Six New Faculty Join Department of Surgery

The Department of Surgery welcomes six new, high-profile surgeons to its growing faculty, bringing essential surgical expertise services to the Rochester region. Their specialties range from colorectal surgery and surgical oncology, to vascular, thoracic and plastic surgery, to basic science research to better stage cancer diagnoses.

The recruits cut across and further strengthen the main priorities of the Medical Center’s 2007-2012 Strategic Plan according to Jeffrey H. Peters, M.D., Seymour I. Schwartz Professor and chair of the URMC Department of Surgery.

“I am proud to welcome our new surgical faculty,” he said. “As surgical specialists and researchers, they are a perfect strategic fit that will allow us to realize the vision the Medical Center has set forth.”

Recruits include a world-leader in colorectal surgery, a vascular surgeon who most recently oversaw all vascular surgeries in Iraq, a researcher seeking to provide new molecular analysis tools to improve cancer diagnoses, and a surgeon establishing new minimally invasive techniques. Brief overviews of each of the recruits follow.

John R.T. Monson, M.D., a world leader in colorectal surgery and one of the most productive translational and clinical surgical scholars in the United Kingdom, joins the Medical Center as chief of the Division of Colorectal Surgery and vice chair of the Department of Surgery. Monson was previously head of surgery at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom.

Monson specializes in minimally invasive and laparoscopic techniques for colorectal surgeries, including cancers. He has an interest in transanal resection of rectal cancer and has presented results of clinical trials of the technique at North American meetings. He will work closely with surgeons and oncologists at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center.

David Lawrence Gillespie, M.D., F.AC.S., R.V.T., D.M.C.C., has been appointed professor in the Division of Vascular Surgery. Gillespie is a nationally known cardiovascular specialist and former chief of Vascular Surgery for the U.S. Army who has been overseeing vascular surgery in Iraq. He also is a vascular surgery consultant with the Office of the Surgeon General. He has chosen to continue his clinical and research career in Rochester as he retires after 23 years of dedicated military service.

Virginia Litle, M.D., has been appointed associate professor in the Division of Thoracic Surgery. Her clinical expertise includes pushing the frontiers of minimally invasive thoracic surgery, such as laparoscopic esophagectomy. Additionally, she is well-respected for her active research work in the areas of lung and esophageal cancer, which includes funding from the National Cancer Institute to investigate micro RNA expression in esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Tony E. Godfrey, Ph.D., has been appointed interim associate professor in the Department of Surgery, with a forthcoming appointment expected as research associate professor. Godfrey’s laboratory focuses on providing physicians with new, molecular analysis tools to improve the accuracy and timeliness of cancer diagnosis and staging, and to predict prognosis. He also plans to establish a large tissue bank with detailed clinical information for oncologists and URMC scientists.

Godfrey will work with researchers in Surgery, the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center, and Pathology, and with co-investigators on currently funded studies at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he was formerly on faculty.

Jacob Moalem, M.D., a well-regarded surgeon, teacher and researcher, has been appointed assistant professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology. He is the only fellowship-trained endocrine surgeon in the region. His clinical and research concentrations focus on cancerous and benign lesions and disorders of the thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal glands, as well as endocrine tumors of the pancreas. He brings expertise in minimally invasive thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy, in addition to laparoscopic adrenalectomy.

Jeffrey A. Gusenoff , M.D., newly appointed assistant professor in the Division of Plastic Surgery, is a fellowship-trained plastic surgeon specializing in management of post-bariatric surgery tissue contouring after massive weight loss. He will head the Life After Weight Loss Program at URMC, only the second of its kind in the country.