Scrubs, Scalpels and Stories

Have you ever wondered how surgeons learn to operate on real patients? Or, how medical devices-like replacement heart valves-are tested before being approved for use in humans? Meet Richard Bianco, the director of UMN’s Experiment Surgical Services (ESS). In this episode, he speaks about giving early-career academic surgeons the opportunity to refine their skills, the complex process of medical device qualification, and important ethical implications of using animal models in medical research.

Dr. Todd Tuttle described the experience of taking a medical mission trip to Honduras as: "No money. No insurance. Pure medicine." Dr. Tuttle is a surgical oncologist at the University of Minnesota Department of Surgery.

Believe it or not, the black bear may hold the key to important medical breakthroughs, from protecting vulnerable transplant tissues, to improving ICU care, and even getting humans to Mars. Dr. Paul Iaizzo is a physiologist in the Department of Surger and Director of  the Visible Heart Lab at the University of Minnesota. For over two decades, Dr. Iaizzo has been collaborating with a team of biologists studying what hibernating black bears can teach us about the human body. While Dr. Iaizzo’s main focus is cardiovascular physiology, this research has also generated a lot of biological knowledge about the bears themselves and their changing relationship with the human world.

The #MeToo Movement continues to highlight persistent gender inequality across America. Women in the workplace often face higher expectations and are paid less than men. How is this problem expressed in the medical profession? And, what can we do about it? Caprice Christian Greenberg, MD, MPH is a professor of surgery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she specializes in breast cancer treatment.

What would you do if the medication that kept your daughter alive also caused her unbearable pain? 12-year-old Emmy Reeves from Columbia, South Carolina had Type One diabetes, a condition shared by over 1 million Americans.  It is usually treatable with insulin medication. But Emmy had an extremely rare problem: An allergy to insulin medication. The Reeves family eventually connected with Dr. Raja Kandaswamy, a transplant surgeon at the University of Minnesota Department of Surgery.  Dr. Kandaswamy’s proposal was to make Emmy the youngest pediatric pancreas transplant recipient in the United States in nearly 25 years.

There is a major problem in the United States with rural access to healthcare - especially surgical procedures. Making matters worse, 60% of rural surgeons are expected to retire in the next decade. Anticipating this problem, the University of Minnesota is one of only ten states that supports a specialized residency in rural surgery.   We discuss the state of rural medicine in Minnesota with Dr. Samantha Leonard, the first resident to complete this program, and Dr. Tyler Goettl, who just joined the residency.    

There are hundreds of species of bacteria that live within your body right now, helping you digest your food and protect against infection by bacteria that cause disease. These bacteria and what they do is a growing area of scientific research about the body's microbiotic community.   Microbiologist Dr. Christopher Staley is among those exploring the link between microbiomes and human health. Dr. Staley is a new faculty member in the University of Minnesota's Department of Surgery. We discuss how the body's microbiome affects overall health and impacts recovery from  surgery, new procedures like fecal transplants, and why we need to rethink our relationship with germs.

400 physicians commit suicide in the United States every year. Why are more and more people in the medical field experiencing burnout... and even contemplating suicide? More importantly, what can be done about it? These are questions Dr. David Rothenberger has been trying to answer.   Dr. Rothenberger's career as a Colon and Rectal Surgeon at the University of Minnesota has spanned over three decades. He led the department as chair for four years. In 2017, he was appointed as the Medical School's special adviser for physician wellbeing. We discuss growing efforts to raise awareness about and improve the mental wellbeing of healthcare professionals.