News Story

Cardiologists at the UW Medicine Heart Institute recently performed a first-in-the-world procedure, detaching and retrieving a clip device from a patient’s mitral valve and placing a replacement biologic valve — all through a catheter. Previously this sequence of tasks had been performed only via open surgery. The patient, John Steenmeyer, 76, of Bellingham, Wash., was…

Dr. Douglas Wood, chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine, received the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s (NCCN) 2023 Rodger Winn Award for decades of work to develop, refine and promote the organization’s Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology. The award, named to honor the first leader of the NCCN guidelines, was conferred on Wood for his…

Welcome to our 2023 spring edition of Surgery Synopsis. The Department of Surgery has a tripartite mission: Patient Care, Research and Education. Each of these areas is an essential part of academic surgery and critical to fulfilling our mission to “provide compassionate and high-quality patient care, train future generations of surgical leaders and conduct research…

Raymond Sze Wang Yeung was born in Hong Kong, the second youngest of four siblings. He resided in Hong Kong until his middle childhood when the Cultural Revolution in mainland China forced many to flee and his family immigrated to Toronto, Canada. Settling in North York, Dr. Yeung quickly adapted to his new life and…

Dr. Douglas E. Wood, The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair, received the Rodger Winn Award for his work with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®). “Started in 2009, the Rodger Winn Award is given to an NCCN Guidelines panel member each year who exemplifies Dr. Winn’s leadership, drive,…

American College of Surgeons Bulletin Tony Peregrin March 8, 2023   “You come out as an LGBTQ+ individual virtually every day—it’s not like it happens once in a lifetime and you’re done,” said Harveshp D. Mogal, MD, MS, FACS, associate professor of surgery and section chief of complex abdominal oncology at the University of Washington…

The term gender identity refers to how an individual identifies themselves with regard to gender—an intrinsic sense of “self.” For many individuals (cis individuals), their intrinsic gender identity aligns with the sex assigned at birth. However, there are individuals (trans and non–binary) whose gender identity does not align with their sex assigned at birth. The…

Dr. Giana Davidson, Associate Professor and Section Chief for Emergency General Surgery, has received funding from The Donaghue Foundation, expanding the current AHRQ funded Pharmacy Integrated Transitions (PIT) R01 Randomized Trial. While the PIT program aims to improve coordination between hospitals and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) by decreasing medication–related problems, this new funding will incorporate…

The Department of Surgery welcomes Dr. Steven Lee as our new Chief of the Division of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery at Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH) and UW Department of Surgery in February 2023. Dr. Lee completed his general surgery training at University of California, Davis, and is well–acquainted with our program as he completed…

What do we mean when we talk about “community?” We understand the definition, “a feeling of fellowship with others as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.” But what do we mean when we use this term in the context of our department and training programs? Community comes in many sizes and is…