Almost 300 clinicians in the Department of Surgery attended the sixth annual Edmond T. Gonzales Jr., Surgical Research Day at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women on May 8. The event provided a forum for researchers to unveil their work highlighting remarkable advancements in the field of pediatric surgery.
“I look forward to this day every year,” said Dr. Charles D. Fraser, Jr., surgeon-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital. “Our surgeons, residents and students are conducting innovative work that should contribute to better understanding of health issues that our patients experience. Their research is central to our core values as academic surgeons at Texas Children’s Hospital.”
The program featured seven oral presentations and 96 poster presentations spotlighting the academic efforts of the surgical faculty, post graduate fellows, nurses and advanced practice providers. In addition, lectures were given on surgical issues and awards were presented to honor faculty and research presentations.
This year’s awards and their recipients are:
- The Samuel Stal Research Award for outstanding research by a resident or fellow in the Department of Surgery was presented to Dr. Yan Shi. The award is named after Dr. Samuel Stal, former chief of plastic surgery at Texas Children’s. Dr. Shi was recognized for his research in liver carcinoma.
- Dr. Larry Hollier, chief of Plastic Surgery, was honored with the Faculty Research Mentor Award. The award is given on an annual basis to honor a Department of Surgery faculty member who currently serves as a research through career development, professional guidance or cultivation of research interests.
- Dr. Paulette Abbas, research fellow in Pediatric Surgery, received the Best Poster award for, “Persistent Hypercarbia after Resuscitation Is Associated with Increased Mortality in Congenital Diaphragm Hernia Patients.”
- Dr. Adesola C. Akinkuotu, research fellow in Pediatric Surgery, received the Best Oral Presentation award for her research, “Risk Stratification of Severity for Infants with CDH: Prenatal vs. Postnatal Predictors of Outcome.”
This year’s speakers were:
- This year’s keynote speaker was Dr. Tom Jaksic, the W. Hardy Hendren Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He is also Vice Chairman of Pediatric General Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital and Surgical Director, Center for Advanced Intestinal Rehabilitation. He presented research on the metabolism of critically ill neonates and the management of children with intestinal failure.
- Dr. Laurence McCullough, Dalton Tomlin chair in Medical Ethics and Health Policy, associate director for Education, Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine, presented a lecture on the professional responsibility of surgical innovation, research and treatment.
The Surgical Research Day Planning Committee included Dr. Jed Nuchtern (chair), Melinda Mathis (co-chair), Dr. Jennifer Dietrich, Dr. Chester Koh, Dr. Sandi Lam, Dr. Carlos Mery, Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, Kathy Carberry, Matthew Girotto, Veronica Victorian, Shon Bower and Laura Higgins.
View more pictures of the Edmond T. Gonzales Surgical Research Day: