Media Coverage

In a guest column in The Buffalo News, Philip L. Glick, MD, MBA, professor of surgery, and Iris Danziger, MD, clinical assistant professor of otolaryngology, both at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, write in the absence of laws restricting the sale of tactical gear and assault weapons to civilians, society can be better prepared to save the lives of innocent victims by following guidance from the American College of Surgeons. “With three quick actions – call 911, find the bleeding site and compress/apply pressure – you can be trained to save a life. And when indicated, you can be trained to apply a combat application tourniquet,” they wrote.

The Buffalo News published a front-page story about Aaron Epstein, the UB surgical resident who recently returned from a monthlong mission in Ukraine leading his team of doctors and surgeons who trained thousands of Ukrainians in combat care and medical procedures. Epstein founded the Global Surgical Medical Support Group, work that the story notes has earned him the 2022 Citizen Honors Award, America’s second-highest civilian honor, which will be presented to him by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society in July. In Ukraine, Epstein said: “The most dramatically awful things we’ve seen are areas that Russian troops occupied with instructions to vacate the population, either by escorting them out or executing them.” The story adds that UB has accommodated his aid work and that its chair of surgery, Steven Schwaitzberg, MD, recruited him for his achievements as a humanitarian and a doctor. The online story includes a short video interview with Epstein.

WGRZ reported on UB surgical resident Aaron Epstein who returned from providing medical assistance in Ukraine. Epstein discussed his experience on April 29, at Coco Bar & Bistro in Buffalo. He was recently awarded the Citizens Honor Award for Service, considered the second highest civilian award in the U.S.

AAMCNews reported on how medical trainees have been assisting in the conflict in Ukraine. The story noted that the Global Surgical and Medical Support Group, founded by Aaron Epstein, MD, surgical resident in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, has dispatched roughly 50 volunteers to Ukraine, where they have trained some 4,000 civilians. Epstein ran a one-day course for civilians designed to teach “all the basics of how to save a life,” including decontaminating people who may have been exposed to  chemical and biological warfare. Epstein noted: “Many people want to help. We’ve gotten thousands of applications to join our team. But very few are equipped with the necessary training and are psychologically ready for the reality of what’s involved.”

The Buffalo News reported on Aaron Epstein, a UB surgical resident, who is leading his Global Surgical and Medical Support Group organization on the ground in Ukraine, training soldiers and civilians in caring for the wounded. Teams of volunteers including former U.S. military medics have been deploying to join Epstein for two- to three-week stretches since the war began. “We are the only group providing surgical training here, especially in things like damage control surgery, trauma chest tubes, wound closures and vessel ligation,” Epstein said. The group has trained thousands of Ukrainians in basic combat casualty care. The story notes that while in Ukraine, Epstein learned that he had been awarded the Citizen Honors Award for Service from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society for his group’s work in conflict zones around the world.

WBFO reports on the Department of Surgery's "Beyond the Knife" series focused on surgery’s role in fighting systemic racism. The series featured a keynote by author and historian Deirdre Cooper Owens. “What I want to talk about is the legacy of medical racism and this maternal health crisis because unfortunately that didn't go away,” she said in her opening remarks. Cooper Owens is author of “Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology."

Spectrum News reported that the WNY Breast Cancer Imaging bus needs to be upgraded and that a new bus will cost $875,000. The story quoted Steven Schwaitzberg, chair of the Department of Surgery in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, who discussed the importance of the bus in communities where access to care is a problem. “We have to bring the solutions to where the people actually are,” he said.

Spectrum Local News reports that recent Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB alumnus Karole Collier, now a surgery resident at the Hospital of the University at Pennsylvania, received the American Red Cross Real Hero Medical Award for her activism in medicine. The report quotes Steven Schwaitzberg, professor and chair of the Department of Surgery, who explained the legacy Collier has left on the community since her graduation in spring 2021. "She is one of these rare individuals that walks into a school, an organization, and changes it," he said. "Karole helped us write a curriculum around social justice and health equity. Karole kept us motivated to stay strong to inspire others."

Steven D. Schwaitzberg, MD, professor and chair of surgery, is quoted in story on a new platform for robotic-assisted surgery. “Levita’s original Magnetic Surgical System has been reported to improve surgical outcomes for patients with less pain and fewer incisions,” said Schwaitzberg. “Further advancing this technology into a robotic surgery platform has the potential to be useful in many procedures by providing a stable visualization platform without the need for an additional assistant.”

Medical Xpress reports “Vascular Disease in Women: An Overview of the Literature and Treatment Recommendations.” The new book is edited by Linda M. Harris, professor of surgery in the Jacobs School and program director of UB’s vascular surgery residency, and Caitlin W. Hicks, MD, associate professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

A story reporting that the FDA’s Gastroenterology and Urology Devices Panel approved TransMedics’ Organ Care System liver perfusion device noted that Steven D. Schwaitzberg, MD, professor and chair of surgery, and chair of the panel, said that a core question for the panel was whether or not early allograft dysfunction was a good surrogate for clinical outcomes.

There is new guidance out for men and women who may be getting screening mammograms after studies have found inflammation of lymph nodes due to the COVID-19 vaccines. Stephen B. Edge, MD, professor of surgery, has commented on the significance of the new findings and has said this is not uncommon with any vaccine. “There’s inflammation that can be associated with the lymph nodes in the area that you’ve had the vaccine, or any other inflammation can become enlarged. That’s partly how they work,” says Edge. He notes it is something technicians are now on the lookout for. “Mammographers will be attuned to it and patients should be aware of this,” he says. Edge urges: Do not delay getting your vaccine due to worry over false imaging. “If you have an opportunity to get the coronavirus vaccine, by all means take advantage of it.”

Media outlets reported that the Department of Surgery’s Anti-Racism and Health Equity Initiative is being launched with a lecture by author and activist Cornel West, PhD. Karole Collier, a fourth-year medical student in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and a member of the panel that followed the lecture, said that while the numbers of people of color in surgery are still “dismal,” she applauded the efforts of department chair Steven D. Schwaitzberg, MD. “I really look forward to seeing more people get engaged with this conversation, to push themselves to think possibly a little bit differently and extend those conversations in their own homes,” she said.

A $2.2 million dollar grant from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command of the U.S. Department of Defense will help researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute work with colleagues at the University at Buffalo. They are participating in a two-stage project combining neuroimaging, artificial intelligence and neuromodulation to better understand and measure how surgeons acquire and hone their skills — and then determine if that mastery can be accelerated. Steven D. Schwaitzberg, MD, professor and chair of surgery, says the research targets brain proficiency — that mindset you reach when you’re able to perform a task automatically, without thinking about it.

In order to earn certification in general surgery, residents in the United States need to demonstrate proficiency in the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic program (FLS), a test that requires manipulation of laparoscopic tools within a physical training unit. By combining brain optical imaging and a deep learning framework they call “Brain-NET,” a multidisciplinary team of engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — in close collaboration with the Department of Surgery at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences — has developed a new methodology that has the potential to transform training and the certification process for surgeons.