University of Virginia Health System

U.VA. AWARDED GRANT FOR LAPAROSCOPIC SURGERY CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

Surgeons at the University of Virginia Health System have been awarded a grant of $750,000 over three years to establish a Laparoscopic Surgery Center of Excellence. The funding comes from Tyco Healthcare, a division of United States Surgical Corporation (USSC). The grant will fund a training program in laparoscopic surgery, new research in the field and a center for Web-based education.

“The Laparoscopic Surgery Center of Excellence will allow U.Va. to lead the way in studying the response to and recovery from laparoscopic surgery. The Center will fund ongoing research projects, and in addition, we hope to establish U.Va. as a model for regional training in minimally invasive surgery,” said Dr. Bruce Schirmer, Stephen H. Watts Professor of Surgery at U.Va. “We think this is very exciting for our institution, our patients and the region.”

The training program in laparoscopic surgery is designed to educate practicing surgeons, residents and nurses at U.Va. and other institutions around the country, through simulated surgery programs, hands-on laboratories and surgical observation. The will include a specially-designed facility capable of linking, via teleconference or videoconference, to University Hospital operating rooms and other institutions, for teaching purposes.

Through the existing Laparoscopic Institute of Virginia housed at U.Va., the grant will also fund new research in various areas of minimally invasive surgery, including clinical and pre-clinical trials.

“The Center will be a venue for the use and assessment of new technological innovations. We currently offer the entire range of available laparoscopic procedures placing us in a good position to evaluate new technology as it becomes available,” Schirmer said.

In combination with U.Va.’s Informational Science Department, Dr. Ed Chekan, assistant professor of surgery at U.Va., plans to create teaching and training programs for practicing physicians and residents that would be available for electronic media dissemination. The U.Va. site would serve as a prototype for university-based dissemination of surgical teaching programs in minimally invasive surgery.

USSC is partnering with select university programs to support a Laparoscopic Surgery Center of Excellence for education and research in minimally invasive surgery. Some other institutions that have been named a Center of Excellence include: Duke University Medical Center, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, University of Washington Medical Center and Yale University School of Medicine.

December 27, 2000