Department of Surgery welcomes three new faculty in August; prepares for others in September
By Josh Shepherd
In addition to a new chair this year, the Department of Surgery at the University of Kentucky will welcome eight new faculty members and celebrate the return of a veteran Cardiothoracic Surgeon throughout August and September of 2019.
Joining the faculty in August are the following:
Dong H. Lee, MD (Vascular Surgery): Dr. Lee completed a vascular fellowship at the DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center at Houston Methodist Hospital this summer. The faculty appointment with the University of Kentucky’s Division of General Surgery is his first.
Dr. Lee earned his bachelor’s of science degree in Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University. He was accepted into the SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine in New York where, in addition to earning his MD in 2010, he also participated in biomedical engineering research.
He matched into the General Surgery residency at Brookdale Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn. During that time, Dr. Lee engaged in applied vascular surgery research at Mount Sinai Hospital with Dr. Peter Faries.
Prakash Pandalai, MD, FACS (Gastrointestinal Oncology): Dr. Pandalai is an experienced surgical oncologist, a US Army Medical Corps veteran, and a former staff clinician and researcher with the National Institute of Health (NIH). As a Major in the US Army Medical Corps, Dr. Pandalai has been deployed to Afghanistan as part of the Forward Surgical Team (FST) of Operation Enduring Freedom (2011, 2014). He also served four months with the 1980th FST for Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq.
He served as a clinical researcher in the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute from 2010-2013 and with the Thoracic and Gastrointestinal Oncology Branch the following year.
Subsequent to his work with the NIH, Dr. Pandalai was staff surgeon at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington and an associate of the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group. Prior to accepting faculty appointment at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Pandalai served patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Orlando, Florida.
David John Worhunsky, MD (Pediatric Surgery): Fresh from completing his fellowship in pediatric surgery at the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, Dr. Worhunsky accepted his first faculty appointment with the University of Kentucky Division of Pediatric Surgery. He is one of two new pediatric surgeons to join the UK faculty this year. The other pediatric surgeon, Dr. Andrea Doud, will begin practice in September.
Like the others on this list of faculty, Dr. Worhunsky brings an impressive list of academic and clinical credentials to the Lexington area.
Before embarking on a career path as a surgeon, Dr. Worhunsky spent several years on research at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Center for Regenerative Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. During General Surgery residency at Stanford University Medical Center, Dr. Worhunsky spent two years as a research fellow in the Division of Surgical Oncology.
All three surgeons will begin their faculty appointments in August. In September, four additional surgeons will come on board: Greg Charak, MD (General Surgery), Andrea Doud, MD (Pediatric Surgery), Debra Bourne (Hand Surgeon), and Zach Warriner (Critical Care Surgery).
In October, two other faculty members will start their UK practice: Erin Burke, MD (General Surgery) and Hassan Reda, MD (Cardiac Surgery).
