The Department of Surgery promotes biomedical research as an important academic mission for our faculty and staff. A spirit of inquiry permeates the department and positively influences our teaching, service, and clinical care missions. Over the past eight years, the department has developed a strong national and international reputation for both the breadth and quality of our research programs. As reflected by the growth in our extramurally funded portfolio, we now rank among the top 25% of U.S. Departments of Surgery in terms on NIH research funding. This commitment is also demonstrable in our rapidly growing clinical research programs. Numerous ongoing patient-oriented research projects allow us to bring the latest technologies and therapeutics to our patients.

Our funded laboratory research programs include the areas of developmental biology, tumor biology, inflammation/immunology, neurosciences, cardiac physiology, vascular biology/biomaterials, and wound repair. In addition, there are federally funded programs in human modeling of sepsis and injury, cardiac surgery outcomes, as well as in pediatric trauma. The details of these programs can be accessed by reviewing the information provided by our investigators:

• Developmental Biology
• Ramsey A Foty, PhD; Assistant Professor
• Roderich E Schwarz, MD, PhD; Associate Professor
• Margaret A Schwarz, MD; Associate Professor
• Tumor Biology
• Edmund C Lattime, PhD; Professor
• John E Langenfeld, MD; Associate Professor
• David H Gorski, MD, PhD; Associate Professor
• James S Goydos, MD; Associate Professor
• Ramsey A Foty, PhD; Assistant Professor
• Cardiac Physiology
• Peter M Scholz, MD; Professor
• Inflammation & Immunology
• Randall S Burd, MD, PhD; Associate Professor
• Steven E Calvano, PhD; Associate Professor
• Siobhan Corbett, MD; Associate Professor
• Beatrice Haimovich, PhD; Associate Professor
• Stephen F Lowry, MD; Professor
• Neurosciences
• Ramsey A Foty, PhD; Assistant Professor
• Randall D McKinnon, PhD; Associate Professor
• Scott R Shepard, MD; Assistant Professor
• Wound Repair
• Siobhan Corbett, MD; Associate Professor
• Ramsey A Foty, PhD; Assistant Professor
• Vascular Biology
• Gary B Nackman, MD; Associate Professor
• Trauma
• Randall S Burd, MD, PhD; Associate Professor
• Cardiac Outcomes
• No Primary Investigator at this time
• Inflammation Modeling
• Steven E Calvano, PhD; Associate Professor
• Stephen F Lowry, MD; Professor

The Clinical Trials Unit

The Department also has a vigorous program in sponsored clinical research that has been designed to provide a seamless process for the initiation and successful conduct of clinical trials. Highly experienced personnel are dedicated to this important initiative and provide comprehensive management of the program. These efforts include contracting, IRB submission, and clinical co-ordination of all phases of the trial. Over the past eight years, several dozen trials have been performed in the department through this Unit. A contact can be established through the Division of Surgical Sciences.