Surya N. Sankaran, MD

APRIL 2014
Surya N. Sankaran, MD
May 11th
Inside this issue:
Dr. Surya N.
Sankaran
1-6
Remembering
Dr. Chenicheri
Balakrishnan
7
Reports from
the Outfield
8
WSUSOM
Annual Alumni
Day
9
WSSS Dues
10
WSSS Alumni
and Friends
11
WSSS 2014
Ballot
12
WSU Monthly
Conferences
13
14-15
WSSS
May 26th
Dr. Sankaran began his trip across the stage of life in January of 1944 in faraway India. He received his early education in India prior to attending the Hans Raj College at the
University of Delhi where he obtained his premedical training
and then entered into the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, where he received his medical education.
He then did his Rotating Houseman at the same institution
from which he graduated in 1967. Dr. Surya Narayanan
Dr. Surya Sankaran
(WSUGS 1972)
Sankaran came to the New World, where he served as a resident in pathology at the St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio
waiting to get his final US Visa. He successfully matched for a straight
surgical internship at the Detroit Receiving Hospital, beginning in July of
1967.
His introduction to the old DRH was interesting. When he walked into
the Director of Medical Education’s office in the old hospital on St. Antoine
Street across from the First Precinct of the Detroit Police Department and
introduced himself as a new surgical intern, Dr. Elmer Kobold said,
“Welcome Dr. Sankaran, you are assigned to Division 3, Dr. Walt’s division.” Dr. Sankaran responded, “Thank you, where would you like me to
stay?” Dr. Kobold looked surprised and asked, “You mean you don’t have
a place to stay! Do you have a car?” Dr. Sankaran, later known by everybody as Sank, replied, “No sir, I came by Greyhound bus. I have no family
here.” Elmer had to sit and gather his thoughts and later advised Sank
that he could stay in the on-call room for a charge of $15 a month. Dr.
Sankaran thanked him profusely and then was directed to the third floor
to join Dr. Walt, the new professor and chairman, who was making teaching rounds. When he introduced himself to Dr. Walt, he was amazed
when Dr. Walt asked if he knew Dr. Nand Keswani. Sank responded, “Yes
sir, he was our professor of anatomy” and felt that he and Dr. Walt had a
common friend. Sank was amazed that Dr. Walt would know his professor
of anatomy from New Delhi but he later learned that Dr. Walt knew just
about everybody. This day began a long, wonderful relationship between
Sank and our chairman.
Continue page 2
APRIL 2014
Surya N. Sankaran, MD cont….
Dr. Sankaran began his first surgical rotation on the division that had Dr. Bob Moffat (WSUGS 1968) as
the chief resident and Dr. Mike Peikoff (WSUGS 1970) as the “first cutter”; this term was used to reflect the
fourth-year resident who served under the chief resident and would do all of the operations that got passed
down by the chief. Sank still recalls how wonderful these two individuals were in guiding him through these
first “nervous” days. Later that month, on July 26, 1967, the Detroit riots began and ended up being the most
devastating and most lethal riot in the country. Dr. Robert Wilson (WSUGS/TS 1963/65) was the disaster
chief at the time and, along with Dr. Walt, implemented the well-thought-out disaster plan. This called for
the younger residents, including Sank, to identify those patients who could be immediately transferred to another hospital or discharged home in order to make room for the anticipated victims of the riot. The disaster
plan was implemented in an exemplary manner, and the hospital surgical and specialty teams, along with
community surgeons (former residents) who temporarily closed their practices in Southeast Michigan, provided outstanding care, so that each injured victim of the riot was promptly and excellently treated.
In August, Sank was assigned to the Emergency Surgical Service. Dr. Francis Bhagat (WSUGS 1969) was
the ‘day chief”, which typically went to a fourth-year resident who worked one month of days and then
switched to a month of straight nights. Dr. Sahir Cittan (WSUGS 1968) was the third year resident working
under Dr. Bhagat and served to implement the patient care duties assigned to him by Dr. Bhagat. During his
first day on the service, Dr. Cittan and Sank saw 76 patients from the first floor to the eighth floor in the
morning and in the evening and finished at 11:30 p.m. Surely, there was no 80-hour work week. The Emergency Surgical Service was one single division which, at the time, was being staffed by Dr. Elmer Kobold,
Dr. Paul Kindling (WSUGS 1966), and Dr. Tom Grifka (WSUGS 1966). During this rotation, Sank was exposed to the emergency room in “non-riot” circumstances and was subjected to “culture shock.” He was
amazed that there were so many patients handcuffed and chained to stretchers adjacent to a room full of
screaming psychiatric patients chained to their stretchers. Sank recalls that on the Day Emergency Service
rotation, the team took care of all patients admitted to that service both during the night shift and during the
day shift. He recalls taking care of a patient who had been injured during the riot and had sustained femoral
artery and vein injury along with a femur fracture and a massive groin wound. He had significant cardiopulmonary problems and died during Dr. Sankaran’s tour on the day wards in August. After pronouncing him
dead during his shift on the wards, Sank went home and saw the evening news and heard the reporter announce that the 46th and last fatality related to the Detroit riots had died that day. Actually, there was a 47th
patient who died later that month and set a national record for civil disturbance deaths which occurred during
that decade.
During this time, Dr. Sankaran would often meet with Dr. Lucas, the senior resident on the Emergency
Service, to find out if he could be of any help. Dr. Charlie Lucas (WSU/GS 1962/67) invited Sank to join
him in the operating room where he would serve as a second assistant on a number of cases until about
Continued page 3
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APRIL 2014
Surya N. Sankaran, MD cont….
11 a.m., when he would depart in order to get some sleep. Imagine this happening with the 80-hour restriction! Because of this extra effort on his part, he had the opportunity to see first-hand treatment of many
injuries and many non-trauma emergencies. When he went to attend the annual Detroit Trauma Symposium
later that fall, he could relate to the many papers that were being presented, because he had actually seen
most of these injuries. Actually, the Detroit Trauma Symposium is the oldest trauma symposium in the
country and is currently being held at the MGM Grand Hotel under the direction of Dr. Larry Diebel
(WSU/GS 1980/86), and next November there will again be over 750 people in attendance. Sank is still a
frequent attendee at this symposium.
Following this experience, Dr. Sankaran talked with Dr. Walt about his desire to continue in the surgical
residency program. Dr. Walt responded that there had been good reports about Dr. Sankaran and he would
be able to continue. Sank explained that he would not be applying elsewhere, after which Dr. Walt “winked”
and told him not to worry. He never did submit a formal application for surgical residency. Things were
simple back then!
Later, during his internship year, Sank was asked by Dr. Walt to review approximately 500 burn patients
who had been treated over the previous years. After accumulating the data in a very obsessive-compulsive
manner and analyzing them, Sank gave the materials to Dr. Walt and informed Dr. Walt that it could form
the basis of a future prospective study but, in its current form, was not worth publishing. He learned much
about burns including the fact that the scald burns were the most common cause of burn injury in young children. Later that year, Sank spent time working with Dr. Robert Wilson in the shock unit, which cared for the
sickest single patient on the surgical services. Dr. Wilson had just published his innovative studies in septic
patients showing that severe sepsis causes a hyperdynamic state with increased cardiac output and decreased
peripheral resistance. These observations by Dr. Wilson took many years to be fully accepted but are now
universally taught. During this rotation with Dr. Wilson, Sank had the opportunity to measure cardiac output, peripheral resistance, and all sorts of other monitoring in critically ill patients. These experiences served
him well throughout his subsequent career. He learned what all other residents working with Dr. Wilson
learned; “You better become familiar with chi-square and both the dependent and independent T-test.” Later
that year, Dr. Sankaran reviewed over 100 patients with flail chest and applied his new statistical knowledge,
putting a manuscript together, which Sank had the great opportunity to present in Chicago at the American
Association of Thoracic Surgeons meeting. This was later published in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
Following his internship, Dr. Sankaran joined Dr. Charlie Lucas and Dr. Irwin Rosenberg in their study of
renal function in severely injured and septic patients. Sank performed inulin and para-amino-hippurate clearances and was able to demonstrate reduced glomerular filtration rate and renal blood flow in a large number
Continued page 4
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APRIL 2014
Surya N. Sankaran, MD cont….
of patients. Both the filtration rate and PAH clearances were low after trauma and sepsis and then gradually
improved over several days. Many of the patients retained a lot of third-space fluid. Since Dr. Sankaran was
giving a bolus of inulin and measuring the blood level of inulin, he calculated the distribution volume (ECF)
of inulin. He found it was 21 liters in one patient when the traditional expected volume of ECF was 14 liters.
Sank had similar findings in the next two patients and informed Dr. Lucas, who asked him to explain how he
arrived at that value. Sank learned that the ECF was considerably expanded in these patients who were sequestering fluid. Because it bothered Dr. Sankaran that the PAH clearance (renal plasma flow) was low
when the cardiac output was high, he wished to study this in a canine septic hind limb model. He was able to
show that in five dogs, the renal vein PAH was elevated, meaning there was intrarenal shunting in sepsis.
Dr. Fritz Rector (WSUGS 1974) later showed this same phenomenon in septic patients. The materials were
published.
While working in the research lab, Dr. Sankaran, like other research residents, was assigned to help Dr.
Choichi Sugawa who had just arrived from Japan and was learning the English language. Sank and Dr.
Sugawa became good friends, and Sank is grateful for all that Dr. Sugawa taught him about endoscopic procedures which Sank put to good use in his subsequent career. Despite his hard work in the research lab and
with Dr. Sugawa, he still had time to review 221 penetrating injuries to the neck, which he then analyzed
with the help of Dr. Lucas; this was later published with Dr. Arthur Weaver as the lead author. Dr. Sankaran’s first assignment as a third-year resident (fourth-year house officer) was on the Day Emergency Surgical
Service with Dr. Lucas, who was now an attending surgeon. On his first day, he was the most senior resident
on the service and expressed his fears to Dr. Lucas that he felt comfortable in the emergency department but
was insecure about caring for injured patients in the operating room. Dr. Lucas did his best to allay these
insecurities by emphasizing that there would always be someone there to help. Not long after, he evaluated a
patient in the emergency department who had a gunshot wound to the upper abdomen. Sank presented the
patient to Dr. Lucas, who recommended that the patient go directly to the operating room for a laparotomy.
When the patient was on the table and ready for the operation to begin, Dr. Lucas instructed Sank to go
ahead and make the incision. A few minutes later he asked, “What did you find?” Dr. Sankaran reported
that the bullet had passed through and through the small bowel and the transverse colon into the retroperitoneal area without injuring the pancreas or kidney or other retroperitoneal structures. When Dr. Sankaran was
asked what he planned to do, he responded that he planned to do a primary repair of the small bowel and
bring out the perforated transverse colon as a colostomy. Dr. Lucas responded, “You really don’t need me,
do you?” The operation went without any difficulty and Dr. Sankaran realized that Dr. Lucas was trying to
build his confidence. During that month, Sank and Dr. Lucas performed the first fibulectomy-fasciotomy at
Detroit Receiving Hospital. He had read about the technique but had not yet employed it. When the opportunity presented itself, he was proud that he did it successfully.
Continued page 5
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APRIL 2014
Surya N. Sankaran, MD cont….
Dr. Sankaran and Dr. Lucas later discussed the patient who presents with a GSW of the abdomen with hypotension and, during resuscitation develops a rapidly expanding abdomen. When opening the abdomen in
the operating room, the patient would have a cardiac arrest and expire on the table. Their discussions led to
consideration about controlling the thoracic aorta first via a left thoracotomy incision before opening the abdomen. When such a patient later presented, Dr. Sankaran passed a Rummel tourniquet around the descending thoracic aorta and then opened the abdomen. The anesthetist tightened the tourniquet when the blood
pressure fell below 70 and loosened the tourniquet when the blood pressure was above 100. The patient survived. Dr. Sankaran took this to the animal lab and showed that this method helped only with major arterial
injuries and not with major venous injuries; the findings were published in the Journal of Trauma.
During Sank’s third year (HO4), while on the Night Emergency Surgical Service, Dr. Fritz Rector called
him about a patient bleeding out of his chest tube. Sank advised him to clamp the tube and take the patient to
the operating room where Sank was waiting. As soon as the patient arrived and they moved him onto the
operating room table, he was about to arrest. Without anesthesia, Sank opened his right chest, clamped the
hilum and, using his gloved fingers, Sank found the bleeding lung and controlled it with sutures. By this
time, the patient had been anesthetized and Sank’s senior resident, Dr. Parvis Sadjadi (WSUGS/TS 1980/85),
arrived; Sank asked him to take over, as he had a severe urge to defecate. He had severe diarrhea through the
night. He left the hospital in the morning but was brought back to the emergency room and was diagnosed
with severe Lincomycin induced colitis. Dr. Lucas took care of him, and he had a colonoscopy; he still has
amnesia of the events for these two days. During his third day as a patient on the emergency surgery ward,
his students came in and asked if it was okay for someone to visit him. A patient walked in with his intravenous line and pole and profusely thanked Dr. Sankaran for saving his life with the emergency thoracotomy.
During the last two years of Sank’s residency, Dr. Walt guided him to maintaining the pancreatic pseudocyst registry. After accumulating 32 patients with pancreatic ascites and Dr. Sugawa helping with the role of
ERCP, the paper was presented at the Western Surgical Association and published in the Archives of Surgery. Then, after accumulating data on 232 patients with pancreatic pseudocysts, a paper entitled “Natural
and Unnatural History of Pancreatic Pseudocysts” was published in the British Journal of Surgery. This
study showed that patients with acute alcoholic pancreatitis were hypertensive but no one knew why. After
getting permission from Dr. Walt and Dr. Lucas, Sank documented this in 40 of the 42 patients with acute
pancreatitis admitted to the emergency surgical service in two months; they had hypertension during the
acute pancreatitis, and it resolved when the pancreatitis resolved. This was published in SG&O. After his
residency was completed, Dr. Sankaran along with Dr. Anna Ledgerwood (WSUGS 1972), was invited by
Dr. Walt to join the faculty. Sank notes, “We both had started as interns and finished as administrative residents and joined the faculty.” Sank received the award as the best straight surgical intern and Dr. Ledgerwood received the award as the best rotating intern.
Continued page 6
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APRIL 2014
Surya N. Sankaran, MD cont….
There are many wonderful memories Dr. Sankaran has of WSU and, because of the
sound training here, he has had a fulfilling professional career as a rural general surgeon in Tawas, Michigan. About 50% of Sank’s practice has been gastrointestinal
endoscopy and the rest open surgery including GI tract surgery (from parotidectomy
to Zenker’s diverticulum, to achalasia, to anti-reflux surgery, biliary tract surgery,
small bowel surgery and colorectal surgery), hernia repairs, hand surgery, thyroid
and parathyroid surgery, skin and breast surgery. Though the emphasis at DRH was
Drs. Surya and Jaya Sankaran
in trauma and pancreatitis, the opportunities for surgery in these areas were limited
in the rural setting. Taking on GI endoscopy and setting up an esophageal lab in his office was very rewarding. Dr. Sankaran has analyzed over a thousand esophageal manometric studies with 24 hour pH studies and
has done over 250 Nissen fundoplications.
One of the wisest things that Sank did was marry his bride, Jaya, in June 1971. Dr. Lucas
recalls vividly enjoying an Indian home cooked dinner with them shortly thereafter. Jaya
“held the spice!” Jaya was also trained at WSU as a pathologist and has been, for many
years, the director of the laboratories at Tawas and Standish hospitals; she has had a wonderful career in the wide field of pathology in the rural setting, including clinical, anatomical and
cytopathology, autopsies including forensic pathology, blood banking, and infection control.
They both have served on every hospital committee and on the Board of Governors at St. Joseph Hospital. In 2007, their medical community presented them both with an Oscar statue
Anita with her 3 children for “Lifetime Achievement” during a gala celebration. They have two daughters, Anita and
(right to left) Alok, Satya,
Preeya, and four grandchildren. Anita obtained her undergraduate degree from the University
and Vayu
of Pennsylvania and her double masters from Yale in health care management and public
health. She is a healthcare management consultant. Anita has three children, Alok (age 9), Satya (age 5),
and Vayu (age 4). Preeya is a homemaker with a two-year-old and is to deliver her second child on April 2
of this year. Matt, her husband is doing a Ph.D. in education. The Sankaran family enjoys downhill skiing
and regularly visits the fitness center. They are avid travelers and hope to do more traveling in their retirement years.
Dr. Sankaran retired in February of 2014; Jaya is still working directing the hospital
laboratories in addition to doing surgical pathology and autopsies for two counties. Old
friends and new friends are always welcome to their home on the shores of Lake Huron. Sank can be reached at sankaran44@gmail.com.
Preeya with her husband, Matt, and
their daughter, Jahnavi
Page 6
APRIL 2014
Chenicheri Balakrishnan, MD
October 16, 1952—February 1, 2014
Dr. Chenicheri Balakrishnan (Bala) was born in India in 1952 and died suddenly in February of this year. He obtained his early education in India where he received his BS degree
from Calicut University in 1973 and his medical degree at the University of Calicut in Kerala, India, in 1979.
Following his medical training, he did his early postgraduate surgical training in India prior
to going to the British Isles for his specialty training. He did another general surgery training
in Ireland and then did his plastic surgery training in England. This was followed by microsurgical training at the Northwick Park Microsurgical Institute in England. He served as a Dr. Chenicheri Balakrishnan
registrar in plastic surgery and burns at the Royal Victoria Infirmary and Newcastle General Hospital in
Newcastle upon Tyne, England, for the next 24 months. He then did a rotation learning about the Canniesburn Flap in Glasgow, Scotland. Following this extensive training in the British Isles, Dr. Bala came to the
States and did a burn, plastic, and reconstructive surgery fellowship at WSU from July 1992 through June
1993. He was an extremely well-trained surgeon as it relates to all aspects of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Dr. Bala then joined the faculty at WSU where he became extraordinarily busy and was a muchsought-after expert, particularly as it related to unusual flaps needed for reconstruction or free graphs in patients who had extensive tissue loss. His work hours were very long, and he was sought after by patients and
residents alike. During these years, he was also involved in administrative activities, serving as the chief of
plastic surgery at the Detroit Receiving Hospital and, later, as the chief of plastic surgery at the John Dingell
Veterans Administration Hospital on campus. The residents he trained had the highest respect for his patience, technical skills, and desire to have each of them reach their maximum potential. Dr. Tom Flanigan
(WSU/GS 2003/2010) speaks for many of his graduates who identified him as a “great man who was loved
by his patients and residents.”
More than 30 years ago, Dr. Bala married his childhood sweetheart,
Geetha; their daughter Anila Balakrishnan Elliott, followed in dad’s footsteps by going into medicine and now is completing her residency in anesthesiology and critical care medicine in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Bala is
survived by his mother, his sister, and two brothers in addition to his
beautiful wife and daughter. His absence will be truly missed. His departure from this earth seems rather premature.
Dr. Bala celebrates with the residents and faculty in plastic surgery
at the 2012 graduation festivities. (Left to right) Dr. Thomas
Flanigan (WSU/GS 2003/10/12), Dr. Alex Ereso (WSUPS 2012),
Dr. Chenicheri Balakrishnan, (WSUGS 1993), Dr. Robert Forte
(Providence Hospital), Dr. Shaher Khan, Dr. Eti Gursel
(WSUGS/PS 1975/77)
Page 7
APRIL 2014
REPORTS FROM THE OUTFIELD
MIKE DENNEY AND THE LEIBOLD’S
Dr. Walter Leibold (WSU/GS 1978/83) sent the picture below of Dr. Mike Denney (WSUGS
1967) when he was a freshman premedical student at the University of Michigan in 1951. Mike is
with Walt’s father, grandmother, and uncle. Mike and Walt are enjoying communications regarding
this picture.
(Left to right): Dr. Liebold’s father, Dr. Mike Denney (WSUGS 1967),
Dr. Liebold’s grandmother, and Dr. Liebold’s uncle
The 80-Hour Work Week and Productivity
Many years ago, Dr. Charlie Johnston chaired the department
of surgery and tended to accept only single residents. Whenever
one of these residents made the mistake of getting his wife pregnant (women were considered inferior to be residents at the
time), Charlie would wonder whether they were spending too much
time on the homefront and not paying enough attention to their
surgical duties. The 80-hour workweek has changed all that! Dr.
Cristiano Alpendre and his beautiful wife, Anja, were highly productive this year as Anja gave
birth to Gisele on St. Patrick’s Day. She weighed in at 8# 12oz. Congratulations to Cristiano
and Anja and a hearty welcome to Gisele.
Ms. Gisele Alpendre
March, 17, 2014
Page 8
The Alpendre family, Cristiano,
Anja, and Gisele
APRIL 2014
WSUSOM RETURNING TO DETROIT
The WSUSOM is returning to Detroit in 2014 to
celebrate their annual Alumni Day. This will be the
first time that this annual event has occurred in our
great city since the beginning of the 21st century.
The meeting will begin with a scientific CME session,
which will be held at the new Mazurek Building next
to Scott Hall. Following a light breakfast, the scientific session begins at 8 a.m. and extends to the noon hour. The topics are currently being
selected and will include many up-to-date and innovative presentations covering all specialties.
Following a business meeting during the lunch hour in Scott Hall,
the evening function will occur at the Motor City Casino in downtown Detroit. Those from Southeast Michigan should plan on visiting their classmates on the evening of Saturday, May 10, at the
Motor City Casino. Put this date on your calendar. Additional
information will be included in the subsequent monthly email reports. Hopefully, we will have enough surgical alumni to have a
separate room dedicated to our department.
Page 9
Wayne State Surgical Society
APRIL 2014
2014 Dues Notice
MARK YOUR
Name:
CALENDARS
Address:
April 10-12
American Surgical Association
City/State/Zip:
Marriott Copley Place
Service Description
Amount
2013 Dues Payment
__ $200__
My contribution for “An Operation A Year for WSU”
*Charter Life Member
_
____
_$1000__
Total Paid____________________________________________________
Include your credit card information below and mail it or fax it to
313-993-7729.
Credit Card Number:_________________________________________
MasterCard
May 10
WSUSOM Alumni Day
Detroit, MI
May 14-16
Michigan Chapter of the ACS
Payment by Credit Card
Type:
Boston, Massachusetts
Visa Expiration Date: (MM/YY)__________
Name as it appears on card:__________________________________
The Inn at the Bay Harbor
Petoskey, MI
August 3-5
Midwest Surgical Association
Mackinaw Island, MI
Signature:__________________________________________________
Billing address of card (if different from above):
Street Address______________________________________________
City______________________ State____________ Zip Code_______
*I want to commit to becoming a charter life member with payment of $1000 per
year for the next ten (10) years.
Send check made payable to Wayne State Surgical Society to:
Deborah Waring
Department of Surgery
Detroit Receiving Hospital, Room 2V
4201 St. Antoine Street
Detroit, Michigan 48201
Please Update
Your Information
The WSUSOM, Department of Surgery wants to
stay in touch. Please contact Deborah Waring at
dwaring@dmc.org to update your contact information.
Page 10
Dear WSSS Alumni & Friends:
The time has arrived for me to provide a summary of the WSSS events from 2013 and also notice of events for the upcoming year. But first
I would like to say thank you. It has been my honor to have served over the past year, which I have to say has been successful. Membership
is good and finances have been steady. While these are good things and the balance is at or near “equilibrium,” we must be vigilant to encourage new membership at both the annual and lifetime levels.
The last annual meeting of the WSSS was held on Tuesday, October 8, 2013 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC in conjunction
with the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress. The Wayne State Department of Surgery Alumni Reception was very well attended and the WSSS Annual Dinner Meeting immediately followed it.
There was one newly elected board member announced at the dinner. Dr. Scott Davidson was elected to take over the Member-at-Large
position from Dr. Daniel Sullivan who completed his three-year term. I would like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Sullivan for his service
and commitment the to WSSS. Your current Board of Directors includes Dr. Donald Weaver, Chairman of the Department; Dr. Mark Herman, President; Dr. Randy Smith, President-Elect; Dr. Christopher Dente, Secretary-Treasurer; Dr. Joseph Sferra, Member-at-Large; Dr.
Scott Davidson, Member-at-Large; and Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, Member-at-Large. Three of these members will be completing their terms of
office this year. Ballots are enclosed for the election of a new President-Elect, Secretary-Treasurer, and Member-at-Large.
The WSSS was honored to host William Schecter, M.D., F.A.C.S. as it Annual Lecturer. He is a trauma surgeon who has spent most of his
career at UCSF where he is considered a master surgeon. He has also devoted much of his time working to improve access to surgical care
for the poor and impoverished. The lecture was at Harper Hospital on Wednesday, November 13, 2013. Dr. Schecter gave a truly remarkable, introspective, and captivating talk entitled "Meditation on Mortality: Lessons from a Life in Surgery." It is available in print (J Trauma 2011 Feb;70(2):340-4) and is highly recommended reading for residents and seasoned surgeons alike. He followed his WSSS appearance with lectures at the Detroit Trauma Symposium on November 14-15, 2013 at the MGM Grand Casino as well as a dinner talk at the
Academy of Surgery of Detroit on Thursday, November 14. Detroit kept him very busy.
The WSSS and the Trauma Symposium continue to enjoy a close relationship. This past year 28 of our members attended the meeting
along with 16 of the current Wayne State surgery residents. A reminder that the registration fee is waived for our members. This continues
to be an outstanding venue for CME, networking, our simply catching up with colleagues. The dates for the 2014 Symposium are Thursday, November 6 and Friday, November 7.
Our next annual dinner meeting is expected to take place on Tuesday, October 28, 2014 in conjunction with ACS Clinical Congress in San
Francisco. Please watch for an update to confirm the meting location and time.
The WSSS Annual Lecture is expected to take place in November again at Harper Hospital. Details will be provided once a speaker is confirmed.
Lastly, the WSSS annual dues remain at $200 per year, which includes the reception/dinner at the American College of Surgeons meeting
and the registration fee for the Annual Trauma Symposium. Your dues also provide support for the annual lecturer, resident research, and
resident/student travel to the ACS. A dues increase has recently been considered in order to help fund the increasing cost of resident travel.
Thanks in large part to a generous donation directed for the residents from Dr. Jason Bodzin, this dues increase is not currently necessary.
Continued support of the WSSS by its members and the ability to grow its membership are critical to our long-term success. Dr. Lucas also
has a fund known as “An Operation a Year” which is an optional contribution (in addition to dues) that will help our chief residents attend
the ACS Meeting. Alternatively, you may sign up as a Charter/Life Member with a payment of $10,000 or a commitment of $1,000 per
year for ten years.
A reminder that all new surgical residency and fellowship graduates are offered WSSS membership upon graduation, and the dues are
waived for two years following completion of training. I would like to encourage those of you who are now beyond this two-year window
to retain your membership.
Finally, on behalf of the WSSS, I again want to thank Dr. Lucas for his hard work and dedication. If you happen to be missing his newsletters, please email him at clucas@med.wayne.edu to get on his mailing list or simply update your current whereabouts.
Warm regards,
Mark A. Herman, M.D., F.A.C.S
President, WSSS
APRIL 2014
Page 11
WAYNE STATE SURGICAL SOCIETY
OFFICERS BALLOT
2014
President-Elect:
□ Brian Shapiro, MD
Secretary-Treasurer:
□ Renato Albaran, MD
Board of Directors:
□ Mike Malian, MD
□ Alfred Baylor, MD
□ Mallory Williams, MD
(vote for no more than one member in each of the 3 positions)
Please Return Ballot and Dues to:
Deborah Waring
Department of Surgery
Detroit Receiving Hospital, Room 2V
4201 St. Antoine Street
Detroit, Michigan 48201
APRIL 2014
Page 12
APRIL 2014
Page 13
WSU MONTLY CNFERENCES
2014
Death & Complications
Conference
Every Wednesday from 7-8
Didactic Lectures - 8 am
Kresge Auditorium
Harper Hospital
Wednesday, April 2
SEMCME Surgery Mock Oral Exams
Wednesday, April 9
Death & Complications Conference
“Abdominal Wall Reconstruction for Incisional Hernias”
Jofrances Marques, MD
WSU Department of Surgery
Wednesday, April 16
Death and Complications Conference
“Abdominal Vascular Trauma”
Frederick Jaecklein, MD
WSU Department of Surgery
Wednesday, April 23
Death and Complications Conference
“Dr. Albumin-love –or– Should I Learn to Stop Worrying
and Love the Bomb?”
Kartheek Nagappala, MD
WSU Department of Surgery
Wednesday, April 30
Death and Complications Conference
“Why Can’t Everyone Be Like Me: Exploring Our Pedagogical BIASes”
25th Annual Walt Endowed Lecture
Dan Pratt, PhD
Center for Health Education Scholarship, Faculty of Medicine
University of British Columbia
APRIL 2014
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Missing Emails
Over the years the WSU Department of Surgery has lost touch with many of its alumni. If you know the email, address, or phone number of the following WSU Department of Surgery Residency Program graduates please email
us at clucas@med.wayne.edu with their information so that we can get them on the distribution list for the WSU
Department of Surgery Alumni Monthly Email Report.
Ram Agrawal (1974)
R. Kambhampati (2003)
Edgar Roman (1971)
Mohammad Ali (1973)
Aftab Khan (1973)
Renato G. Ruggiero (1994)
David B. Allen (1992)
Mark Leiser (1996)
Parvid Sadjadi (1971)
Tayful R. Ayalp (1979)
Samuel D. Lyons (1988)
Samson P. Samuel (1996)
Robert C. Birks (1970)
Dean R. Marson (1997)
Knavery D. Scaff (2003)
Juan C. Calzetta (1982)
Syed A. Mehmood (2007)
Steven C. Schueller (1974)
Sebastian J. Campagna (1969)
Mehul M. Mehta (1992)
Anand G. Shah (2005)
Kuan-Cheng Chen (1976)
Toby Meltzer (1987)
Anil Shetty (2008)
Elizabeth Colaiuta (2001)
Roberto Mendez (1997)
Chanderdeep Singh (2002)
Fernando I. Colon (1991)
Mark D. Morasch (1998)
Raj A. Sukhnandan (1966)
David Davis (1984)
Daniel J. Olson (1993)
D. Sukumaran (1972)
Teoman Demir (1996)
Ellen Beth Ozolins (2000)
David G. Tse (1997)
Judy A. Emanuele (1997)
David Packer (1998)
Peter VandenBerg (1986)
Lawrence J. Goldstein (1993)
Daniel S. Paley (2003)
Christopher N. Vashi (2007)
David M. Gordon (1993)
Y. Park (1972)
Carlos M. Villafane (1990)
Raghuram Gorti (2002)
Bhavik G. Patel (2004)
Larry A. Wolk (1984)
Karin Haji (1973)
Michael M. Peikoff (1970)
Peter Y. Wong (2002)
Michelle Hardaway (1989)
Jerome P. Pucelik (1966)
Shane Yamane (2005)
Morteza Hariri (1970)
Everton Quadros (1968)
Chungie Yang (2005)
Abdul A. Hassan (1971)
Ami Raafat (1998)
Hossein A. Yazdy (1970)
S. Amjad Hussain (1970)
Kevin Radecki (2001)
Lester S. Young (2008)
Rose L. Jumah (2006)
Sudarshan R. Reddy (1984)
Lawrence S. Zachary (1985)
Paul Zidel (1986)
May 5th
WAYNE STATE SURGICAL SOCIETY
The Wayne State Surgical Society (WSSS) was established during the tenure of Dr. Walt as the
chairman of the Department of Surgery. WSSS was designed to create closer contact between
the current faculty and residents with the former resident members in order to create a living
family of all of the WSU Department of Surgery. The WSSS also supports department activities.
Charter/Life Membership in the WSSS is attained by a donation of $1,000 per year for ten years
or $10,000 prior to ten years. Annual membership is attained by a donation of $200 per year.
WSSS supports a visiting lecturer each fall and co-sponsors the annual reception of the department at the annual meeting of the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Lisa Flynn
(WSU/GS/VS1993/98/99) passed the baton of presidency to Dr. Mark A. Herman (WSU/GS
1994/2001) at the WSSS Gathering during the American College of Surgeons meeting in October 2012. Members of the WSSS are listed on the next page. Dr. Herman hopes that all former
residents will become lifetime members of the WSSS and participate in the annual sponsored
lectureship and the annual reunion at the American College of Surgeons meeting.
APRIL 2014
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Members of the Wayne State Surgical Society
Charter-Life Members
Ahn, Dean
Colon, Fernando I.
Gerrick Stanley
Allaben, Robert
Conway, W. Charles
Ames, Elliot L.
Davidson, Scott B.
Grifka Thomas J.
(Deceased)
America, Kathryn C.
Edelman, David
Auer, George
Flynn, Lisa M.
Bassett, Joseph
Fromm, Stefan H.
Bouwman, David
Fromm, David G
Clink, Douglas
Galpin, Peter A.
Lange, William
(Deceased)
Lim, John J.
Herman, Mark A.
Lucas, Charles E.
Huebl, Herbert C.
Montenegro, Carlos E.
Johnson, Jeffrey R.
Narkiewicz, Lawrence
Johnson, Pamela
Novakovic, Rachel
Kovalik, Simon G.
Ramnauth, Subhash
Rose, Alexander
Rosenberg, Jerry C.
Sarin, Susan
Shapiro, Brian
Smith, Daniel
Stassinopoulos, Jerry
Walt, Alexander
(Deceased)
Weaver, Donald
Whittle, Thomas J.
Wilson, Robert F.
Wood, Michael H.
vonBerg, Vollrad J.
Washington, Bruce C.
Rector, Frederick
Members of the Wayne State Surgical Society
Bodzin, Jason
Carlin, Arthur
Dolman, Heather
Dulchavsky, Scott A.
Kline, Gary
Kaderabek, Douglas
Lopez, Peter P.
McIntosh, Bruce
Mueller, Michael J.
Phan, Than H.
Siegel, Thomas S.
Tennenberg, Steven D.
Thomas, Gregory A.
AN OPERATION A YEAR FOR WSU
January 1, 2014 through
December 31, 2014
Kathryn C. Amirikia
Jeffrey Johnson
Jason Bodzin
John J. Lim
Scott B. Davidson
Thomas S. Siegel
David Edelman
Peter A. Galpin
The WSU department of Surgery has instituted a new group of alumni who are remembering their training by donating the proceeds of one operation a year to the department. Those who join this new effort will be recognized herein as annual contributors.
We hope that all of you will remember the department by donating one operation, regardless of difficulty or reimbursement, to the department to help train your replacements. Please send you donation to the Wayne State Surgical Society in care of Dr.
Charles E. Lucas at Detroit Receiving Hospital, 4201 St. Antoine Street (Room 2V), Detroit, MI, 48201.