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DepartmentsDepartment of SurgeryYear in ReviewYear in Review: 2016

Year in Review: 2016

July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016

The Department of Surgery continues to increase and strengthen our core mission of education, patient care, and research. The past fiscal year included recruitments of high quality faculty, clinical program development, investment in research programs, and success in attaining research funding. The entire departmental faculty contributed to these activities.

CLINICAL OVERVIEW

The clinical programs primary case volume at University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) in FY 2016 was 8,783 representing a 1.7% decrease from FY 2015. Overall case volume at system and non-system hospital posted a 0.6% decrease from FY 2015. Numerous internal and external challenges affected overall clinical productivity, including a new electronic medical records system, changes with insurers, the newly implemented Global Budget Revenue method in conjunction with the new Medicare waiver program, a fire in our clinic building, the winter blizzard, unrest in the Baltimore city, and the absence of unregulated surgery centers for both our adult and pediatric patient population. Despite these significant challenges, the Department of Surgery continued our strategy to build referrals and to move volume to off campus locations.

COST SAVINGS INITIATIVE

With implementation of Maryland’s All-Payer Hospital System Modernization Initiative, the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) has initiated a model with a shared goal to develop a health care system that enhances patient care, improves health outcomes and lowers costs. In FY16 the Department of Surgery continued to partner with the UMMC to develop a shared cost savings initiative with the goal to review all inpatient operations and incorporate efficiencies to reduce UMMC’s surgical costs while maintaining patient safety, improving quality and outcomes.

Baltimore 2015 Best Doctors – Department of Surgery

Cardiac:

Kaushal, Sunjay - Pediatric

General:

Kavic, Stephen – Minimally Invasive
Kligman, Mark - Bariatric

Pediatric Surgery:

Strauch, Eric
Voigt, Roger - Urology

Plastic Surgery:

Slezak, Sheri - Breast

Surgical Oncology:

Hanna, Nader

Transplant: Kidney, Pancreas, Liver:

Bartlett, Stephen

Trauma:

Scalea, Thomas
Stein, Deborah

Urology:

Kramer, Andrew

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

Overall, the department had a very successful year in FY 2016 with respect to research. We increased new award dollars by 26.66%, increased our revenue from awards by 13.51% and increased submissions by 1.83%. Revenue from Federal awards increased slightly. Department of Surgery ranked 22nd in NIH funding for all Departments of Surgery in CY 2015 up from 24th in CY2014.

  • 111 Grant Applications this Fiscal Year
  • 18 New NIH applications
  • 17 NIH sub-contract applications
  • 18 other-Federal applications
  • 58 Corporate and Foundation sponsored applications
  • 45 new awards to Date
  • 6 NIH awards/sub-contracts
  • 5 other-Federal awards
  • 34 Corporate or Foundation award

Notable New Awards:

  • A $5-year, $1.7M NIH R01 award for Dr. Bromberg’s project, “Induction and Migration of Regulatory T cells: role of lymphotoxin.”
  • Awards form Mt. Sinai Icahn School of Medicine for Dr. Griffith, Dr. Taylor and Dr. Gammie for their Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN) studies.
  • Extension of Dr. Lal’s NIH contract for “Evaluation of Intimal Medial Thickness”
  • Department of Defense grant awards for Dr. Crawford and Dr. Siddiqui for their respective studies, “Adjunctive therapy to improve functional recovery after limb ischemia” and “Using metabolic pathways to improve diagnosis and risk stratification of prostate cancer.”
  • Dr. Siddiqui is the Co-PI for an NIH R21 Hyperpolarized 13C imaging of mitochondrial metabolism for improved characterization of prostate cancer”
  • Subawards from MD TEDCO grants to Dr. Bromberg for “Intra lymph node controlled release to combat autoimmunity” and to Dr. Bluebond-Langner for “Operative Entrustability System.”
  • A 3-year $5.2M award from Lung Biotechnology PBC for Dr. Pierson’s “Lung Xenotransplantation with Tolerance” project.
  • A NIH T32 award for Dr. Strickland’s “Training program in cardiovascular cell biology.”

DIVISION AWARDS

GENERAL

  • Dr. Nariman Balenga received an Institutional Research Grant from the Greenebaum Cancer Center/ACS to study the mechanisms of RGSS-mediated tumorigenesis in the parathyroid gland.

TRAUMA

  • Dr. Deborah Stein received a new award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research for “Assessing the accuracy and impact of ventricular drainage on intercranial pressure measurements.”
  • Dr. Stein also received a subaward from a Dept. of Defense grant to study “sigh ventilation to prevent and treat acute respiratory distress syndrome”.

UROLOGY

  • Dr. Minhaj Siddiqui received an Institutional Research Grant from the Greenebaum Cancer Center/ACS to study metabolic correlates of prostate cancer aggressiveness.

VASCULAR

  • Dr. Thomas Monahan received a subaward from a NIH SBIR grant for an experiment design to test dHACM on neovasculation in vitro.

EDUCATION

The undergraduate and graduate educational programs continue to provide quality learning experiences. The residency program graduates successfully match into quality fellowships and the fellowship graduates attain excellent employment opportunities.

  • There was a strong match with class of interns for FY 2017 from the following programs: Drexel University College of Medicine, Universita degli Studi de Verona, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Georgetown University School of Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School and West Virginia University School of Medicine.
  • Incoming Preliminary General Surgery Residents matched from the following programs: American International Medical University, University of Khartoum Faculty of Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, University of Bristol Faculty of Medicine, The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Trinity School of Medicine, and University of Dammam College of Medicine.
  • Our graduating FY16 general surgery resident class matched into the following fellowships.
    • University of Southern California-Plastic Surgery
    • St. Louis University-Pediatric Surgery
    • University of Pennsylvania-Critical Care
    • University of Maryland-Vascular Surgery
    • Miami University-Cardiac Surgery
    • Anne Arundel Medical Center-MIS
  • Medical Student shelf exam scores of 56th percentile nationally.

FY2016 FACULTY RECRUITMENTS

  • The Cardiac Surgery Division added Dr. Zachary Kon. Dr. Kon is a graduate of the University of Maryland, School of Medicine and is our first Cardiothoracic Surgery Resident.
  • The Pediatric Surgery Division added Dr. Helene Crowley. Dr. Crowley completed her M.D., Internship and Residency at Tufts University, School of Medicine. She also completed her Ph.D. in Immunology from Tufts, Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences. She completed her Pediatric Surgery fellowship at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She comes to us from Drexel University College of Medicine, where she had worked since 2012 as an Assistant Professor
  • The Surgical Transplant Division added Dr. David Bruno and Dr. Soo Yi. Dr. Bruno completed his M.D., Internship and Residency from Georgetown University, School of Medicine. He completed a Research Fellowship at the NIH, NIDDKD, Transplantation Branch, then returned to Georgetown University to be the Chief Resident. Dr. Bruno completed his Liver, Kidney, Pancreas Transplantation Fellowship at Emory University, Department of Surgery. He comes to us from Wayne State University, where he has worked since 2014 as an Assistant Clinical Professor. Dr. Yi completed her M.D. and Residency from The Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She completed her Abdominal Organ Transplant Surgery Fellowship at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She comes to us from Colombia University, where she has worked since 2013 as an Instructor in Clinical Surgery.
  • The Vascular Surgery Division added Dr. Tanya Flores and Dr. Areck Ucuzian. Dr. Flores completed her M.D. from Drexel University College of Medicine. She completed her Internship, and Residency from the University of Virginia Health System. She also completed both her Research Fellowship in Transplant Surgery and her Clinical Fellowship in Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at the University of Virginia Health System. Dr. Ucuzian completed his M.D. from Tufts University, School of Medicine. He completed his Residency and his Ph.D. in Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy at Loyola University Medical Center and his Fellowship in Vascular Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

PHILANTHROPY

The Department reported a record fundraising total of $7,897,000 dollars from 591 donors. This is an all-time record for the Department in both fundraising dollars and donors. Notable gifts include documentation of a $5 million testamentary gift intention for endowment and operating needs – the largest planned gift in the Department’s history. A new Endowed Professorship in Entrepreneurial Surgical Science was envisioned, solicited, and funded from $2.2 million dollars in new gifts from four donors and award of a matching gift grant from the State of Maryland new E-Nnovations Initiative Program. Faculty in all divisions were recognized by grateful patients and their families with major gifts and with honor and memorial gifts. On-line giving increased significantly, particularly for named memorial gifts, with the introduction of software to create personalized giving pages. Dr. Joseph Friedberg was installed as the first Charles Reid Edwards Professor in Surgery, a gift of Dr. Alston Lanham SOM’31.

FISCAL YEAR 2016 SURGERY FACULTY MENTIONS

Dr. Rachel Bluebond-Langner; UMMC: Local doctor performs gender reassignment surgery>WMAR-TV - Apr 25 VIDEO http://umm.gd/1qO6PpQ
See Also: Transgender soldier serves as an advocate for others http://umm.gd/1SKEfCt

SOM, Dr. Richard Pierson: How This Pig Heart in a Baboon Body Could Save Your Life >Science.Mic – Apr 7 http://umm.gd/1YiyHgs

Dr. David Leeser, UMMC: Mom gives son the gift of life before Mother’s Day >WBAL-TV – May 6 http://umm.gd/1QUro9q

Dr. Jonathan Bromberg; UMMC: University of Maryland Medical Center leads in kidney transplants for blacks >Baltimore Times - Mar 25 http://umm.gd/22NzNEg

Dr. Mohummad Minhaj Siddiqui; Prostate cancer and testicular cancer: Is there a hidden link? >NewsMax - Mar30 http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/prostate-cancer-testicular-cancer-link/2016/03/30/id/721407/

CONCLUSION

The Department of Surgery enters FY 2017 with a strong, efficient and expanding faculty, demonstrated excellence in educational, research and clinical arenas, and with solid partnerships with our School, our Campus and a rapidly expanding Medical System.