Scrubcast

This episode of Scrubcast features Dr. Benjamin Levi, our honored guest at the 2024 Emile F. Holman Lecture. He shares insights on his motivation for merging plastic surgery with critical care, emphasizing the holistic care of burn patients from acute treatment to long-term reconstructive surgery. Levi’s primary research focus is on heterotopic ossification. He explains how injuries can lead to bo...

In this episode of Scrubcast, host Rachel Baker interviews Dr. HyeRan Choo, a clinical associate professor in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Stanford University. Dr. Choo discusses her journey into dentistry and orthodontics, which began in Korea. Dr. Choo is doing innovative work treating Pierre Robin Sequence—a rare congenital condition—using a non-surgical method. This no...

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month! In this episode of Scrubcast, host Rachel Baker interviews Dr. Cindy Kin, an associate professor in Stanford University's Department of Surgery. Dr. Kin delves into her choice to specialize in colorectal surgery and shares insights on the increasing trend of colon cancer in younger patients. She discusses the importance of early detection and elaborates...

With the advent of GLP1s like Ozempic, aren’t Bariatric Surgeons out of a job? We take a deep dive into obesity treatments with Dr. Dan Azagury, an Associate Professor in the Division of General Surgery and Chief of Minimally Invasive and Bariatric Surgery at Stanford University's Department of Surgery. We discuss topics such as how GLP1s were discovered and the benefits and risks of GLP-1 agonist...

In this extended episode of Scrubcast, host Rachel Baker interviews Dr. Varya Kirchner, an associate professor in the Division of Abdominal Transplantation at Stanford University. They discuss the latest advancements in medicine, with a focus on autologous islet cell transplant, a new procedure being done at Stanford. The conversation explores the process, recovery, and potential for the procedure...

Can you teach an old drug new tricks? In this episode, we interview Dr. Nazish Sayed, an assistant professor in the Division of Vascular Surgery and the Cardiovascular Institute at Stanford University. Dr. Sayed has a unique role as a research faculty in the Department of Surgery and his expertise in vascular disease. We talk about the beneficial effects of statins on vascular function (in additio...

Dr. Varvara Kirchner, an associate professor in the Division of Abdominal Transplantation, explains autologous islet cell transplant. In addition to the procedure, its benefits, and its ideal candidates, she and host, Rachel Baker, also discuss the history of the procedure, Dr. Kirchner's mentors, and her future plans for the program.

Dr. Thomas Weiser attempted to take the politics out of the gun control topic buy looks at the dollars and cents of firearm injuries. After a first study showed that hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money was being used to pay for hospitalizations, he dug deeper and looked at the impact of firearm legislation and the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). To read the...

What does it take to become a surgeon scientist? Professor Emeritus Dr. Jeffrey Norton, who has been operating and conducting basic science experiments for more than 40 years, says the key is fun. As he looks toward retirement, we take an opportunity to examine his legacy including his contributions to gene-directed surgery. We also talk about mentorship: his mentors Drs. Murray Brennan and Watts...

DYK that one-quarter to one-half of all hospital waste is generated by the OR? Dr. Paige Fox, an Associate Professor in our Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery is trying to change that. She talks to us about her endeavor to green the OR using a method that she has shown works in different hospital settings and for different types of operations. In addition to her sustainability work, Dr...

What happens when an engineering major goes to medical school? You get someone like Dr. James Wall. Dr. Wall is a pediatric surgeon at Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, but he’s also an innovator focusing on creating devices that solve health challenges faced by children and moms-to-be. As Wall says during the show, children are 25% of the population, 100% of the future, but only a ti...

This is a special two-part episode with the poster and podium winners from our annual Holman Day celebration. In part 2 we speak with the winners in the clinical, educational, and health services research science category. Dr. Vy Ho is a rising Chief Resident in our Vascular Surgery Residency Program. Like her colleague Shaunak, she also looked at aneurysms but from an HSR point of view. She share...

This is a special two-part episode with the poster and podium winners from our annual Holman Day celebration. In part 1 we speak with the winners in the basic and translational science category. Dr. Shaunak Adkar is a professional development resident in our Vascular Surgery Residency Program. He shares how he got involved in the Leeper Lab, finding a mentor in new faculty member Dr. Derek Klarin,...

Dr. Carolyn Dacey Seib’s research focuses on primary hyperparathyroidism. We take a deep dive into some of her recently published papers including “Estimated Effect of Parathyroidectomy on Long-Term Kidney Function in Adults With Primary Hyperparathyroidism” in Annals of Internal Medicine https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M22-2222 and “Risk of Fracture Among Older Adults With Primary Hyperpa...

Are vascular surgeons overusing atherectomy? Dr. Elizabeth “Lizzy” George joins the show to talk about modalities for treatment of Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) and how possible policy changes could disincentivize atherectomy as a first-line treatment for intermittent claudication. Dr. George is also the recipient of one of this year’s seed grants from the Department of Surgery. She shares a bit...

How can we make video-based review of surgical procedures more efficient? Members of the Technology Enabled Clinical Improvement Center join the show to talk about their recent article published in the Journal of Surgical Research: “AI-Based Video Segmentation: Procedural Steps or Basic Maneuvers?” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022480422006916?via%3Dihub To collect the data f...

Dr. Clifford Sheckter joins the show to talk about a paper recently published in JAMA Surgery: “Commercial Price Variation for Breast Reconstruction in the Era of Price Transparency.” https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/article-abstract/2799698 The Price Transparency Act in 2021 allowed Sheckter to gather data from hospitals across the country and compare the pricing of an important but n...

Dr. Deshka Foster joins the show to discuss her recent paper published in Cancer Cell titled “Multinomic analysis reveals conservation of cancer-associated fibroblast phenotypes across species and tissue of origin.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1535610822004445?dgcid=coauthor We also talk about Dr. Foster’s career as a Stanford General Surgery resident. Dr. Foster says she wa...

Dr. Tom Handley has amassed a variety of research during his time at Stanford from the impact of COVID on emergency Medicaid programs to Hep-C on liver donation. But what may seem like a directionless mess to a casual outside observer boils down to one important mission: improving patient access to care. We sit down with the Brit to discuss life as a Knight-Hennessey Scholar, S-SPIRE Center post-d...

What happens when two surgeons decide to create a video game? You get ENTRUST, a serious game-based virtual patient platform to assess entrustable professional activities (EPAs) in surgical education. But when the COVID-19 pandemic derailed their plans for testing, the team found an unlikely ally in the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and South Africa (COSECSA). Now the platform is expanding...

Today on the show we have several members from the Consortium on Advancement in Research and Education or CARE. Started in 2020, CARE is comprised of faculty, residents, and medical students across the US. We are joined by: • Founder and Stanford PRS Clinical Assistant Professor Dr. Rahim Nazareli; • CARE Member and Dartmouth Medical Student Priscila Cevallos; and • CARE Member and Medical Student...

Ask a Pediatric Surgeon about Pilonidal Disease, and they likely won’t be too enthused; like most abscesses, they can be filled with stinky pus and—despite medical treatment—they also have a high recurrence rate …until now. Dr. Talha Rafeeqi is the first author on new research published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery. Rafeeqi details a new treatment protocol for Pilonidal, which led to signif...

Stanford Hospital recently implemented a new clinical pathway for geriatric trauma patients. Dr. Kristan Staudenmayer joins us to discuss the new pathway and how it led to lower rates of delirium in older adults with traumatic injury. Her findings were recently published in JAMA Surgery: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/article-abstract/2792936 Dr. Staudenmayer is an Associate Professo...

Can medical mission trips make a lasting impact? Dr. Anna Luan’s new research shows that it can. She talks about her paper published in the March edition of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery titled “Expansion of Reconstructive Surgery Capacity in Vietnam” and ReSurge International’s visiting educator program. Dr. Luan is a Chief resident in Stanford’s Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Residency...

Dr. Ron Dalman discusses a new clinical trial that has just started recruiting patients. LIMIT stands for Limiting AAA With Metformin. The popular diabetes drug has been shown to be negatively associated with the progression of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease. Now with over population studies spanning two decades and several continents, the team at Stanford is ready to explore whether the...