A recent article published in the Annals of Surgical Oncology provides guidance on the timing of surgery during the COVID pandemic. The recommendations for managing care takes into consideration the 3–6 month delay in care.

Titled "Management of Cancer Surgery Cases During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considerations" it is co-authored by Kandace P. McGuire, MD, Professor of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology and Chief, Section of Breast Surgery, Surgical Leader of the Multidisciplinary Breast Cancer Program at Massey Cancer Center.

Download PDF | Link to Article

Congratulations to Nancy Thompson, MS, RN, CPNP, lead author of a study published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing. Titled "Pediatric surgery and school nurse attitudes regarding children with obesity" it is aimed at "describing pediatric surgery and school nurses' weight biases towards children with obesity, and examine factors associated with weight biases." Nancy specializes in adolescent bariatric surgery, and pediatric weight management at the Children's Hospital of Richmond (CHoR). Link to article

In Press: "How We Do It: Implementing a Virtual, Multi-Institutional Collaborative Education Model for the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond"

Congratulations to VCU authors Sally Boyd, MD, General Surgery Research Resident, Jeffrey Stern, MD, GS '20, and Rahul J. Anand, MD, Professor and Program Director VCU General Surgery Residency, et.al..

Congratulations to Sally Boyd, MD, Research Resident in the General Surgery Residency Program on her presentation “Frailty Measurement and Implications for Cerebrovascular Disease Management in a Veteran Based Population" at the 45th Annual Vascular & Endovascular Surgery Society (VESS) meeting in January.

Congratulations to General Surgery Resident Diana Otoya, MD, PGY-2 on her presentation at The Southern Association for Vascular Surgery (SAVS) 45th Annual Meeting. The title of Dr. Otoya's talk was "Gender Trends of Authors Presenting at a Regional Vascular Surgery Meeting: Are We Missing a Unique Opportunity to Mentor?"

The presentation was led by Dr. Otoya and co-authored with Division of Vascular Surgery faculty Kedar S. Lavingia, MD, RPVI, and Michael F. Amendola, MD, MEHP, FACS, FSVS, from McGuire Medical Center, and represented VCU Health and the Central Virginia VA Health System. This year's SAVS conference was a hybrid format meaning with both an in-person, and virtual component. Well done Dr. Otoya!

Marlon Levy, MD, chair of the Division of Transplant Surgery and director of the Hume-Lee Transplant Center said, "We knew our patients and community were counting on us." Once modifications were put into place, the team never stopped seeing their patients and continued providing life-saving care. "Our patients still needed transplants, even in the pandemic," said Levy.

Congratulations to the entire transplant center team for performing 459 transplants "against the backdrop of a raging global pandemic..." Read more

NIH SBIR Phase II Awarded to Martin Mangino, PhD, Professor of Surgery and Associate Chair, Basic Science Research ORBIT.

Please join the department and Dr. Anand, Program Director, General Surgery Residency as we congratulate Drs. Saba Kurtom and Will Hope — named as 2021 Administrative and Teaching Chief Residents for the academic year.

"We believe our greatest asset is and will always be our employees and we are proud of the years of service each one has provided to VCU and the continued relationship we have." VCU Annual Service Recognition Celebration.

Congratulations to the following Department of Surgery faculty and staff for their years of dedicated service!

Please join the Department of Surgery and Michel A. Aboutanos, MD, MPH, chair of the Division of Acute Care Surgical Services in congratulating Levi Procter and Stefan Leichtle on their recent appointments:

Congratulations to Levi Procter, MD, FACS, appointed as new Medical Director of Emergency General Surgery.

Congratulations to Stefan Leichtle, MD, FACS, named as new Associate Medical Director of the Surgical and Trauma Intensive Care Unit (STICU) at VCU Health.

In his role as Associate Medical Director of the Surgical and Trauma Intensive Care Unit, Dr. Leichtle will focus on the rapidly expanding Trauma- and Burn ICU patient population. Among his responsibilities will be the facilitation of multi-disciplinary collaborations and partnerships with all involved clinical specialties, the development and refinement of best practice treatment guidelines, and the optimization of quality improvement processes and clinical documentation standards to ensure excellence in the care of these complex patients.

Please join us and the Division of Urology in welcoming their new residents Brandon Wilson, MD and Ryan Fogg, MD to the Urology family. Congratulations everyone!

VCU Massey Cancer Center produced a new video to promote clinical trials by highlighting Mr. Reich, a patient who enrolled in a pancreatic cancer study. We'd like to acknowledge the credit he gives to his doctors. See if you hear it —

Link to video: "Howard Reich's story: "The treatment worked"

Michael Feldman, MD was welcomed as guest speaker at UVA Surgery Grand Rounds on February 3.

As Medical Director of the Evans-Haynes Burn Center, Dr. Feldman shared his experience working with burn patients during COVID-19. He holds the B.W. Haynes, Jr. Professorship in General and Trauma Surgery, and is interim Chair for the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

February, February 26th 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

(A Massey Integrative Health event; Open to everyone)

Join VCU Health work/life coordinator Emmy Rusyniak at this meditation session to help reduce anxiety, manage stress and cultivate mindfulness. To Register

Register: Talent@VCU

Register: Talent@VCU

Register: Talent@VCU