Department of Surgery Annual Report by University of Rochester Medical Center

Demonstrating Unwavering Commitment2020-2022

Pictured: Peter Knight, M.D. and Cardiac Surgery Resident, Daniel Ziazadeh, M.D.

CONTENTS 1. Letter from the Chairman 2. Abdominal Transplant and Liver Surgery 4. Acute Care Surgery 6. Bariatric and GI Surgery at Highland 8. Cardiac 10. OutstandingSurgeryClinical Programs: Liver Transplants Give Cancer Patients a Second Chance at Life 12. Colorectal Surgery 14. Pediatric Surgery 16. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 18. Cutting-Edge, Impactful Research: Cancer Researcher Spins ‘Gold Dust’ from Courage and Collaboration 20. General Surgery: Regional and Community 22. Surgical 24. ThoracicOncologyandForegut Surgery 26. Innovative Education: Program Overview 28. Vascular 30. SupportiveSurgeryCare in Cancer 32. Surgery by the Numbers 2021 34. A Prosperous Culture: Serving Our Community Through Active Engagement 36. Notable Alumni: An Interview with Dr. Thomas Penn 38. Surgical 40. Advancement:Education Gift Establishes the Kenneth Ouriel Family Professorship in Vascular Surgery 42. Enduring Strength and Resilience: Walking on Air 44. New Faculty to the Department, 2020-2022 46. New 48. SeymourAppointmentsI.Schwartz, M.D. (1928-2020): A Life Well Lived

The last two years have been challenging, to say the least. But despite the setbacks brought first by COVID-19 and then (and still!) by staffing shortages, the Department has continued to press forward, demonstrating the resiliency and fortitude of our faculty, trainees and staff. Since 2020, we have added 35 new faculty members to the Department of Surgery and we continue to attract ever-growing numbers of applicants to our residency and fellowship programs; we’ve seen a 19 percent increase in applicants since 2020. In addition, our extramural research funding has experienced a 31% increase with sponsored research funding totaling $10,995,198 since 2020, in spite of an increasingly competitive playing field for research funding. In every way, the Surgery Department has met challenges with an increased sense of resolve, commitment and unwavering focus. I couldn’t be prouder of this team.

In addition to growing our clinical, training and research programs, our faculty developed a comprehensive strategic plan to foster a prosperous, diverse and inclusive culture within our department. As part of that plan, Paula Cupertino, Ph.D. has been recruited as Vice-Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and as the Research Director for SHORE (Surgical Health Outcomes Research Enterprise). Dr Cupertino is a nationally recognized and NIH-funded cancer prevention researcher with a special research emphasis in studying and implementing effective cancer prevention strategies for underserved populations. Her work in health equity research will bring a new research focus to SHORE, which will help us attract superb trainees.

I would also like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank Dr. Rabih Salloum for 10+ highly successful years as the General Surgery Program Director. Rabih’s dedication and his sincere care for the well-being of all of his trainees set the tone for the remarkable growth of our training programs in General Surgery and beyond. Dr. Yan Qi, Associate Professor of Surgery and an Attending Surgeon in the Division of Trauma/Acute Care Surgery, has recently accepted the position of Program Director and brings a fresh sense of enthusiasm and many new ideas to this vitally important leadership role. She has big shoes to fill, but I know Yan will be highly successful in further elevating our training program.

With the well-timed lifting of COVID-19 restrictions last November, we were able to gather and host a memorial service to honor and celebrate the life of our friend and mentor, Dr. Sy Schwartz. We waited more than a year after his death, as we were determined to gather in person to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Schwartz, and to share innumerable personal stories of how lives were impacted by his wisdom, his kindness and his dedication to this Department. We were pleased to host many program alumni who came back to Rochester for the memorial service, demonstrating not only a collective admiration for Dr. Schwartz and his many accomplishments, but also a sense of pride in being part of the University of Rochester Department of Surgery. The legacy of Dr. Schwartz lives on in our hallways, including his office which has been converted to a memorial for all to see. These last two years have tested us, and reminded us that sometimes circumstances outside of our control take over and send challenges our way. The real test is not in what happens to us, but in how we respond, and it has been humbling to watch this Department respond with an ongoing passion for teaching, an unwavering commitment to conducting meaningful research, and above all, a fierce devotion to patient care. With the centennial anniversary of the Department just around the corner in 2024, we continue to reflect on our past, and envision our role in the advances that the next century will bring.

David C. Linehan, M.D. Seymour I. Schwartz Professor and Chairman Department of Surgery University of Rochester Medical Center

Message from the Chair

2 Mark Orloff, M.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery; Associate Vice Chair for Clinical Operations and Regional Development Randeep S. Kashyap, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery; Surgical Director of Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program Amit Nair, M.B.B.S., M.S., M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery Paritosh Prasad, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery, Medicine and Pediatrics Karen Pineda-Solis, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery Koji Tomiyama, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery; Surgical Director of Liver Transplant Program Faculty Listing: Abdominal Transplant and Liver Surgery Roberto M.D.,Hernandez-Alejandro,F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery and Chief, Division of Abdominal Transplant and Liver Surgery Pictured: Mark Orloff, M.D.; Koji Tomiyama, M.D.; Roberto Hernandez-Alejandro, M.D.; Karen Pineda-Solis, M.D.; Randeep Kashyap, M.D.; Amit Nair, M.D.

Roberto Hernandez-Alejandro, M.D., F.A.C.S. Professor of Surgery and Chief, Division of Abdominal Transplant and Liver Surgery

As the world and our healthcare system were undergoing dramatic changes and battling the COVID-19 pandemic with limited resources, the UR Medicine Transplant Surgery Division was focused on ensuring that patients continued to have access to safe, life-saving transplant operations. Though we were more physically separated, our Division remained steadfastly committed to our shared values and maintained our team spirit. With the support of hospital leadership and the lab (for stat COVID testing), we performed 103 liver transplants, our highest total in over a decade. This was a year that demonstrated the critical need for collaboration among our multidisciplinary team including dedicated hepatology, nephrology, psychiatry, infectious disease and other medical staff members. The program growth we have experienced over the past four years necessitated the addition of new faculty. We were joined by Dr. Amit Nair, who trained at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, UK followed by a transplant surgery fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic in September of 2020. Our sixth faculty member, Dr. Karen Pineda-Solis, joined the team in August of 2021. She is the first female transplant surgeon in the program’s history. Dr. Pineda-Solis completed training at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition “Salvador Zubiran”, National Autonomous University of Mexico followed by a multi-organ transplantation and Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary fellowship at the University of Western, Ontario, Canada before finishing her training at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). As we continue to expand, we are adding other members to our multidisciplinary team and are thankful to have the Department of Surgery’s support in this endeavor. In October 2021, Dr. Koji Tomiyama was appointed to Associate Professor of Surgery and named Surgical Director of Liver Transplant Program. We are also pleased to announce that Dr. Mark Orloff is celebrating 30 years as a transplant surgeon at URMC.

Abdominal Transplant and Liver Surgery

Our Division has been an innovative and national leader in several areas of transplant care. For the past three years, our live donor liver transplant program for colorectal metastases has been caring for patients from across the country who are seeking this unique life-prolonging option. We are also a leader in the Northeast for robotic kidney transplant surgery for both living donors and recipients, under the direction of Dr. Randeep Kashyap. In addition, our educational activities, which are led by Dr. Koji Tomiyama, continue to be praised by our residents and medical students.

The ongoing, state-of-the-art advancements in our Division have led to several publications in high-impact factor, basic and clinical research journals, as well as international presentations. Plus, as Chair of the Department’s Diversity Committee, I remain dedicated to minimizing disparities in access to transplant surgery and care – the focus area of our research. Under my leadership, our Division looks forward to continued expansion of transplant services to the patients of our region.

Acute Care Surgery

Faculty Listing:

Michael Vella, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.S., Assistant Professor of Surgery; Trauma Medical Director

Mark L. Gestring , M.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery and Chief, Division of Acute Care Surgery

Nicole A. Stassen, M.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics and Medical Director of the Kessler Family Burn/Trauma ICU; Surgical Critical Care Fellowship Director

Yanjie Qi, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery; General Surgery Residency Program Director

Michael Nabozny, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery

Pictured: Trauma Education & Outreach Team vehicle

Paul E. Bankey, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics Medical Director, Nutrition Support Service

Julius D. Cheng, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics; Professor of Clinical Nursing, School of Nursing

Michael Rotondo, M.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery; Associate Vice President for Administration; Chief Executive Officer; Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs

Ayodele T. Sangosanya, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics

As in past years, education of the next generation of surgeons continues to be a priority for our Division. Two of our Divisional faculty members were recipients of prestigious departmental teaching awards over the last two years and our surgical critical care fellowship continues to graduate two fellows each year. Our clinical rotations and teaching conferences were also recently redesigned to maximize the educational potential of these unique learning experiences for our surgical residents and surgical critical care fellows.

Mark L. Gestring, M.D., F.A.C.S. Professor of Surgery, Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics and Chief, Division of Acute Care Surgery

Our trauma teams continue to provide high-quality clinical care, and remain committed to community outreach and engagement. Now that the pandemic restrictions are gradually being lifted, we are once again able to engage in community events that target violence prevention. Working with Project Exile, Camp Good Days and Special Times and a host of other community partners, we are again actively participating in multiple programs and events in the community designed to address the significant increase in gun violence that we have seen over the last year. These efforts, in conjunction with the ongoing work of our well-established, hospital-based violence intervention program, continue to emphasize our dedication to a peaceful and safe community.

Acute Care Surgery

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged healthcare systems worldwide. That being said, the need for acute care surgery and trauma care services in our region did not decrease. The end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 were particularly challenging as we worked to deal with the aftermath of historic increases in violence combined with an overall increase in traumatic injury that became the reality throughout our region during this period of time. At our trauma center, we experienced a 25% increase in severely injured patients of all types and a concomitant 30% increase in patients requiring emergent trauma operations. This was accompanied by a stunning 90% increase in gunshot injuries compared to the year before. Our Division worked closely with departmental and hospital leader ship to assure that the staff, equipment and facilities necessary to provide this important care were available to those who needed it without interruption during this stressful period. Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, we were able to celebrate many successes as well. Our unrelenting commitment to injury prevention, outreach and education continued throughout the pandemic. We were able to modify our Stop the Bleed® program, which is usually taught in person, to conform to all state and local guidelines and we continued to provide this education both live and virtually throughout the region. We were also able to continue as the region’s only source of trauma education for professional providers. In addition to Stop the Bleed®, we were able to continue offering Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS®), Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses (ATCN®) and Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS®) for first responders, physicians and advanced practice providers. We were also able to develop and grow the Rural Trauma Team Development Course (RTTDC®), which is taught to rural providers at hospitals in our 17-county referral area. This program has been documented to improve survival of patients seriously injured in rural environments and was originally designed to help smaller, non-trauma hospitals initially manage and stabilize seriously injured patients in preparation for transfer to a trauma center. After a break during the height of the pandemic, this program is now fully operational and is on track to teach eight courses per year at different rural facilities across our region. This is an especially unique educational experi ence for participants as we bring the course to them and teach it at their facility. This allows as many providers as possible from a particular hospital to benefit from the training without the need to travel – and it also gives us the opportunity to strengthen regional relationships with these important rural referral centers.

William E. O’Malley, M.D., F.A.C.S., Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery and Director, Bariatric Surgery Center at Highland Hospital

David E. Burns, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery; Associate Program Director of General Surgery Residency

Associate Professor

Bariatric and GI Surgery

6 Faculty Listing: Bariatric and GI Surgery at Highland

Surgery and Chief

Joseph A. Johnson, M.D., F.A.C.S, of of

Pictured: David Burns, M.D. and former General Surgery Resident, Maria Durdach, M.D.

Dr. David Burns has become the “Educator of Choice” at Highland Hospital by the medical students and surgical residents. He has been integrating robotic hernia surgery into practice at Highland. I am very proud of how each of our Division’s staff members came together and made changes to the way we practice because of the pandemic. As we have come out of the isolation many of these changes persist and we have become more efficient.

Joseph A. Johnson, M.D. Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief of Bariatric and GI Surgery

Our bariatric surgical service, headed by Dr. Bill O’Malley, also changed significantly. Classes for our pre-operative patients are done via Zoom. All patients receive a binder of information and are required to attend these educational sessions. In addition, we are able to offer IV hydration to certain post-operative bariatric patients. This has led to a decrease in emergency room visits. These latter two initiatives have been spearheaded by our physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Our bariatric Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol has had a tremendous im pact this past year by decreasing our length of stay of sleeve gastrectomy patients by one day.

Bariatric Surgery Targeting Opioid Prescriptions (BSTOP) finished accruing patients and preliminary promising results were published in the fall of 2021. Yu Yang, Ph.D., a researcher in the School of Nursing, continues to study loss of control eating in bariatric patients and the follow-up of bariatric patients. We have just started recruiting patients for the Surgical Weight Loss to Improve Functional Status Trajectories Following Total Knee Arthroplasty (SWIFT) with the Department of Orthopedics. Preliminary results are to be presented in early 2023.

Bariatric and GI Surgery at Highland Twenty-twenty proved to be a year of struggle, but also accomplishment for all of us. The UR Medicine Bariatric/GI Surgery Division was affected by COVID-19 in many ways. The curtailment of elective surgery during the peak of the pandemic and the loss of physical interaction with patients, colleagues and staff was particularly difficult. Our team provided emergency general surgery services for Highland Hospital and Strong Memorial Hospital, so that we could load balance the increase demand for care. We met patients over the phone and via telehealth, but something seemed missing. As the restrictions eased and we opened up, a sense of normalcy developed, albeit behind masks. Interacting with others has become accepted again and I believe we have become better physicians and people in terms of our kindness. COVID has made us all stronger – and improved our ability to treat patients and colleagues in ways we never thought possible.

Pediatric Cardiac: George M. Alfieris, M.D., Tansukh, Sarla and Rajesh Ganatra Distinguished Professor in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics

Pictured: Cardiac Surgery Skills Lab with Katherine Wood, M.D.

Igor Gosev, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Surgery

Faculty Listing: Surgery

Cardiac

George L. Hicks, M.D., Professor of Surgery Kazuhiro Hisamoto, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery Ryan Magnuson, M.D., Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery, Cardiac Intensivist Bart Simon, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery

Adult Cardiac: Karin Chase, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery and Emergency Medicine

Katherine L. Wood, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery

Peter Knight, M.D., F.A.C.S, Dr. Jude S. Sauer Family Distinguished Professor and Chief, Division of Cardiac Surgery

Michael Swartz, Ph.D., P.A., Associate Professor of Surgery

Shuichi Yoshitake, M.D., Instructor of Surgery, Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

Dr. Katherine Wood, a former Integrated Thoracic Resident at URMC, has returned to Rochester to join the division after completing a Congenital Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Lastly, Dr. Shuichi Yoshitake joins our surgical faculty and adds to the excellent pediatric surgical team at the Golisano Children’s Hospital. Our focus over the past year and our plan for the coming years is to provide state-of-the-art cardiac surgical services in each area of our specialty. In the advanced heart failure arena, we are nationwide leaders in the implementation of ventricular assist devices and have pioneered less invasive methods of implantation. We are working with a local device developer to add enabling technology to facilitate even less invasive methods. For structural heart disease, we are leaders in the application of minimally invasive techniques for valve surgery. Essentially no patients with isolated valve disease are treated with conventional sternotomy at UR Medicine Cardiac Care.

Now that we have established the clinical programs, we will focus our research efforts in this area. For revascularization, we are working closely with our technology partner to develop a novel method of internal thoracic artery harvest to facilitate the push to minimally invasive CABG. We have hired one of our graduating residents Dr. Bart Simon to spear head this initiative which will evolve over the next 2-5 years. One of our research fellows is also committed to this project. In addition, our acute shock transport team continues to be a “lifesaver” for the entire region. Our program supports all of the cardiac surgery programs in the region by consulting and transferring critically ill cardiac patients at any time of the day or night. Our pediatric cardiac program under Dr. George Alfieris’ leadership continues to thrive. Over the previous year, the results for the repair and palliation of congenital heart surgery have never been better. Outcomes data from both the New York State Department of Health and Society of Thoracic Surgeons demonstrates the program’s superior ability to care for the most complex pediatric heart disease. In addition, the program has started extubating a greater majority of children in the operating room following the procedure, facilitating both faster recovery and lowering the hospital length of stay for these critically ill patients.

Patient-and family-centered care starts with our team members. Experience matters, yet nationwide the attrition rates for healthcare workers stands at around 20%. This has accelerated during the COVID crisis as many healthcare workers experience “burnout.” Our main focus over the next two years will be to build an environment where every member of our team – environmental services staff, respiratory therapists, nurses and everyone else – feels valued equally. It is our belief that by doing this we will create a team that others want to join and to which all of us want to contribute.

Cardiac Surgery

The past year has been a challenging yet exciting time for the Division of Cardiac Surgery. The COVID-19 constraints have highlighted the disparities in the delivery of health care in our region and our nation. Navigating this successfully has reinforced the fact that great healthcare delivery relies on successful care teams that value each member’s contribution equally. In 2021 we have added to our surgical team. Dr. Kazuhiro Hisamoto, a talented surgeon from New York University joined the faculty and has been named the Surgical Director of the Structural Heart Program.

Peter Knight, M.D., F.A.C.S., Dr. Jude S. Sauer Family Distinguished Professorship and Chief, Division of Cardiac Surgery

Liver Transplants Give Cancer Patients a Second Chance at Life

The gold standard treatment for liver metastasis is surgery. At the renowned UR Medicine Transplant Surgery Division, our highly skilled team is dedicated to liver surgery, including complex liver resections, with a focus on patients with cancer.

“Liver transplant for advanced colorectal metastasis is not experimental,” says Roberto HernandezAlejandro, M.D., Professor of Surgery and Chief, Transplant Surgery Division. “It’s another way of removing the cancer in specific patients.” As one of the first two centers in the nation to offer liver transplants for select patients with advanced colorectal liver metastasis, the Division provides a life-saving treatment option that gives these patients a better chance of beating their cancer and ultimately a second chance at life.

Upon receipt of a patient’s medical records, imaging and test results, the team at our Transplant Surgery Division provides personalized recommendations and a strategy for care. “Patients who have liver cancer and meet certain criteria may be eligible for a transplant, even if they do not have liver failure,” adds Dr. Hernandez-Alejandro. “Whatever a patient’s surgical needs, we offer the expertise necessary to handle the most challenging cases.”

Outstanding Clinical Programs

Pictured: Patient, Mark Evertt and family

Kathleen Lyons, a pediatric physical therapist and mother of two from Chicago, IL, was also diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer that had spread to her liver. She had been accepted for the life-saving liver transplant procedure by our Division – and a former college roommate made the selfless decision to donate part of her own liver to save her friend’s life. Both women went through extensive testing, which showed them to be a perfect match for the transplant. Everything was set until Katheen received the crushing news that her insurer declined the proposed surgery, then rejected her doctor’s appeal. “Instead of receiving a surgery that would have helped make me cancer-free, I returned to chemotherapy,” says Kathleen. Once again, Dr. Hernandez-Alejandro and the transplant team pushed back forcefully, like they have done for other patients. He says insurers initially balked at providing coverage for his other transplant patients but reconsidered after peer-topeer discussions with him. However, Kathleen’s insurer never allowed him to plead his case for her. “Unfortunately, liver transplantation is in the early stages in the U.S.,” states Dr. Hernandez-Alejandro. “And transplantation for unresect able liver metastasis is the best option for the most favorable outcome.” Katheen reapplied for the surgery, which she had in May 2021. “My main concern is my daughters, really my only concern,” she says. “Every milestone I can get to, I’m apprecia tive of.”

The Possibility of Having More Time Is Precious According to Michael Kasperbauer, his wife Scarlet is strong and the type of person most people would aspire to be. After having major surgery to remove her colon and lymph nodes, cancer was also found throughout Scarlet’s liver. She endured a 5-1/2 year battle and non-stop chemotherapy prior to seeing specialists at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who said they, “didn’t think they could help her.” However, one of the specialists told Scarlet and her husband, who reside in Chapin, SC, that there was something new being offered for patients with liver metastasis – liver transplantation. After learning about Dr. Hernandez-Alejandro at UR Medicine in Rochester, NY, Michael immediately reached out to him and promptly received a callback. “This doctor checked all the boxes,” says Scarlet, who was thrilled to find out she was a candidate for the surgery. “A liver transplant would be an opportunity to have a future, to see my son grow up,” she adds. “The possibility of having more time is precious – it’s a second chance to live and love family.” Kristen Cannon says she wasn’t surprised when her husband Chaz decided to be a donor for Scarlet because, “he’s always giving of himself.” After determining that Chaz, who is from Lexington, SC, was a match, both families prepared for the living-donor liver transplant surgery, which took place in October 2019. “Dr. Hernandez-Alejandro, Dr. Tomiyama and their team were very attentive and I know I was in the best hands,” says Scarlet. When speaking about Chaz, Michael adds that it, “takes a lot for a person to stand up and do something of this magnitude for someone else.” The surgery and recovery went well for both Scarlet and Chaz, who says he, “feels really good.” Scarlet, too, feels great. “My follow-up labs and testing don’t even look like I had a liver transplant,” she exclaims with joy. “I’m like a new person, physically, mentally and emotionally.”

Looking Forward to Reaching More Milestones

11 Outstanding Clinical Programs

Treating Patient from Near and Far Diagnosed in March 2020 with Stage IV colon cancer that had spread to his liver, Mark Everett, then 43 years of age, had been given only two months to live without treatment and two years with chemotherapy. After nearly 18 months of un dergoing treatment, he had no evidence of disease remaining outside his liver. Now he was a candidate for a living-donor liver transplant – and he found a donor after more than a dozen people volunteered. Mark and his family decided to make the cross-country trip from their home in Washington state to UR Medicine for a life-changing – and saving – surgery. However, even though he met strict clinical criteria for the procedure, Mark’s insurance company denied the surgery twice, considering it experimental. He appealed the denials and finally a determination was made by a liver transplant surgeon who deemed the procedure medically necessary based on medical evidence and the absence of any alternative treatment. Mark would be approved for surgery. Based on data, Dr. Hernandez-Alejandro’s team has been successful in overcoming insurance denials in eight cases, after what he calls, “huge battles.” UR Medicine financial transplant administrators spend hours speaking with patients and insurance companies, writing letters, sending evidence from literature proving the effectiveness of liver transplants and sharing outcomes from other patients. “For patients who meet the criteria and have the surgery, the five-year survival rates can increase from 5% with chemotherapy alone to 70% or 80%,” explains Dr. Hernandez-Alejandro. Mark underwent his hard-won liver transplant surgery in August 2021 and is doing well. His wife Megan says the surgery is an answer to prayer. “I see it as a new beginning,” she adds. “And a new future that we just didn’t know we had.”

Faculty Listing: Colorectal Surgery

Pictured: Lisa Cannon, M.D.

Jenny R. Speranza, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.S.C.R.S., Associate Professor of Surgery and Oncology; Director of Adult Pelvic Health and Continence Center Gabriela Poles, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., F.A.S.C.R.S., Assistant Professor of Surgery; Associate Colorectal Fellowship Director Zhaomin (Tim) Xu, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor of Surgery; Director of Anal Dysplasia ClinicLarissa K.F. Temple, M.D., M.Sc., F.A.C.S., F.A.S.C.R.S., Professor of Surgery and Chief, Division of Colorectal Surgery; Director of the Colorectal Fellowship; Vice Chair, Care Transformation

Lisa Cannon, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.S.C.R.S., Associate Professor of Surgery; Director, Surgical IBD Program Christina Cellini, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.S.C.R.S., Associate Professor of Surgery and Oncology; Director of Surgical Endoscopy; Physician Director of Surgery Billing Integrity Fergal J. Fleming, M.D., M.P.H., F.R.C.S.-I., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery and Oncology; Co-Director of the Rectal Cancer Program Rabih M. Salloum, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.S.C.R.S., Professor of Surgery and Oncology

Colorectal Surgery

I am also pleased to announce some outstanding faculty highlights: Gabriela Poles, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., F.A.S.C.R.S. was awarded the Zinner Fellowship and has been accepted into the Geriatric Faculty Scholarship Program.

Fergal Fleming, M.D., M.P.H., F.R.C.S.-I, F.A.C.S. was appointed to the Editorial Board of Annals of Surgical Oncology, Colorectal Section, while Christina Cellini M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.S.C.R.S. was the British Journal Lecturer at the Swiss Surgical Society. Plus, Quarnisha White, N.P. was named to the Department of Surgery Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee and represents Sovie Center for Advanced Practice Providers in DEI. Finally, I was honored to present at the American Surgical, Premier Surgical Society and was appointed to the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors. I am continuing my positions in the Commission of Cancer and its subcommittees and Editorial Board of Colorectal Diseases.

In the coming year, our colorectal team looks forward to ongoing programmatic growth with increased volumes, multidisciplinary collaborative efforts, and continued regional expansion. Exciting times are ahead for our Division and patients.

The UR Medicine Division of Colorectal Surgery constantly strives to raise the bar for excellence – and 2020 was no exception. Our colorectal surgeons and advanced practice providers (APPs) played active roles in Strong Memorial Hospital’s response to COVID-19 during the year. This outstanding team became even stronger as we navigated the pandemic together. The past two years have been definitely a learning experience for all of us. Speaking of education, our Division had an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) fellowship site visit and was granted full accreditation with no citations. We also recruited our fifth colorectal surgery fellow and several trainees with interest in colorectal, mentored many medical students and supported applications to general surgery. In addition, our Division participated in the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) inaugural Oncology Summer Internship (OSI) Program, which is designed for rising second-year, underrepresented minority students who attend host medical schools. As the year progressed, clinic visits, surgeries and inpatient volumes increased, all with improved clinical outcomes during COVID-19. Our efficiency with endoscopy also became more fine-tuned. We continue to have active growth in our colorectal cancer programs, as well as in our Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) program by working in unison with colleagues within our system. Our APPs continue expanding independent clinics for stoma care, anorectal disease and dysplasia. Over at Highland Hospital, we now have two full-time colorectal surgeons who perform procedures in the Operating Room and Endoscopy Unit, as well as a new inpatient ward. Our Division expanded our reach beyond Strong Memorial and Highland Hospitals with ongoing efforts to increase collaboration with regional surgery, medical oncology and GI colleagues, resulting in more streamlined care for patients. Throughout 2020 and into 2022, our Division continued to grow. Our faculty participate and conduct research targeting new therapeutic options, decreasing toxicity and improving education for our trainees. We have shared our extensive knowledge by authoring over 20 papers, participating in research studies and have had many as senior/first author in high-impact journals. We recruited Dr. Zhaomin (Tim) Xu, a University of Rochester Medical Center trained general surgeon and a Cleveland Clinic fellow in colorectal surgery. Dr. Xu returns to us as an Assistant Professor and will serve as medical director of dysplasia, in addition to being an active participant in Surgical Health Outcomes & Research Enterprise (SHORE).

Larissa K. F. Temple, M.D., M.Sc., F.A.C.S., F.A.S.C.R.S., Professor of Surgery and Oncology and Chief of the Division of Colorectal Surgery

Derek S. Wakeman, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics; Pediatric Trauma Medical Director

Nicole Wilson, Ph.D., M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery, Pediatric and Biomedical Engineering

Marjorie J. Arca, M.D., F.A.C.S., Joseph M. Lobozzo II Professor of Pediatric Surgery and Chief, Division of Pediatric Surgery; Surgeon-inChief, Golisano Children’s Hospital

Pictured: Division of Pediatric faculty and advanced practice providers

14 Faculty Listing: Pediatric Surgery

David Darcy, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics

Walter Pegoli, Jr., M.D., Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics

Pediatric Surgery Despite the challenges that the past three years have brought, the Division of Pediatric Surgery is proud to present our recent accomplishments.

Building on the work done by Dr. Walter Pegoli, the Division continues to find ways to leverage expertise within our institution to improve the quality and quantity of pediatric surgical procedures. Examples of this include regular involvement in Prenatal Diagnostic Conference where representatives from Neonatology, Anesthesia, Maternal Fetal Health and other pediatric surgical specialties are present; a multidisciplinary team to care for mothers whose fetuses have been identified as high risk and require coordinated and complex perinatal care was established. Our team belongs to a multidisciplinary tumor board where experts in surgery, pediatric oncology, radiation oncology, pathology, pediatric radiology meet twice monthly to determine the best, safest, and most contemporary options for our pa tients with cancer. We’ve joined a newly formed pediatric vascular anomalies committee as well as the aerodigestive program; we are in the process of creating a comprehensive Digestive Health Center, in partnership with the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, to provide a unified approach to patients with complex gastrointestinal problems. Since quality and safety remain paramount, Dr. Derek Wakeman has continued to lead in many initiatives to deliver the best and safest surgical care for our children. In the last two years, GCH’s overall morbidity decreased from 8.2% to 3.6% of cases, as followed by the Pediatric ACS National Safety and Quality Improvement Program, garnering an “Exemplary” assessment.

Education: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we continued our outreach and education efforts. Our surgeons and nurse practitioners have reached out to community institutions and pediatric practices in our area to improve the care of children with gastrostomy tubes, as well as diagnostic modalities for patients with possible appendicitis. To help enhance and advance our efforts, we brought three new nurse practitioners to our Division.

Dr. Darcy, joined our Division in 2021. He trained in general surgery, pediatric surgery, minimally invasive surgery and surgical critical care. His research focuses on patient related outcomes. As the Surgical Director of the Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units, his research will also center on improving outcomes for our most acutely ill patients.

Dr. Nicole Wilson and Dr. David Darcy launched a Comprehensive Pediatric Chest Wall Anomalies Program this summer. Patients are availed of both surgical and non-surgical options for pectus repairs. A multidisciplinary team including anesthesia, physical therapy, surgery, and nursing is involved in the care of these children.

Research: Dr. Wakeman continues to make his mark on the quality and safety research in pediatric surgery and trauma. Dr. Wilson, who joined our Division on 2020, is ushering scientific pursuit within our Division. Dr. Wilson’s research involves the use of non-invasive imaging to determine intestinal function in disorders such as short bowel syndrome as well as modeling of chest wall anomalies. She is also utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning methodology to aid in risk stratification of trauma patients. Along with Dr. Wakeman, she is exploring the impact of social determinants on outcomes of pediatric surgical patients.

Marjorie J. Arca, M.D., F.A.C.S., Joseph Lobozzo II Professor of Surgery, Division of Pediatric Surgery; Surgeon-in-Chief, Golisano Children’s Hospital

Clinical Programs: This year (2022) Golisano Children’s Hospital (GCH) received its designation as a Pediatric Level I Trauma Center from the American College of Surgeons (ACS). This makes our center one of six in the state of New York and implies that our institution has the capability of care for the most severely injured pediatric patients, under goes rigorous self-examination to ensure the highest levels of quality and safety for trauma patients, and has robust community engagement to lead programs that would promote local and regional safety programs.

Faculty Listing: Plastic Surgery

Jonathan I. Leckenby, M.B.B.S., B.SC., Assistant Professor of Surgery

Patrick Reavey, M.D., M.S., Assistant Professor of Surgery and Orthopaedics

Howard N. Langstein, M.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery and Chief, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Pictured: Howard Langstein, M.D.

Sara Niemanis, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery

Derek E. Bell, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery; Burn Director for the Kessler Burn Center

Oscar Manrique, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery

Clinton S. Morrison, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery, Dentistry and Pediatrics and Director, Cleft and Craniofacial Center, Golisano Children’s Hospital

Jose G. Christiano Neto, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery

Howard N. Langstein, M.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery and Vice Chair of Faculty Development, Affairs and Mentoring; Chief Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

The years 2020-2022 were unlike any others seen in recent history. As COVID-19 cases were on the rise, the UR Medicine Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery rose to the challenge, continuing to excel despite the pandemic. As always, our entire team remained laser-focused on delivering a superior patient experience.

Plastic Surgery

To be able to offer the highest level of care, our Division recruits the best and the brightest – and the past year was no exception. Sara Neimanis, M.D., a new pediatric plastic surgeon, joined our growing team, and Oscar Manrique, M.D. was recruited to enhance our breast reconstructive team, as well as to establish unique and creative surgical solutions for patients suffering from lymphedema.

Additionally, our Division experienced a deepening of research in nerve injury and neuropathy following cancer chemotherapy in our laboratory, which is operated by Jonathan Leckenby, M.B.B.S., who was awarded a R21 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Other research in the Division includes development and refinement of gender affirming surgical techniques offered at UR Medicine, led by Dr. Manrique, M.D. and Gui Christiano, M.D., and the continued development of our Life After Weight Loss Program, by our team, that offers surgery for patients who lose significant amounts of weight by surgery, lifestyle changes or both.

With subspecialty care in burn, wound and pediatric care, our Division is a breeding ground for excellence and innovation in clinical research and educational endeavors with top-ranking surgeons and scientists. Led by Clint Morrison, M.D., our pediatric plastic surgery offerings and the Cleft and Craniofacial Surgery Unit were enhanced. The same was true for our burn program team, led by Derek Bell, M.D., which treats countless injured patients each year, providing timely life-saving treatments followed by much needed reconstructive procedures to maximize function and improve quality of life. Also during 2020-2021, Patrick Reavey, M.D. worked together with the Divisions of Orthopaedics, Vascular Surgery and Plastic Surgery to establish and refine limb salvage surgical procedures that help patients avoid amputation. Throughout the pandemic, our Division continued offering high-quality, state-of-the-art abdominal wall reconstruction to assist patients with hernias of the abdominal wall, as well as a wide spectrum of leading edge surgical and non-surgical procedures to rejuvenate the face, neck and body. We also published several articles, focusing on a wide range of topics related to plastic surgery, in peer-reviewed journals. Finally, we have remained committed to maintain ing a robust residency training program in plastic surgery with an emphasis on training the next generation of leaders in the field. Our Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery is well-poised for future growth and success.

Cutting-Edge, Impactful Research Cancer Researcher Spins ‘Gold Dust’ from Courage and Collaboration

Written by Leslie Orr When Scott Gerber was 23 years old, he was a cashier at Dunkin Donuts and admittedly “lost” in a master’s program at the University of Rochester Medical Center. But he took a risk based on an interest in immunology, and signed up for an advanced seminar taught by Edith Lord, a prominent immunologist and former Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Education at URMC. The course was for PhD candidates. Gerber’s peers called him “crazy,” suggesting the material was over his head. It wasn’t the first time he would ignore naysayers. Gerber stuck with it and Lord saw promise: She snatched him away from the donut shop and hired him to work as a technician in her lab. It set his career in motion. “‘You’ve got the brains and the drive,’ she told me, ‘you just need lab experience,’ ‘’ Gerber recalls. After additional mentoring and investment from the Wilmot Cancer Institute, Gerber, 46, found his footing. He’s amassed millions in funding, including three RO1 grants, most of it from the National Cancer Institute, an impressive achievement for a mid-career scientist. The latest addition to his war chest is a particularly competitive NCI grant worth $2.6 million. It is known as a multi-investigator award for translational cancer research, geared toward bringing promising therapies to patients. The recipients are Gerber and his latest mentor, David Linehan, M.D., Wilmot’s director of clinical operations and a highly respected pancreatic Impactful Research

Cutting-Edge,

Pictured: Scott Gerber, Ph.D. and mentees: Tara Vrooman, Joseph Murphy, Svetlana Markova , and Taylor Uccello

19 cancer clinician/scientist. Their project involves a clinical trial that combines radiation therapy and immune therapy, precisely timed, using a new drug-delivery system called micro spheres, to destroy pancreatic tumors with fewer side effects. Their “investigator-initiated study,” as it’s known, is when a homegrown concept is proven to be sound scientifically and ready for evaluation in humans. It’s a difficult feat that many cancer researchers aspire to achieve: moving basic laboratory findings into the clinic. They’ll also continue to investigate pancreatic cancer in the lab. “In science, the gold dust comes when you encounter very exciting observations,” says Hucky Land, Ph.D., Wilmot’s Deputy Director and research leader. “In Scott’s case, his success is tied to his amazing discoveries about combination therapy.” Out of His League?

“He took a chance on me,” Gerber says. “He pushed me, and told me that I have to start translating my science to the next level, and he was 100 percent correct. After that, we changed everything about the way we conducted our research, which led to numerous breakthroughs and our new clinical trial.”

“Scott is an accomplished immunologist with an exemplary work ethic who clearly wants to use his expertise to make a difference in the lives of cancer patients,” Linehan says. “What sets him apart is his dedication to teaching and mentoring young clinicians and scientists, with sincerity and kindness, to advance our field. His track record of success speaks for itself.”

Cutting-Edge, Impactful Research

Today, the Linehan/Gerber research powerhouse at Wilmot is positioned to create novel treatments and to stretch into new areas of investigation. They are forging relationships with drug companies, so that patients will realize the full benefits of the science, sooner.

A Lewiston, NY, native, Gerber’s initiation to science started in his father’s Niagara Falls veterinary practice, where he learned to analyze bloodwork and diagnose parasites and illness. From there, he attended a state school, SUNY Fredonia, for undergraduate studies. “Compared to the path that other new professors have taken, I do not have a certain pedigree,” he says, laughing. “But I work hard and I know my limitations, which allows me to focus on my strengths.” A tumor immunologist, Gerber enrolled in a graduate-level class when he was a junior at Fredonia — once again, ignoring those who told him the work was out of his league — and the professor, Patricia Astry, “opened my mind to immunology and probably doesn’t even realize how much influence she had on my life,” he says. While finishing at Fredonia, Gerber applied to veterinary school at Cornell University, mostly out of loyalty to his family. When Cornell put him on a wait list, Gerber felt free to look into other programs, and with his father’s understanding he landed in Rochester to pursue his real passion, the wonders of the immune system. During graduate school, Gerber discovered a new technique for looking at tumors called “whole mount histology.” He published several papers as first author, and received his Ph.D. in Two2005.weeks later, he was at Yale University as a post-doc with his wife and infant son. While there, Gerber won a fellowship in cancer research; he had a prolific three years as the lead author for three more papers, published in scientific journals. Reflecting on these early years, Gerber says he’s driven to provide the same opportunities to the trainees in his lab at “ThatWilmot.Ican potentially have an impact on them — that’s the most rewarding part of my job,” Gerber says. “I’m still being mentored. And I tell my students that education is more than just the nuts and bolts of taking classes. You have to be smart enough to reach out and get help, and you have to listen to your mentors.”

Taking Chances While at Yale, Gerber had an opportunity to come back to Rochester, and he decided to listen to his gut. Although Gerber had the impression that returning too quickly to the URMC without funding would make it harder to succeed, his young son was struggling with a health issue and Gerber wanted to be closer to family in western New York. It turns out that coming home was the right move. At URMC, Gerber met Linehan, the Seymour I. Schwartz Chair of Surgery —who became his next stalwart supporter. Linehan saw talent, agreed to mentor Gerber, and promoted him into a tenuretrack position.

20 Community General Surgery: John P. Risolo, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery Faculty Listing: General RegionalSurgery:&Community Regional General Surgery: Asfandyar Khan, M.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery Du Van Nguyen, M.D., M.S., Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery Andrew Powers, M.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery Svetlana Yudina, M.D., Associate Professor of Clinical SurgeryTheodor I. Kaufman, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery, Chief Division of Regional Surgery Pictured: John Risolo, M.D.

In 2020, I took the helm as Chief of the Division of Regional Surgery. We recruited Drs. Andrew Powers and Asfandyar Khan, who joined Dr. Du Nguyen. In early 2022, Dr. Svetlana Yudina joined our division so that the faculty complement is now up to five full-time surgeons covering the region. In order to accomplish our mission of keeping patients local, we work in conjunction with the employed general surgeons at our affiliates – Drs. Joseph Talarico and A. David Peter at F.F. Thompson and Dr. Brian Foresman at Noyes Memorial to make this happen.

For the first time we have added URMC graduate medical education to our affiliates with R3 surgical residents now having a regular 7-week rotation at F.F. Thompson. This is a step toward integrating surgical graduate medical education in the region with the ultimate goal of having a rural residency training program.

The UR Department of Surgery is dedicated to delivering the highest level of general surgical care to patients located in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes Regions. Although COVID-19 presented many obstacles for healthcare facilities, our Division continued to thrive and grow.

Regional General Surgery

Theodor I. Kaufman, M.D., F.A.C.S. Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery and Chief, Division of Regional Surgery

Since our Division was formed a few years ago, we have actively increased the types of operations being performed in the region that would have previously been done exclusively at Strong Memorial and/or Highland Hospitals. By retaining patients in our local facilities, transfers to and further congestion of the Strong Memorial Hospital have been avoided. Our belief is that, if possible, people deserve to be near loved ones when having surgery – and we are proud to deliver a streamlined approach to care, from pre-operative work-ups to surgery to post-operative care. We remain passionate about ensuring that all patients, no matter their location, have access to general surgical care that is on par with our academic medical center while being close to home.

We worked together with leaders from our four affiliate hospitals – Noyes Memorial in Dansville, Jones Memorial in Wellsville, St. James in Hornell and F.F. Thompson in Canandaigua – to design, organize and implement an effective, efficient and consolidated approach to care access and delivery. During peak pandemic times, and due to statemandated restrictions of elective surgery at the University, the Department of Surgery was able to shift surgical cases from Rochester to our affiliate hospitals. This created operational efficiencies and optimized our capabilities while allowing patients to receive necessary operations.

Pictured: Eva Galka, M.D., Luke Schoeniger, M.D., Ph.D. and Darren Carpizo, M.D, Ph.D.

ComprehensiveInstituteBreastCare at Pluta Center for Tumor Immunology: Calvin Cole, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery, Research Scott Gerber, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Surgery and Microbiology and Immunology, Radiation Oncology and Oncology

Luke O. Schoeniger, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery

Alessandra Moore, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery

Jian Ye, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Surgery

Anna Weiss, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery; Director of the Wilmot Cancer

Chris Harris, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor David C. Linehan, M.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery and Seymour I. Schwartz Professor and Chair of Surgery

Jessica Gooch, M.D., F.A.C.S., Assistant Professor of Surgery

Eva Galka, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery

Darren Carpizo, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery and Chief, Division of Surgical Oncology

Kristin A. Skinner, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery and Oncology

Faculty Listing:

Surgical Oncology

Jacob Moalem, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery and Medicine

Ann Olzinski-Kunze, M.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery

James L. Peacock, M.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery

Peter Prieto, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., Assistant Professor of Surgery

Darren Carpizo, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery and Chief, Division of Surgical Oncology and Vice Chair of Basic and Translational Research

The division continues to provide high level, high volume multi-disciplinary cancer care including breast, soft tissue and cutaneous malignancies as well as endocrine and gastrointestinal cancers. In the areas of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic (HPB), endocrine and melanoma our surgeons produce the highest volumes in the region. Members of the division lead and participate in cutting edge trials that provide access to novel cancer therapies. In addition, members of the division continue to lead the region in the application of minimally invasive and robotic surgical techniques. Our division is leading the UR medical center in its mission to deliver quality surgical care through leadership positions in Surgical Quality and Safety as we well as in informatics.

During 2022, we recruited two new faculty to the division. Dr. Anna Weiss will be appointed as an Associate Professor of Surgery and Oncology. Dr. Weiss was recruited from the Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s hospital to assume a significant leadership position not only within the Department of Surgery, but also the Wilmot Cancer Institute as the Director of the Comprehensive Breast Program which includes serving as the Program Leader of Breast Surgery and the Director of the Breast Cancer Service Line. The second recruitment is Dr. Alessandra Moore who will be appointed as an Assistant Professor of Surgery. Dr. Moore completed her surgical residency and fellowship in endocrine surgery at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s hospital. Dr. Moore has a significant laboratory research background with goals to become an NIH funded surgeon-scientist.

Surgical Oncology

The goal of the surgical oncology division is to enhance the regional and national reputation of our oncologic service lines through outstanding clinical care, cutting-edge research, and excellence in education.

The Division of Surgical Oncology leads the department in terms of NIH funded surgeon-scientists that continue to gain both federal and non-federal grants. Members of the division are publishing in high impact research journals that span the areas of both clinical, basic/translational research and health services research. Members of the division continue to be recognized nationally for their contributions to research through leadership positions on research committees of the Society of Surgical Oncology and Society of University Surgeons as well as invited members on panel discussions at national conferences. From a teaching perspective, the division has opened the URMC’s first ACGME accredited Breast Surgical fellowship and graduated its first fellow in July 2022. The division continues to provide one of the premier surgical oncology training experiences for the general surgery residents in the state and successfully matched two chief residents to their first choice of ACGME accredited Complex Surgical Oncology Fellowships.

Pictured:

Christian G. Peyre, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery Christian Peyre, M.D. and Cardiac Surgery fellow, Christian Probst, M.D.

Paul Feingold, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery

David C. Kaufman, M.D., Professor of Surgery; Director, Adult Critical Care Professor of Surgery, Medicine, Anesthesia, Medical Humanities and Urology

Thoracic

Michal J. Lada, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery

24 Faculty Listing: Thoracic and Foregut Surgery

Foregut Surgery

Surgery

Carolyn E. Jones, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of and Chief, Division of and

Thoracic and Foregut Surgery

Our team was instrumental in deploying a Surgical Urgent Care Unit in Strong’s Ambulatory Care Facility, 2nd floor (in the Motility Lab) for established patients who would have otherwise been sent to the Emergency Department. This clinic allowed us to evaluate and admit patients with urgent issues while circumventing the ED. Patients received basic interventions such as IV hydration and medications, antibiotics, wound care, labs and imaging, as well as foley, NGT, thoracentesis, chest tube placement or paracentesis. The primary surgical service made the decision to discharge the patient home or admit him or her to the hospital. If admitted, the patient stayed on AC2 until a bed was ready. The Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery has built an urgent care process similar to this model into our daily clinics for several years. It has worked well, decreasing the number of patients we send to the overbur dened ED during the day. The Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery remains the only comprehensive lung and esophageal oncology program in our region. To provide a seamless approach to patient care, we continued to hire top-notch faculty and staff members, setting the standard for what thoracic surgery should be in our area. In August, 2022 we welcomed Dr. Paul Feingold to our division. Dr. Feingold completed his surgical residency at Yale New Haven Hospital fol lowed by fellowship training in Thoracic Surgery at Brigham and Woman’s Hospital.

Our thoracic training and education program is unsurpassed – and we are working to establish a robust research pro gram with a local, national and international presence. We are also pleased that Dr. Christian Peyre was named the head of the American College of Surgeon’s Commission on Cancer Committee at the Wilmot Cancer Institute.

All of us in the Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery look forward to continuing to provide our patients with the highest possible level of care in the coming year and beyond.

Carolyn E. Jones, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief, Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery

As the entire world held its breath during the COVID-19 pandemic, the UR Medicine Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery forged ahead to ensure that each patient experience would be a positive one.

A Steadfast Commitment to Excellence

The UR Medicine Department of Surgery strives to be recognized as a premier academic surgical education program with outstanding outcomes at all levels of training. The Department is focused on advancing our specialized expertise with dedication to and innovation in our education programs. The Department of Surgery currently administers seven ACGME-accredited residency/fellowship programs in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Colon and Rectal Surgery, General Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Vascular Surgery and Surgical Critical Care, as well as an SSO-accredited Breast Fellowship and a Departmental Bariatric MIS Fellowship. The General Surgery Residency Program is the largest of these programs with 49 residents. Since 1927, the Department has developed superior surgeons and has been recognized as one of the top tier surgical training programs in the country. Our program thrives on the three-part foundation of practical clinical experiences, a thorough, competency-based curriculum and meaningful research opportunities to deepen understanding of the surgical sciences. We design our program to develop exceptional, well-rounded and sought-after leaders in surgery.

The hallmark of our success continues to be an unwavering commitment to our goals. We remain laser-focused on innovation and excellence in our education programs. We also engage our medical students to spark early interest in careers as surgeons and scientists while providing an unparalleled resident training and learning experience. The number of applicants for our surgical residency program continues to increase and the caliber of applicants improves year after year. Lastly, we share our knowledge with consumers, physicians and other practitioners through extended educational

Pictured: David Linehan, M.D., and 2021 Second Year Resident Class

Innovative Education Program Overview

Value Incubator Larissa K.F. Temple, M.D., Chief, Division of Colorectal Surgery; Vice Chair, Care Transformation; Professor of Surgery and Oncology Under Dr. Larissa Temple’s leadership, the Department of Surgery is expanding its influence as the Value Incubator matures from conceptual framework to a fully functional departmental resource to expand value-based care initiatives. Within the Value Incubator, projects in Colorectal Surgery and Emergency General Surgery are underway to reduce unnecessary lab work post-operatively, while the Thoracic Surgery service is minimizing CXR utilization after foregut and lung surgeries.

Though communication, professionalism and leadership skills are all recognized as critically important to the success of patient care, they are rarely taught as part of a standardized curriculum in surgical education. The UR Medicine Department of Surgery recognizes the importance of providing attention to these domains for our residents. Throughout their residency, our learners are exposed to these themes and encouraged to explore their identities as future leaders in the discipline. They are encouraged to consider how they can navigate difficult conversations, how to help a team reach a shared goal and how they can recognize the strengths of each team member and work with him or her to achieve success. Through didactics, one-to-one coaching in the Operating Room and other clinical spaces, as well as opportunities to connect to surgical faculty, we are highlighting that these skills require intentional practice. Our curriculum promotes the importance of high-functioning teams and recognizes the impact not only on patient care, but on creating resiliency among our teams.

Quality and Resident Involvement Derek Wakeman, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics

We aim to fulfill our strategic goal of involving our medical students to promote early interest in a career as a surgeon or scientist. The last several years have seen a dramatic uptick in the number of Rochester students pursuing Surgery and the subspecialties in their residency choices. In the last few years, we had eight General Surgery, three Vascular and two Plastic Surgery applicants. This is another banner year with 13 General Surgery, one Cardiothoracic and four Vascular applicants among our rising fourth year students. This is almost certainly a response to the tremendous experience that students have when they rotate on our services. Our faculty and residents are consistently and often recognized for their dedication to student education and for making our Department, clinics and Operating Rooms welcoming and inviting places for our students to learn. As we move forward and in-person restrictions ease, we look forward to more in-person events and getting to know the next generation of the University of Rochester surgical family.

Leadership Training Lauren DeCaporale-Ryan, Ph.D., Associate Program Director of Resident Wellness, General Surgery Residency Program

Medical Student Influx to Surgery Roan Glocker, M.D., Director of the Third-Year Medical Student Clerkship

The Department of Surgery continues to expand its footprint in quality improvement (QI) initiatives locally, regionally and nationally. Surgery resident involvement has been one key to our success. The General Surgery residency will have completed its second two-year cycle of the Quality and Safety curriculum. Last year, topics focused on quality improvement. This year, we will focus on patient safety and error prevention. At the end of the curriculum, residents will have completed the 13-course Quality and Safety Certificate offered by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. These tools prepare residents to engage in and contribute to quality improvement initiatives in the hospital. In this way, residents continue their quality and safety education experientially, as active members of QI teams. As the number of quality improvement efforts expands within the Department of Surgery, so too does resident involvement. The number of residents engaged in formal QI teams continues to grow. UR Medicine General Surgery residents have presented at national meetings, won national awards and published their QI work in peer-reviewed journals.

27 Innovative Education opportunities and community outreach. Following are just a few examples of our many outstanding initiatives.

Karina Newhall, M.D., M.S., Assistant Professor of Surgery

Faculty Listing: Surgery

Adam Doyle, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery

Jennifer L. Ellis M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery; Director of Vein Center Roan Glocker, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery; Chief of Surgery at Highland Hospital

Grayson Pitcher, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery Basic Science Research: Adnan Hirad, M.D., Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor Pictured: Adam Doyle, M.D. and Vascular Surgery Resident, Joshua Eli Robins, M.D. and General Surgery Resident, Keith Sweitzer, M.D.

Michael C. Stoner, M.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery; Chief, Division of Vascular Surgery; Program Director, Vascular Surgery Integrated Residency Program

Vascular

Doran Mix, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery Craig Narins, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Medicine and Surgery

In the midst of a worldwide health crisis, the Vascular Surgery Division has continued its critical mission of caring for patients with vascular disease, adapting to the challenges with resiliency and creativity. During the early stages of the pandemic, our faculty and residents were reorganized into platooned groups to limit potential viral spread to patients and clinical team members. The unintended result of a small, acute care focused group was a more effective and efficient acute care vascular surgical team.

UR Medicine Vascular Surgery continues to be recognized as a quality leader, earning a three-star (the highest) rating from the Vascular Quality Initiative. Our program remains at the forefront in the medical management of vascular patients, long-term follow-up strategy and tracking the outcomes of endovascular aortic repair in the region.

Through our quality program, Rochester is one of 15 sites piloting patient-reported outcomes in peripheral vascular disease, which will form the basis for value-based care delivery and reimbursement. Our vein center remains the only formally accredited academic vein center in Upstate New York. With the addition of two new faculty, Dr. Karina Newhall and Dr. Grayson Pitcher, our group extends its clinical, academic and educational capabilities. We are pleased to add faculty from nationally renowned institutions, which will expand the depth and breadth of our services at the main campus, as well as allow our group to bring the same high-quality care into the region.

Vaccination and decreased community viral prevalence allowed for structured resumption of ambulatory surgical procedures, and we maintained the acute care model, splitting the primary teaching service into two. This has helped ensure more focused care and improved logistics for inpatient consults, as well as cases originating in the Emergency Department. Our consult service has increased resident autonomy and patient responsiveness while allowing us to cope with the ramifications of deferred care and more advanced disease state presentations in an already high-risk patient population. Despite the operational stress associated with the pandemic, our Division remains academically productive and true to its mission to train future leaders in vascular surgery. The Cardiovascular Engineering Laboratory has been very productive and is actively developing hemodynamic models of acute aortic dissection and novel magnetic resonance aortic elastography techniques. Our outcomes research has focused on the relationship of surgeon volume on patient outcomes and societal healthcare value. These data are being used to derive metrics nationally for surgeon safety and competency. The residents and faculty remain actively involved as leaders in regional and national surgical societies. Clinical research around minimal-access carotid surgery (TCAR) has focused on technical improvements, as we continue to lead the region with this novel technique.

Vascular Surgery

We are honored that Kenneth Ouriel ’77, ’86M (Res), ’87M (Flw) and his wife, Joy Bracker Ouriel, have committed $1.5 million to establish the Kenneth and Joy Ouriel Family Professorship within the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Division of Vascular Surgery. The family’s endowed gift will advance excellence within the vascular surgery program and provide resources to honor, recruit, and retain world-class faculty and staff leaders who can identify, understand, and treat some of the most complex health problems challenging society today. As the Division Chief, I am humbled by the dedication, hard work and resilience of our team. Every member of our group comes to work every day, emboldened by prior successes, to care for patients and meet new challenges. The team has never been stronger and continues to support each other as we adapt and overcome.

Michael C. Stoner, M.D., F.A.C.S. Professor of Surgery and Chief, Division of Vascular Surgery; Vice Chair for Clinical Operations

Supportive Care in Cancer

Pictured: Nikesha Gilmore, Ph.D. and AnnaLynn Williams, Ph.D.

30 Evelyn Arana, M.S., Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Surgery Javier Baustia, M.S., M.B.A., Senior Research Associate of Surgery Eva Culakova, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Surgery Umang Gada, M.S., Senior Associate Nikesha Gilmore, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery Abdi Gudina, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Surgery Joe Guido, M.S., Senior Research Associate of Surgery Charles Kamen, Ph.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Surgery Lee Kehoe, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Surgery

Chief,ProfessorAssociateandDivisionofSupportiveCareinCancer

Faculty

Po-Ju Lin, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Surgery Jeremy McGuire, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor Gary R. Morrow Ph.D., M.S., Benefactor Distinguished Professor and Past Chief, Division of Supportive Care in Cancer Karen Mustian, Ph.D., M.P.H., Professor of Surgery Luke Peppone, Ph.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Surgery Hongying Sun, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery AnnaLynn Williams, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery Sule Yilmaz, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Surgery Listing: Michelle Janelsins, Ph.D., M.P.H.,

• Dr. Luke Peppone was awarded an NCI RO1 titled, “High-dose Vitamin D Supplementation for ADT-Induced Bone Loss in Older Prostate Cancer Patients.”

Supportive Care in Cancer

We continue to invest considerable time supporting each other through these very tough times and have become an even stronger and more impactful team as a result.

• Dr. Gilmore received a supplement to Dr. Janelsins’ R01 titled, “Using Epigenetic Markers of Aging to Predict Frailty Trajectories in Survivors of Breast Cancer.”

Dr. Nikesha Gilmore who studies interventions for frailty as part of a KL2 award, and Dr. AnnaLynn Williams, who studies the trajectory and biomechanisms of cancer-related side effects in adolescent and young adult cancer survivors as part of an NCI K99/R00 award.

Our faculty research members are internationally known for their outstanding contributions to the field of supportive care and survivorship, for training new supportive care researchers, and fostering multidisciplinary collaborations.

• Dr. Ian Kleckner and Dr. Po-Ju Lin were awarded an MPI NCI R21 titled, “Assessing the Role of the Interoceptive Brain System in the Pathophysiology and Treatment of Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy.” We continue to grow our Division, having almost doubled our funding over the last few years. We are now focused on our T32 and NCORP grant renewals this year, and development of an NCI P01 focused in cancer and aging to further our research in cancer control behavioral interventions, symptom science and health disparities. We will also continue training a diverse cadre of faculty with unique expertise and experience. We are excited about the recent recruitment of two new tenure-track faculty who began their appointments in 2022 (pictured in the banner):

Our motto is “to help good people through lousy times” by working with cancer patients and survivors, their families, and their friends to alleviate their cancer-related toxicities and side effects in order to ultimately improve their quality of care and quality of life.

For over 35 years, Supportive Care in Cancer has conducted cancer control and cancer care delivery research locally and nationally investigating the etiology, prevention and management of side effects from cancer and its treatments.

Selected Highlights (Jan, 2020 - June, 2022)

• Dr. Charles Kamen and Dr. Song Yao of Roswell Park received a $13M grant from NCI for their UG3/UH3 project titled “Disparities in Results of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Treatment (DIRECT): A Prospective Cohort Study of Cancer Survivors Treated with anti-PD-1/anti-PD-L1 Agents in a Community Oncology Setting.”

• Drs. Michelle Janelsins, Karen Mustian and Supriya Mohile received a $3.85M grant from NCI for their MPI R01 titled, “Geriatric Evaluation and Management for Older Adult Survivors of Cancer.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant challenges for us as a research operation. We had to adapt several of our studies to include remote research procedures, both locally and nationwide as part of our NCI Clinical Oncology Research Program (NCORP) trials. Despite a brief shut-down of research activities, both our PEAK Human Performance Lab and Cancer Control and Psychoneuroimmunology labs (CCPL) continued to support researchers on-site within the Division as well as the Department and Wilmot Cancer Institute at large. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, our team achieved a notable goal in 2021 with each tenure-track faculty holding an R01 or R01 equivalent grant award. We also maintain a vibrant, active pipeline of pilot investigations. Additionally, our world-renowned T32 program in cancer control research training continues to produce several successful early career investigators with career de velopment awards and other pilot grants. Five of our faculty (Drs. Morrow, Mustian, Kamen, Janelsins, and Lin) hold leadership roles within WCI’s effort for CCSG designation. In Jan, 2022, Dr. Janelsins was appointed Chief of Support ive Care in Cancer following Dr. Morrow’s decision to step down from the role.

Michelle Janelsins, Ph.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief of Supportive Care in Cancer

300 400 500 600 700 800 fY22 FY21fY22FY15FY16FY17FY18FY19FY20FY21 400+100+peopleFACULTYSTAFF THE ONLY Level 1 Trauma Center in the Region Level 1 Burn Center in the LivingRegionDonor Liver Transplant Program Upstate Pediatric Cardiac Surgery program Accredited Rectal Surgery Program Liver Transplant for Cancer Patients • • • • • •CLINICALnumberofapplicantsresidents: 51 GENERAL SURGERY • 6 CARDIOTHORACIC • 12 PLASTIC SURGERY • 8 VASCULAR SURGERY number of divisions • 11 new patient visits in 2022 • 18,825 0 3000 6000 9000 12000 15000 FY22 FY21 FY20 FY19 FY18 FY17 FY16 FY15 volumecase 11,726 FY19 EDUCATION Bariatric and SurgicalCardiothoracicGICritical Care Colorectal Breast • • • • • 5 fellowships 346FY15 425 517 565 521 SURGERY BY THE NUMBERS 2022 32 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 553 621 657 FY22FY15FY20FY21FY16FY17FY1814,02814,51213,35114,62513,21612,66312,194 fellows: 6 RESEARCH FELLOWS

STRENGTH $9,935,754funding NIH GRANTS $10,995,198 TOTAL RESEARCHSPONSORED total 33new$85,823,957revenuefacultyFROM2020-2022 new grant awards • 12 nationalities represented by faculty • 18 percent women faculty • 36% revenuetotal 0 20000000 40000000 60000000 80000000 100000000 FY15FY16FY17FY18FY19FY20FY21FY22 $57,762,841$56,175,449$54,692,988$50,774,203 $71,646,869 CULTURE grantstotal3000000 6000000 9000000 12000000 15000000 FY16FY17FY18FY19FY20FY21FY22 $4.9M $8.4M$8.1M $8.6MRESEARCH$5.7M 33 $76.897,669 $77,033,945 FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 $9M $12MFY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22$85,823,957 $10.9MFY22

As the only Level I Trauma Center in New York State’s Finger Lakes Region, the Kessler Trauma Center at the University of Rochester is committed to providing the highest level of injury care available to those who need it.

Pictured: Mark Gestring, M.D. receiving the FBI’s Directors Community Leadership Award

Injury volumes initially dropped in March of 2020 as we dealt with the impact of the COVID pandemic, but by summer of that same year the region noted a historic increase in violence as well as traumatic injury in general.

According to Mark L. Gestring, M.D., F.A.C.S., Chief of the Division of Acute Care Surgery and Director of the Kessler Trauma Center, the trauma center experienced a 25% increase in severely injured patients of all types and a concomitant 30% increase in patients requiring emergent trauma operations. This was accompanied by a stunning 90% increase in gunshot injuries when compared to the year before.

Serving Our Community Through Active Engagement

A Prosperous Culture

“I have been part of the Rochester community for over two decades and I can’t remember a worse year”, says Dr. Gestring. “Homicide rates have spiked and gun violence has reached epidemic proportions. Since the Kessler Trauma Center covers a 17-county area, most trauma cases end up on our doorstep.” He adds that “most gun violence is senseless and can be prevented”. This is why Dr. Gestring and his Trauma Center team believe they have a civic responsibility to support the community through the many violence prevention programs they lead or participate in.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) presented Dr. Gestring with its Director’s Community Leadership Award for his dedication to providing extensive care and creative support

Stop the Bleed® Initiative Saves Lives

Responsible Gun Ownership –Safeguarding guns to prevent injury

Uncontrolled bleeding is the number one cause of preventable death after injury. Stop the Bleed®, a nationwide initiative championed by the American College of Surgeons, aims to put an end to bleeding deaths that result from everyday emergencies, as well as mass shootings and other mass casualty situations. Under the direction of Dr. Gestring and his outreach team, thousands of people in the region have been trained to recognize life threatening bleeding and to intervene to control bleeding until help arrives. In 2020, Dr. Gestring and his team identified ways to continue teaching this material during the pandemic while adhering to all local and state guidelines, allowing this important training to continue. “With this training, we are empowering people to do something in the event of a bleeding emergency. The techniques are easy to learn and the equipment is easy to use, inexpensive and can save lives.”

35 A Prosperous Culture to the Rochester community and its at-risk youth. Dr. Gestring actively participates with the FBI on the local Project Exile Advisory Board, which brings the community together with law enforcement of all levels as well as social service agencies to keep illegal guns off the street. A federal program developed in Virginia in 1997, the Rochester Project Exile Advisory Board has been in place for more than 20 years. Rochester Youth Violence Partnership –Helping at-risk youth steer clear of violence.

“Our collaboration with dozens of organizations in the Rochester region has allowed us to reach hundreds of young adults, helping them and their families understand that these injuries are not random and that actions can be taken to avoid further injury,” explains Dr. Gestring. “We have worked hard to develop a program that provides victims and their families with the resources they need to stay safe and to end the cycle of violence that frequently develops.”

At the state level, Dr Gestring is an elected representative to the New York State Trauma Advisory Committee. In addition, he serves as Chief Surgeon for the New York State Police Trooper Surgeon’s Group as well as Associate Medical Director for Mercy Flight Central. A graduate of New Jersey Medical School, Dr. Gestring completed his surgical training at Brown University and his fellowship training in Trauma and Surgical Critical Care at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and is board certified by the American Board of Surgery in both Surgery and Surgical Critical Care.

The Responsible Gun Ownership program, an initiative started in 2020, is directed at legal gun owners and focuses on safe gun storage, proper disposal of unwanted guns, prevention of gun theft and other safety concerns related to gun ownership. This program was developed in partnership with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and is presented regionally on a regular basis. “Handguns that are stolen often end up as crime guns once in circulation,” says Dr. Gestring. “We educate people about their responsibility as gun owners to keep their families and members of our community safe.”

The FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award also noted Dr. Gestring’s work with programs such as the Rochester Youth Violence Partnership (RYVP), a hospital-based violence inter vention program he co-founded in 2006 along with Michael A. Scharf, M.D., Chief of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and pediatric social worker Jeff Rideout, M.S.W. The RYVP is a partnership headed by the Kessler Trauma Center and supported by dozens of local nonprofit, government and service-based organizations. Dr. Gestring and his colleagues initiated this program after noting that they were treating some of the same youths for gunshot wounds on a recurring basis, and sometimes their last visits were fatal wounds. The RYVP team meets monthly to discuss cases and designate resources to help youth stay on a violence-free path.

ABOUT DR. GESTRING Dr. Mark Gestring is the Medical Director of the Kessler Trauma Center and Chief of Acute Care Surgery at the University of Rochester. He is Professor of Surgery, Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Dr. Gestring is a member of the American College of Surgeons-Committee on Trauma (ACS-COT) where he is the immediate past chair of the EMS Committee. In that capacity, he worked closely with representatives from the national prehospital community to identify and address issues of common interest to those caring for the injured patient. Dr. Gestring is the current Chair of the ACS -COT Stop the Bleed Steering Committee.

What do you think is the difference between training then and training now?

As interviewed by David Linehan, M.D., July 15, 2022

Well it is a good question. First, I really liked it. Second because of all the non-invasive vascular studies, I was an electronics engineer. So I got interested in that, and I was instrumental in, if not the first, pretty nearly the first, vascular lab around. And so that influenced me a lot.

Tom, it’s good to have you here in the office to talk about the history of the Department of Surgery at the University of Rochester, of which you were an important part. I was just looking at the wall of our residents and trainees here. You started as an intern in July 1972 so it is actually 50 years ago this month that you started as a resident here in this program.

I think there is several differences. I think that the house staff was considered more of a workhorse for the hospital in a way. To give you one example, as an intern we handled most of the phlebotomy, and if it was at night, we’d handle all of it. And so it was hard a lot of times, particularly first and second year, be cause you are always being called.

When you look back at your experience, I actually thought you were the first black trainee in the pro gram, but you pointed out to me that you were not. There was somebody that was here before you that turned out to be an important mentor to you.

Notable Alumni: An Interview with Dr. Thomas Penn

You did not have to remind me of that! It is good to be here.

Yes, Robert Rivers. He was a great, great person.

Pictured: Dr. Tom Penn featured next to his graduation photo circa 1977

How was it that you chose vascular surgery as your specialty?

You know, he knew Churchill. He, in fact he was consulted on Churchill and said that Churchill would do very well as long as you let him have his scotch.

I appreciate you taking the time to come and talk to me because history is important. When we have these kind of recordings, it helps us to sustain that. It helps our current trainees and our future trainees understand what the University of Rochester Department Surgery is all about. I really appreciate you taking the time and coming to talk with me today.

Rochester was a very collegial atmosphere as I think you know. It is something I have tried to revive, collegiality among surgeons, both on the faculty and not on the faculty. It is a unique environment here. Yes it was. It was very much so when I came. Everybody was avail able to help. You were welcomed. If I had a vascular problem, I could call Joe Geary, who had been around a long time. A lot of time he said, he could come over and see it right now. Your practice was primarily at Genesee Hospital. Is that right?

I can unequivocally say that never, never had a situation. I had only one patient that gave me a little bit of trouble. It turned out his wife needed a biopsy and at first, I thought it was me, but it turned out, he did not want any men. So other than that, I never had a problem. It was a smooth sailing, good support all the way.

Back in the day, when you trained here, it was more of a pyramidal system, so that everyone that started didn’t finish. You had to compete with your fellow trainees to progress. So what was that like?

When I first started, yes. The town had some turbulence as Genesee was the only downtown hospital and it had 94% occupancy, yet had financial troubles. It had nothing to do with the talent of the surgical and medical staffs and so it went down purely political, but it was a good hospital. The only thing we did not do was cardiac, but we had good vascular.

Well, it is the ones you would expect in every profession. You first want to get a good education, good skills, you would like to be cordial and as accurate as you can be, and availability is a big one. You cannot be available at the country club and so forth. I was never rejected by referral or a patient.

The chair of surgery then was Charles Rob? Rob was a really interesting character. With all his military service in the war and being a great surgeon, there was never anything that came up that he did not have some ideas about.

What was it like working with Dr. Schwartz? He was probably a relatively junior attending when you were a training. Relatively! I would have to give Dr. Swartz an A plus. First, there is nothing, he didn’t know. You would struggle with trying to find something out and he’d blurt it out. I would rate him as one of the most intelligent persons I have ever run into. But, he always had time for you. Hardest working person I ever saw. When we would come in for rounds, you would have to go by his office to go to the patient floors. Never beat him. You have to get your stuff done; you started at 5:00/ 5:30am and he was already there. The doors open, the lights are on and he is going. It is small wonder he was able to write all these books.

What advice would you give to young surgeons, especially young surgeons from underrepresented backgrounds in terms of how to succeed in surgery?

Did he ever talk to you about what it was like to be the first black training in the program?

Rob was a fellow that beyond characterization, he would always tell us stories. I could not believe all that stuff he was saying. He flew airplanes, and then there was some major hill or some mountain and he climbed it. There was no country that he had not potentially been in. So anyway, when he sent me to Nigeria, I came back by way of London and at his old hospital. I started asking was there any truth to it? All of it was certified.

He was a war hero and he had been everywhere in the world. He did some spying in the war. He was just a full-fledged character.

It usually went off pretty smooth, but you never knew exactly where you stood. When I was interviewing to stay, Jim Adams was one of my interviewers. I go in and he gives me about eight places that I could take a look at. He was going round and round and then back and forth. Then as I am leaving, he said, Hey, Tom, by the way, I wouldn’t sell your house.

Not as much as I appreciate you inviting me. It has been a pleasure knowing you and seeing you around. There is no question in my mind that the surgery department at the University of Rochester is in good hands. To view interviews:•Family• Early Career • Department History

Yes. Before I finally signed on the dotted line here, one of the resi dents told me about him and I called and talked to him. He sealed the deal, you know, I felt very comfortable after what he told me. What advice did he give you when you were starting out as a young surgeon that was important? I think it was kind of along what we always hear the A’s: availabil ity, affability, and ability, in that order. Right? It is not true, but availability is a biggie. Availability does work. When you were a trainee here and/or a faculty member here, did you experience either overt or subtle racism? Was it ever a problem for you as a practicing surgeon?

Roan Glocker, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery; Director of Third Year Medical Student Clerkship Clinton S. Morrison, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery, Dentistry and Pediatrics; Director, Cleft and Craniofacial Center, Golisano Children’s Hospital; Program Director, Plastic Surgery Integrated Residency Program

Lauren DeCaporale-Ryan, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Family Geropsychologist; Associate Program Director of Resident Wellness General Surgery Residency Program

William E. O’Malley, M.D., F.A.C.S., Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery; Director, Bariatric Surgery Center at Highland Hospital; Program Director, Bariatric MIS Fellowship Program

David E. Burns Jr., M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery; Associate Program Director for Evaluation, Feedback and Compliance General Surgery Residency Program

Christian G. Peyre, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery; Program Director, Cardiothoracic Integrated Surgery Residency Program Gabriela Poles, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., F.A.C.R.S., Assistant Professor of Surgery; Associate Colorectal Fellowship Director Grayson Pitcher, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery; Assistant Clerkship Director Peter Prieto, M.D., M.P.H., C.M.Q., Assistant Professor of Surgery; Director, Translational Cancer Biorepository; Chair, Melanoma/ Sarcoma Disease Working Group; Associate Program Director for Research General Surgery Program

Kristin A. Skinner, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery and Oncology; Program Director, SSO Breast Fellowship Program

Faculty Listing:

Yanjie Qi, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery; General Surgery Residency Program Director

Surgical Education

Michael C. Stoner, M.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery; Chief, Division of Vascular Surgery; Program Director, Vascular Surgery Integrated Residency Program Nicole A. Stassen, M.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics and Medical Director Kessler Family Burn/ Trauma ICU; Surgical Critical Care Fellowship Program Director Larissa Temple, M.D., M.Sc., F.A.C.S., F.A.S.C.R.S., Professor of Surgery and Chief, Division of Colorectal Surgery; Director of the Colorectal Fellowship; Vice Chair, Care Transformation Pictured: 2022 Surgical Education Award Recipients

39 Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency Plastic Surgery Residency Vascular Surgery Residency ComplexLouis,ClaudenMDEndovascularandStructuralHeart Fellowship, Brigham and HospitalWomen’s Boston, Massachusetts BartholomewSimon,MDUniversityofRochesterRochester,NewYork ColorectalProgram: Nicholas Ward, MedicalAuroraMDCenterGrafton, Wisconsin Trevor Hansen, MD Hand SouthernFellowshipIllinoisUniversityCarbondale,Illinois Haas,JackieMD PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Breast SugProgram:Jefferyandi,MDMercyOneHospital Waterloo, Iowa Joshua Eli Robins, MD Cone Health Greensboro, North Carolina Georgina Pappas, MD WellspanYork,Health Pennsylvania Critical University’sWestColeman,Program:CareKennithDOVirginiaRubyMemorialHospital Morgantown, West Virginia Critical SummaAllard,Program:CareJustinMDHealthAkron,Ohio Thoracic Program: Tyler Van Backer, MD Hospital Southington,ConnecticutCentralofConnecticut The 2022 Graduates from the Department of Surgery General Surgery Residency Pictured above: Vasili Tsagkalidis, MD Complex Surgical Oncology Fellowship, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson, New York Edward O’Reilly, MD Practicing General Surgery, University College Dublin, Ireland Katherine Jackson, MD Complex Surgical Oncology Fellowship, John Wayne Cancer Foundation, California Matthew Seaman, MD Regional Medical Center, Anniston, Alabama Maria Durdach, MD, Advanced GI & Minimally Invasive surgery Fellowship, University of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York The 2022 Fellowship Graduates

Written by Kristine Kappel Thompson Kenneth Ouriel ’77, ’86M (Res), ’87M (Flw) and his wife, Joy Bracker Ouriel, have committed $1.5 million to establish the Kenneth and Joy Ouriel Family Professorship within the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Division of Vascular Surgery. The couple’s endowed gift will advance excellence within the vascular surgery program and provide resources to honor, recruit, and retain world-class faculty and staff leaders who can identify, understand, and treat some of the most complex health problems challenging society today.

Advancement: Gift Establishes the Kenneth and Ouriel Family Professorship in Vascular Surgery

“We are incredibly grateful to Ken and Joy for their vision and partnership,” says Mark Taubman, dean and CEO, University of Rochester Medical Center. “Professorships like this provide critical resources that support top tier surgeons, researchers, and educators. Our patients, students, and the overall field of vascular surgery will forever benefit from the tremendous generosity of the Ouriels.”

“The University of Rochester made my career possible,” says Ken. “I attended college here and then returned as a surgical resident and fellow where I was fortunate to work with the legendary Dr. Seymour Schwartz, Dr. James DeWeese, and others who helped set the course for my life. This professorship is a way for our family to show our appreciation and give back to the University and to vascular surgery specifically. We are eternally grateful for the operative training and academic

Pictured: The Ouriel family, left to right, David, Asher, Erica, Ken, Joy, Grayson, Ricky, Lizzie, Isabella, Elizabeth, and James.

Ken is also the author of five textbooks and more than 350 scientific articles. He is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences, too. Ken and Joy reside in New York City and Canandaigua, N.Y.

“Two themes have run through our lives: Rochester, the city where we were born and raised and where our children grew up, and doing something that impacts others in positive ways,” says Joy. “This professorship is our way to pay it forward, to create possibilities for those with the same mindset as us— those whose mission is to make life better and healthier for others. Our family is committed to this mission, too. This gift helps create a legacy which makes us all very happy.”

The Medical Center’s Division of Vascular Surgery provides comprehensive vascular care to patients with a wide range of heart and blood flow issues. Its surgeons specialize in pro cedures to diagnosis and treat aneurysms, blocked arteries, blood clots, varicose veins, as well as compromised blood flow to the brain, intestines, and kidneys.

41 foundation provided to me and other surgical trainees at the University. Any success that I have achieved in my career was possible as a result of my experiences at URMC.”

“Over the years, Syntactx grew and that prompted Joy and our adult children, David (who earned his MBA from the Simon Business School in 2008), Richard, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth’s husband, James to join the company,” adds Ken. “The whole family has worked hard to bring innovative medical technol ogies to market, with the goal of improving patients’ lives around the world.” In 2021, NAMSA, a medical device-focused clinical research organization, acquired Syntactx. Today, Ken serves as its chief medical officer.

“This professorship illustrates the Ouriels’ dedication to surgical excellence and their commitment to improving patient outcomes through clinical research,” adds David Linehan, the Seymour I. Schwartz Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery at the University’s School of Medicine and Dentistry. “Ken has a long track record of improving patients’ lives, as evidenced by his distinguished career as a surgeon, administra tive leader, visionary researcher, and entrepreneur. The Division of Vascular Surgery has a long-standing history and legacy of training tomorrow’s academic leaders, and the Ouriel family’s gift will propel the translational research and innova tion to the next level.” Ken, one of the country’s top vascular surgeons, began his undergraduate studies at the University of Rochester when he was just 16 years old. After earning his bachelor’s in biology and psychology he studied medicine at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. After graduating from Pritzker with honors in 1981, he became a general surgery resident at the University of Rochester, where he completed a vascular surgery fellowship. Ken remained at the URMC as a faculty member in surgery for 11 years, when, in 1998, he joined the Cleveland Clinic as its chief of vascular surgery. Later, he became its chief of surgery, during which time he oversaw a staff of 340 surgeons, making it the largest surgical department in the world at the time. In 2001, while at the Cleveland Clinic, Ken treated former presidential candidate Bob Dole for an aortic aneurysm. In 2007, he led a Cleveland Clinic team in Abu Dhabi where they helped establish world-class care at the Sheik Khalifa Medical Center. While in Cleveland, Joy worked at the Mandel Jewish Community Center, helping to design and execute programs to provide scholarships for children who would otherwise be unable to attend summer camp and preschool at the JCC. In 2008, Ken served as senior vice president and chief of inter national operations at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. At the same time, he earned an MBA from Columbia University and the London Business School. In 2010, Ken founded Syntactx, a medical device development solution company.

Walking on Air Written by Patrick Broadwater

Olfano was just 18 years old and about to start her second semester at Monroe Community College in January 2009 when she and her twin sister were involved in a chain-reaction accident on Interstate 490. Kim ended up pinned between her SUV and the car behind her. The force of the collision shattered her legs.

Enduring Strength and Resilience

Pictured: Kim Olfano, RN

When one of her patients casts doubts on the power of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, Kim Olfano ’18N can testify to its effectiveness. The treatment saved her legs.

• Ted Louie, M.D., Infectious Disease

• Lisa Wallin, ANP-C Julia Schliff, FNP Cynthia Mack, ACNP-BC

• Tim Chilelli, P.A.

“It wasn’t until I actively pursued a bachelor’s degree and I started taking nursing prerequisite classes that pursuing a career in nursing became a reality for me,” she said. “The official acceptance into the UR School of Nursing was a dream come true. I will never forget that phone call from Nancy Kita telling me that I have been accepted into the program.” While she was elated to be part of the program, her path into the profession proved to be difficult.

•

“My journey at the UR School of Nursing was not the typical journey for most students. I was faced with many challenges and sought additional help through the CAPS program,” she said, citing her peer mentors and professors Kathy Hiltunen, Mary Tantillo, and Maria Marconi for helping her navigate through the rigors of the accelerated program. “I am forever grateful for every professional at the School of Nursing who has left a permanent impact on my career.” Upon graduation in 2018, Olfano joined the nursing staff at Strong. But last year she learned of an opening in the hyperbaric suite at the Strong Wound Healing Center.

The damage was so extensive doctors feared that neither limb would be able to be saved. After more than 30 reconstructive surgeries, time was running out. Olfano’s legs just weren’t healing. But her mother, a nurse, recalled reading about the healing powers of hyperbaric chambers. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves placing patients in pressurized chambers filled with 100 percent oxygen in order to fight off infections, aid the formation of blood vessels, and stimulate healing. Most patients receive 40 treatments, Olfano said. She had 80.

•

• Patrick Reavey, M.D., M.S.

43 Enduring Strength and Resilience

“When you’re at the point where you’re about to lose your limb, you know this oxygen will help improve blood flow and circulation to the area that is compromised. And that’s what helped basically heal my leg,” Olfano said recently in an interview with Spectrum News. “Within two weeks, I noticed a Olfano’schange.”recovery was long – she used a wheelchair for four years – but she regained full use of her legs. Determined to continue her education as she healed, Olfano graduated from MCC in 2012 then earned a bachelor’s degree from St. John Fisher College in 2014. But as she began her professional career, her mind drifted back to the trauma nurses at Strong Memorial Hospital, many of whom told her that she would make a great nurse. Two years later, Olfano was accepted into the UR Nursing’s Accelerated Program for Non-Nurses.

• Jose G. Christiano, M.D.

• Tammy Roman, EdD, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Program Administrator

• Oscar Manrique Mogollon, M.D.

The opportunity to help others in a way that was so personal to her was too good to pass up. “I saw the job posting in July and literally gasped out loud thinking how awesome would it be to work with patients that have gone through the same treatments,” she said. “I know what it’s like to be in that chamber. I know how beneficial these treatments are, and can offer a lot of empathy and support to patients who may be losing hope.

“The best part of being a nurse thus far is knowing that I can make a positive impact on someone’s life. I do not expect anything in return. I feel like I am just doing a job I am truly passionateTheWOUNDabout.”CENTERStrongWoundHealing Center located at 160 Sawgrass, provides expert care for non-healing wounds. Led by medical director Dr. Howard Langstein, our multidisciplinary team includes plastic surgeons, infectious disease, and wound certified nurse practitioners and registered nurses who work collaboratively with vascular, endocrine and the patients’ primary care provider to provide ongoing care of acute and chronic wounds. In addition to performing debridements, the Center utilizes the latest advanced therapies in wound care including specialty dressings and skin substitutes to accelerate the healing of these often life limiting wounds. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is also available in our accredited facility as an adjunctive treatment for non-healing wounds that meet specific criteria. Furthermore, the Strong Wound Healing Center performs surgical assessments for patients who have been diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa.

Our Team:

• Howard Langstein, M.D., Medical Director

Darren Carpizo, M.D., Ph.D. Professor and Chief Surgical Oncology March 1, 2020

Kazuhiro Hisamoto, M.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery Cardiac Surgery July 1, 2021 Evelyn Arana, M.S., Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor Supportive Care in Cancer July 1, 2021

Andrew Powers, M.D. Assistant Professor of Clinical Regional General Surgery September 1, 2020

Asfandyar Khan, M.D. Assistant Professor of Clinical Regional General Surgery January 5, 2021 Abdi Gudina, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor Supportive Care in Cancer August 8, 2020 Lee Kehoe, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor Supportive Care in Cancer October 5, 2020

New Faculty to the Department of Surgery 2020-2022

Karen Pineda-Solis, M.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery Transplant Surgery August 1, 2021 Calvin Cole, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery, Research Surgery Research August 1, 2021 Adnan Hirad, M.D., Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor Vascular Surgery May 1, 2021 Chris Harris, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor Surgical Oncology March 1, 2020

Amit Nair, M.B.B.S, M.S., M.D. Assistant SeptemberTransplantProfessorSurgery1,2020

Ted Kaufman, M.D. Associate Professor of Clinical Regional General Surgery November 15, 2020 Oscar Manrique, M.D. Assistant Professor Plastic JanuarySurgery1,2021

Nicole Wilson, Ph.D., M.D. Assistant Professor Pediatric Surgery August 1, 2020 Michael Nabozny, M.D. Assistant Professor Acute Care Surgery August 31, 2020

Shuichi Yoshitake, M.D. Instructor of Surgery

Pediatric Cardiac Surgery January 1, 2021

Paul Feingold, M.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery Thoracic Surgery August 1, 2022 Jeremy McGuire, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor Supportive Care in Cancer August 1, 2022 Ana Paula Cupertino, Ph.D. Professor of Surgery, Research Surgery Research August 1, 2022 Hongying Sun, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery Supportive Care in Cancer September 1, 2022 Anna Weiss, M.D. Associate Professor of Surgery Surgical SeptemberOncology19,2022

Umang Gada, M.S. Senior SupportiveAssociateCare in Cancer March 15, 2022

Sule Yilmaz, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor Supportive Care in Cancer November 1, 2021

Sara

Assistant

Vascular

Colorectal

Assistant

Plastic SeptemberSurgery1,2021

AnnaLynn Williams, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery Supportive Care in Cancer March 1, 2022 Bartholomew Simon, M.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery Cardiac Surgery July 1, 2022 Ryan Magnuson, M.D. Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery Cardiac Intensivist July 1, 2022 Alessandra Moore, M.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery Surgical Oncology August 1, 2022

Svetlana Yudina, M.D. Associate Professor of Clinical AprilRegionalSurgerySurgery1,2022

Pediatric

Zhaomin (Tim) Xu, M.D., M.P.H. Professor of Surgery SeptemberSurgery1,2021 Neimanis, M.D. Professor of Surgery

Vascular

Cardiac

Grayson Pitcher, M.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery SeptemberSurgery1,2021 Karina Newhall, M.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery SeptemberSurgery1,2021 David Darcy, M.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery SeptemberSurgery21,2021 Katherine Wood, M.D. Assistant Professor of Surgery SeptemberSurgery20,2021

Looking to the Future of the GS Residency Program, what are you most excited for?

This journey is a little bit unexpected. I always knew that I had a skill set in organization, OCD about schedules and making sure everybody’s needs are met. That was certainly something that I demonstrated quite a bit as an administrative chief. When I joined the faculty here in 2015, I wanted to educate residents. I wanted to be a teacher in the operating room. I think it was a natural role for me, given how much I enjoy teaching and how much fulfillment I get when I see a resident develop and mature. What is the most important leadership lesson you have learned and how has it impacted your career?

One of the things about being a leader is you have your own set of ideas about how things are run, but really being a suc cessful leader is about being a collaborative person. The give and take of taking someone’s ideas and their feedback and meeting in the middle is one of the things I think is really key. The other part of the challenge is how to give constructive feedback. You need to take the personal out of the feedback that you want to give to your trainees, and still support them and give them solution on improvement. Doing that in a really supportive way has been challenging, but also again, a really, fulfilling part of my job.

New Appointments 46

Please tell us about your journey to become the General Surgery Residency Program Director.

The lack of underrepresented in medicine (UiM) physicians within US academic surgery continues. What are your thoughts on how to increase the number of candidates applying to surgical residency programs?

I think the issues with underrepresented minorities, is an issue that was similarly faced with women in surgery. It’s almost like a snowball that just has to get rolling. Medical students and trainees want role models. They want people to look up to and examples of success. I think it’s a multi-prong process. One is to provide the mentorship to early career students, both in high school and college and for them to see themselves as physi cians. On the other hand it’s really from the top down, recruit ing faculty who are going to be role models. I think once you get a core group of faculty and residents together, and become known as a place that’s welcoming diversity and be an inclusive place, I think that really helps. Looking back on the path that you took to where you are today, and the decisions that you made, is there anything that you would have done differently? I have to say that some times I kind of pinch myself about how lucky I have been. I do a job that I really, really love. I have a very healthy and happy family life. I seem to have it all. Even though it it’s quite a busy life I think I would’ve wanted to spend a little bit more time enjoying residency. There were nights where it was just so much, it’s tiresome, and such a hard journey. You’re tired a lot of times, but to have the mindfulness, to pause and say, you know, what, I’m doing right now is pretty incredible. The opportunity to learn in all of these different attending ORs, is something that I now treasure and at that time you didn’t really appreciate it.

I get excited every single year, from the fresh crop of interns planning their careers and helping them see the path forward; to seeing where our chief residents end up in fellowship, where they end up for jobs, and hearing back from them. Our department has always constantly improved the program. There’s always the new educational tool, whether its robotics or think ing about disparities research but, the ultimate goal at heart, is producing a competent surgeon, who’s a nice person and a good colleague.

A Conversation with Yan Qi, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery, General Surgery Residency Program Director

Click to view full interview

Welcoming Dr. Ana Paula Cupertino, Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Research Director for Surgical Health Outcomes Enterprise (SHORE)

The Department of Surgery is pleased to announce that Ana Paula Cupertino, Ph.D., will join the Department as Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and as the Research Director for SHORE (Surgical Health Outcomes Research Enterprise) on August 1, 2022. Dr. Cupertino will continue to serve as the Associate Director of Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) for the Wilmot Cancer Institute and lead a team dedicated to addressing the cancer burden in the Wilmot catchment area. Dr. Cupertino most recently served as a Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at URMC, and she will continue to collaborate closely with her colleagues in PHS, where she will maintain a secondary appointment. As an accomplished, NCI-funded social-behavioral scientist, Dr. Cupertino will bring extensive expertise in bi-directional community-academic research partnerships, engagement of diverse communities in research and clinical training, and the use of mobile health tools to address health disparities. In her new leadership role in SHORE, she will work with Drs. Temple and Fleming to lead a renewed focus on disparities in surgical health outcomes research, which is of vital interest to our current and future trainees. Dr. Cupertino’s academic activities align with the Office of Diversity and Equity, where she continuously mentors junior faculty, medical students, undergraduate, and high school students from diverse communities locally and nationally. Regarding her new roles, Dr. Cupertino notes “I look forward to expanding my partnership with the URMC diversity officers and collaborating with the DEI initiatives happening across our institution.” In this new role, Dr. Cupertino will rely on her previous experi ences as the director of the international rotation, co-develop er of the medical Spanish program, and community-academic training programs. She has previously led an NIH science and education partnership award. Passionate about providing educational opportunities for underepresented high school students, she will serve as the Principal Investigator to oversee the Next Generation of Surgeons Reaching for Equity (NEXTGenS), an inquiry-based and participatory-action educational strategy designed to empower diverse young scholars to develop the tools necessary to sustain interest and motivation for careers in Surgery. She also has extensive experience working in the development of the community assessment and community health project curriculum for medical students. “I am delighted to have Dr. Cupertino join the leadership team in our Department, says Dr. David Linehan, Chair of the Department of Surgery. “Working alongside faculty, trainees, staff, and lead ers, we will align with the NIH UNITE initiative in expanding efforts to achieve meaningful prosperous, diverse and inclusive culture”. By bringing the DEI, research and training together, we aim to impact URM recruitment and retention in careers in Surgery. “We are thrilled to have Paula join our team and know her infectious enthusiasm will challenge us to excel in these critical areas.”

“Holding the Seymour Schwartz Distinguished Professorship in Surgery is the most important honor any surgeon could receive,” said David Linehan, M.D., Chair of Surgery. For leaders in our field, Sy is the aspirational mentor that we all want to emulate. His towering intellect, spirit of collegiality, indefatigable work ethic, unending curiosity and enduring relevance set the bar so high. We may never achieve his heights, but based on his embodiment of excellence, we will all keep trying. As a department, we are so saddened by his loss, but we find comfort in knowing that his remarkable legacy spans the globe and lives on.” Schwartz retired from the operating room at age 72. He once said that his longevity was thanks to exercise and an ability to keep working in other capacities. On most days, including many Saturdays, for the 20 years after his “retirement,” Schwartz could be found in his timeworn office, a home-awayfrom-home on the second floor of the UR Medical Center, often writing and reading. Colleagues would filter in to glean information from his vast experience and intellect. They joked that their brilliant mentor had “flunked” retirement.

August

M.D. A Life Well Lived January

Seymour I. Schwartz, 22, 192828, 2020

M.D.

“When the American College of Surgeons honored Dr. Schwartz as an ‘Icon of Surgery’ in 2017, they pro vided yet another national affirmation of what we here at URMC have always known,” said Mark Taubman, M.D., CEO of URMC. “Dr. Schwartz was quite simply a giant in both his field and in the life of our institution, where he was an approachable, gracious and insightful guide to generations of physicians who drew on the deep experience and knowledge that he so willingly shared. I count myself among those he mentored, and he was also a great and supportive friend to my wife Lois and me. We will miss him dearly!”

Schwartz is remembered fondly by those who worked with him at all stages of his life. He was an important catalyst in the career of Craig Smith, M.D., who trained as a surgical resident at URMC and went on to become Chair of Surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/ Columbia University Medical Center. Schwartz and Smith co-authored several papers during Smith’s research gap year in the late 1970s, and as a mentor Schwartz was “very outspoken, candid, and just so intelligent that it was always worth it,” Smith said. As Smith built his career at Columbia they stayed in touch, and Smith visited Dr. Schwartz in Rochester a couple of years ago. “He was just a very multi-talented person,” Smith said, “and sharp as a tack.”

In addition to his medical career, Schwartz was a history buff and collector of rare maps, some of which now reside in the Dr. Ruth W. Schwartz and Dr. Seymour I. Schwartz Collection in the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation on the River Campus. He became an accordion player after winning the instrument in a poker game while in the Navy, wrote lyrics for the UR School of Medicine and Dentistry’s annual student musical production, and composed special limericks for each graduate of the surgical residency program. He was an accomplished and prolific author and an international expert on the mapping of the New World. Schwartz served as president of the country’s three most important surgical societies: the Society of Clini cal Surgery, the American Surgical Association, and the American College of Surgeons. He was editor-in-chief of Contemporary Surgery for 28 years, the Yearbook of Surgery for 22 years, and the Journal of the American College of Surgeons for 10 years.

Recent years were filled with accolades, including the University’s Eastman Medal, which he received in 2018, and a glowing profile in the Democrat & Chronicle.

“Dr. Schwartz’s began his career in an era when the most common way to diagnose a surgical problem of any kind was via an operation,” said Michael F. Rotondo, M.D., CEO of URMFG and Vice Dean for Clinical Operations in the School of Medicine. “During his 70-year career he drove innovation that literally shaped the field of surgery and the practices of count less surgeons. Through his significant contributions and teaching, the care of patients across the globe was dramatically improved. To the very end, he remained intensely curious, current and vital, adding value at every turn to the benefit of the University of Rochester, the medical center and his profession.”

In his later years, Schwartz became more deeply interested in the humanities and was committed to capturing the best things about the practice of medi cine. He was fascinated by physicians who had become literary figures, and he profiled some of the nation’s finest in a book called “From Medicine to Manuscript,” published in 2018. It features essays and biographies on exceptional talents such as Oliver Sacks (whom Schwartz interviewed before Sacks died), Khaled Hosseini, Atul Gawande, Tess Gerritsen, and Abraham Verghese. Verghese, when contacted for the Democrat & Chronicle article about Schwartz in 2018, praised the surgeon for his graciousness, generosity, and huge Seymourimpact.I.Schwartz,

On November 5, 2021 a celebration of life was organized to honor Seymour Schwartz, MD

Over 400 were in attendance, in person and on livestream at the University of Rochester, to participate in celebrating the remarkable life of Dr. Schwartz. Click to view recorded livestream

“Dr. Schwartz had a remarkable effect on my life, considering I’m not a surgeon,” Verghese said at the time. “It came by virtue of his iconic textbook on surgery. Such books shape the conscious ness of so many young physicians, and his was so important to me that I mentioned it in my novel, Cutting for Stone, as one of the two books that the medical student protagonist takes when he flees anarchy in Ethiopia.” Schwartz came from a humble background. The son of Jewish immigrants, he grew up in the Bronx and attended public schools. Yale University admitted Schwartz for undergraduate studies but he could not afford to go there. Instead, he attend ed the University of Wisconsin on a scholarship, completed his degree in just two years, and then went on to medical school, earning a degree at New York University. Professional achievements aside, Schwartz once said that his “biggest contribution in life was his family.” He has three sons, Richard, director of aviation operations at Enterprise Rent-A-Car; Kenneth, founding director and dean of the Phyllis Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University; and David, M.D./Ph.D., a cardiologist and associate professor at Washington University School of Medicine. His wife, Ruth, who died in 1999, was a pioneer in obstetrics and gynecology, and delivered their first two grandchildren. They married while in medical school and then moved to Rochester together as interns and chose to stay. Ruth introduced her husband to cartography when she thought he needed a hobby early in his medical career. It became a lifelong passion. In 1963 she bought him his first cartography book for 50 cents from a second-hand store. He became an avid collector of rare and historically significant maps, and also wrote six books on the subject, declaring during an interview in 2017 that that he had “developed a life of schizoid scholarship.” He served on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of American History, the Smithsonian Institution, and was a member of the Advisory Board of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress. In addition to his beloved sons and grandchildren, Schwartz is survived by his devoted companion, Lyn Kayser.

The family of Seymour I. Schwartz, M.D. David Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D., Sarah Mangelsdorf, Ph.D., Rick Schwartz, Ken Schwartz, Ph.D.

Vincent Chang, M.D., Jeff Fink, M.D., John Fung, M.D. Alexis Schwartz, Dana Schwartz, Laura Schwartz Vincent Reale, M.D. David Linehan, M.D., Janice Linehan, Sarah Mangelsdorf, Ph.D., Mark Taubman, M.D., and Lois Taubman

Pediatric Surgery 585-275-4435 Plastic Surgery 585-275-1000 Surgical Oncology 585-275-1611

For more information about the Department of Surgery, contact: David C. Linehan, M.D. Seymour I. Schwartz Professor and Chairman UR Medicine Surgery 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box Surg Rochester, NY 14642

Bariatric Surgery 585-341-0366

Thoracic and Foregut Surgery 585-275-1509

Colorectal Surgery 585-273-2727

Phone: 585-275-2725 Fax: 585-275-8513 Website: www.surgery.urmc.edu Mobile App: https://surgery.urmedicine.org Twitter: URSurgery Other contact information:

Vascular Surgery 585-279-5100

Acute Care Surgery 585-275-3022

Cardiac Surgery 585-275-8880

Abdominal Transplant Surgery 585-275-5875

Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Gastrointestinal (HPB-GI) Surgery 585-275-1611

DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY 601 Elmwood Avenue Rochester, NY 14642

Department of Surgery Annual Report

Articles inside

Seymour I. Schwartz, M.D. A Life Well Lived

Surgical Education

Supportive Care in Cancer

Vascular Surgery

Surgical Oncology

General Surgery: Regional & Community

Pediatric Surgery

Cardiac Surgery

Acute Care Surgery

Enduring Strength and Resilience

New Appointments

Notable Alumni: An Interview with Dr. Thomas Penn

Advancement

A Prosperous Culture

Innovative Education

Plastic Surgery

Bariatric and GI Surgery at Highland

Colorectal Surgery

Cutting-Edge, Impactful Research

Thoracic and Foregut Surgery

Outstanding Clinical Programs

Message from the Chair

Abdominal Transplant and Liver Surgery