News

Bradley H. Collins, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery, Division of Abdominal Transplant Surgery, was recently selected by a distinguished faculty committee to receive the 2019 Leonard Palumbo Jr., MD Faculty Achievement Award.

Three faculty members from the Duke Department of Surgery have received distinguished professorships from Duke University. Distinguished professorships are awarded to the most distinguished faculty who have demonstrated extraordinary scholarship in advancing science and improving human health.

The Department of Surgery held its 4th Annual Research Day April 17. The department holds this event annually to advance its mission of improving patient care through research and training the next generation of surgeon–scientists. The event recognizes the accomplishments of fellows, residents, and students engaged in clinical or basic and translational research through the department.

Stuart Knechtle, MD, Professor of Surgery, Division of Abdominal Transplant Surgery, was recently elected into the Association of American Physicians (AAP).

The U.S. News and World Report has ranked the Duke University School of Medicine 2nd in surgery among the best medical schools in the country. This 2nd place ranking is up considerably from the department’s 5th place ranking last year.

The Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research has released its 2018 rankings of NIH funding for basic and clinical science departments, revealing that Duke Surgery ranks highest nationwide with more than $30 million in funding committed to research.

A Fayetteville man who underwent a rare abdominal wall and intestinal transplant at Duke University Hospital had the equally rare opportunity to thank his organ donor’s family for their generosity and compassion.

“I have a new family now,” said Johnathan Nauta, who underwent the 14-hour transplant at Duke University Hospital on Oct. 12.

With a buzzing phone and dinging inbox repeatedly begging for her attention, Dr. Georgia Beasley momentarily tunes out the chaos to discuss the journey that led to her current position at Duke. Here, she splits her time between treating melanoma patients in the clinic and researching novel treatments for the disease in the laboratory.

Photo: Patient Elwood Linney meets with two members of the POSH team, Dr. Mitchell Heflin and Dr. Sandhya Lagoo-Deenadayalan (Shawn Rocco, Duke Health)

How would you define a successful surgery? For many patients seeking medical care, surgery is a means to an end—a hopefully minor inconvenience that will improve their quality of life. But for some, the risk of postoperative complications or a long and painful hospital stay may present formidable challenges.

The Duke transplant team recently performed the first liver transplant in the state of North Carolina of an organ from an HIV-positive donor to an HIV-positive recipient, an operation that would not have been possible before the Hope Act was passed in 2013. Previously, organs from donors with HIV infection in the U.S. could not be used and were routinely discarded.