News

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.

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.

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.

Five faculty members from the Duke Department of Surgery have been selected to participate in the 2018 Duke Leadership Development for Researchers (LEADER) program sponsored by the Duke University School of Medicine Office of Faculty Development.

Duke Surgery’s participants include the following members:

National Institutes of Health grant will fund research to develop safer, more effective therapies for patients undergoing organ transplants.

Photo: Dr. Stuart Knechtle, director of the Duke Transplant Center and liver transplant specialist, and Dr. Ahmad Zaaroura, abdominal transplant fellow in surgery

Duke researchers will lead a $12 million, five-year study to test novel therapies that aim to eliminate or minimize the need for life-long immunosuppressive drugs following transplantation.