Department of Surgery

Bile acids mediate metabolic benefits of weight-loss surgery

A team of Vanderbilt investigators has pinpointed the role of bile acids and a specific signaling pathway in the positive metabolic effects of weight-loss surgery.

Investigators find that bile acids reduce cocaine reward

Bile acids — gut compounds that aid in the digestion of dietary fats — reduce the desire for cocaine, according to a new study by researchers at Vanderbilt and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

By Leigh MacMillan

August 2, 2018

New surgery for heart pump implants helps reduce hospital stays

Artel Thorpe Sr. of Jackson, Tennessee, recently became the first person in the United States to undergo a new, less invasive surgical technique for implanting a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) heart pump since it was granted Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approval on July 11.

By Tom Wilemon

August 2, 2018

Solórzano named interim Department of Surgery chair

Carmen Solórzano, MD, professor of Surgery and chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology and Endocrine Surgery, has been named the interim chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of Surgery.

By Jill Clendening

July 19, 2018

Telemedicine clinic for kidney transplant screening debuts

With the opening of a pre-transplant kidney evaluation clinic in Jackson, Tennessee, the Vanderbilt Transplant Center is joining a range of other clinical programs participating in telemedicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

By Jessica Pasley

April 5, 2018

Karp to succeed Beauchamp as Surgical Section leader

After successfully leading Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Section of Surgical Sciences and serving as the Medical Center’s Surgeon-in-Chief since 2001, R. Daniel Beauchamp, MD, the John Clinton Foshee Distinguished Professor of Surgery, is stepping down. Beauchamp will be succeeded in this role by Seth Karp, MD, H. William Scott Jr. Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery and director of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center.