER” in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery for calendar 2012. 

Congratulations to Dr. Michael Lynch, PGY5 plastic surgery resident, who was named the recipient of the prestigious Glancy Award at the Black Tie Dinner of the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (SEPSRS) in June. His paper entitled “Dermal Autografts as a Substitute for Acellular Dermal Matrices (ADM) in Tissue Expander Breast Reconstruction: A Prospective Comparative Study,” was selected from over 60 papers submitted from 11 accredited plastic surgery residency programs throughout the Southeast. Co-authors were 4th Year Medical Student Michael Chung and Dr.

Dr. Mark Evers, director of the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center, professor and vice-chair for research in the Department of Surgery and Markey Cancer Foundation Endowed Chair, has been elected the new president of the Southern Surgical Association. One of the nation’s leading medical groups, the association is dedicated to furthering the study and practice of surgery, especially in the Southern states.