Laparoscopy and Endoscopy

The establishment of the Emory Endosurgery Unit for Minimally Invasive Surgery in 1992 initiated the division of general and gastrointestinal surgery's high-profile role in legitimizing and advancing laparoscopic and endoscopic surgery. General surgery faculty were essential to elevating laparoscopic foregut surgery to the gold standard for managing patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease. Shortly thereafter collaborative efforts began with other Emory surgical programs to develop live donor nephrectomy, laparoscopic management of polycystic kidney and liver disease, thoracoscopic sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis and laparoscopic access for spine surgery.

As part of a clinical study to evaluate the HALO360 ablation system directed by then-division chief Dr. C. Daniel Smith, division surgeons were the first in Georgia and among the first in the nation to use the technology to successfully treat a patient suffering from Barrett's esophagus. Dr. Smith presented the results of the study at the SAGES 2006 Annual Meeting, which validated the performance and efficacy of the HALO systems.

Due to ground-work conducted by Dr. Edward Lin and his colleagues, division surgeons perform single incision laparoscopic colectomies, appendectomies, cholecystectomies and weight-loss surgeries. Dr. Lin and Dr. Juan Sarmiento also developed and are performing laparoscopic-assisted formal liver resections using extremely small incisions.

Diabetes and Parathyroid Disease

Dr. Collin Weber was the first diabetes investigator to examine both cross-species islet transplantation and the protective encapsulation of transplanted islets. In 2002 he was appointed principal investigator of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Center for Islet Transplantation at Emory. The center's two-pronged goal is to make islet transplantation a viable cure for patients with Type 1 diabetes and to increase the supply of donor islets.

Following work conducted by Dr. Weber, his team and other clinical and basic science researchers at the center, Emory transplant surgeons Dr. Christian Larsen and Dr. Thomas Pearson conducted the first islet cell transplant to treat Type 1 diabetes in Georgia in 2003 (as of August 2008, Emory transplant surgeons had performed 18 successful islet transplant procedures into 11 patients). In 2006, the center received new five-year funding from the JDRF of nearly $8.5 million, and in 2007 an additional $2.5 million grant over three years to develop pig islets as an alternative to human donor islets.

Dr. Weber is also investigating the cause(s) of human parathyroid tumors and their functional characteristics. His studies are concentrated on secreted products of human parathyroid tumors including neuropeptides and cytokines and analyses of replication of parathyroid tumors of differing histopathology.

Simulation Training and Robotics

The Emory Simulation, Training and Robotics Center (ESTAR) develops, evaluates, validates and applies simulation-based educational tools and devices, curricula and robotics for use in medical education, training and patient care, primarily by investigating the viability of simulation systems as surgical training and assessment tools outside of the operating room. Many of the center's training scenarios simulate minimally invasive and laparoscopic procedures and are a common resource for surgical training programs both within and outside Emory.

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