Baylor College of Medicine surgeons provide important evidence-based care for some of Houston’s most acutely injured patients. Research in the division is lead by Dr. Jennifer Leonard, an NIH-funded surgeon scientist with an expertise in immunology and biochemistry. Her laboratory is working to understand how changes in the immune system after severe trauma contribute to patient outcomes and infectious complications. This includes understanding changes in the immune system following traumatic injury, post traumatic acute lung injury, pneumonia and sepsis.
Dr. Chad Wilson is site PI for Department of Defense funded Linking Investigations in Trauma and Emergency Services (LITES ) multisite projects. This comprehensive outcomes initiative will cover pre-hospital trauma care through post-discharge recovery and is expected to provide some of the most extensive data collection ever undertaken on trauma cases. Baylor is one of the eight institutions chosen to participate in the network’s initial study assessing U.S. regional variations in injury as well as treatment and survival.
Surgeon scientists within the division also have a particular interest in the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to allow recovery for those in severe respiratory failure who cannot be effectively managed by conventional ventilation. Dr. Subhasis Chatterjee has participated in a recently published case study evaluating the use of ECMO in perioperative adult respiratory distress syndrome and a retrospective study evaluating heparin protocols for ECMO patients. Other faculty research interests include the repair of vascular injuries, splenic injury management, systemic inflammation and immune response following peripheral tissue injury, disparities research and global surgery initiatives, as well as topics related to resource utilization during the pandemic to maintain timely surgical care to non-COVID patients.
Surgeons and advanced practice clinicians who specialize in care for critically ill patients are an integral part of our division. Studies in critical care outcomes research have set standards for the safest and most effective care through best practices based on the latest science. Researchers have also addressed non-technical skills, such as team communication dynamics within the operating theater, meticulous handoffs between the OR and critical care units, and uncompromising care coordination among specialists who have adopted systems to eliminate human error.
Our general surgeons have special interests in caring for patients with an open abdomen and the development of innovative methodologies for complex abdominal wall reconstruction. Translational nanoscientists Dr. Ghanashyam Acharya and Cyrstal Shin, in tandem with division surgeons, are developing exciting new biomaterials to help improve surgical and patient outcomes and wound healing. Dr. Michele Loor is the director of our hernia center and using patient level data is generating evidenced-based activity guidelines for the prevention of post-surgical complications after abdominal surgeries.
Dr. Bradford G. Scott, professor and vice-chair for education, is improving the training of the next generation of surgeons. In addition to his own research interests in complex abdominal surgeries as a general surgeon, he is also participating in studies to improve general surgery residency programs and evaluate the impact of national educational requirements on the quality of these programs. His residents are participating in the SECOND trial that tracks resident well-being across the U.S. in order to optimize the learning environment and prevent burnout.