By day, Theodore “Ted” N. Pappas, MD, is vice dean for medical affairs for Duke University’s School of Medicine and distinguished professor of surgical innovation and chief of the Division of Advanced Oncologic and GI Surgery in the Department of Surgery. He specializes in gastrointestinal surgery, peptic ulcer surgery, and cancer of the esophagus, stomach, pancreas and bile duct.
By night – or in his very limited free time – however, Pappas is a surgical historian.
Over the past decade, Pappas, working with teams of colleagues, has combined his two passions—surgery and history—to publish more than ten papers that analyze the underlying medical story behind key historical assassinations, shootings, and other noteworthy events.
“Mostly, I try to tell a story that hasn’t been told yet,” said Pappas. “Commonly, these are public events, and the public story has been told, but the medical narrative has not.”
Theodore N. Pappas, Duke’s ‘surgical historian,’ investigates key historical moments, including RFK assassination
Duke Med School Blog