Prior Chairmen | Current Faculty



Prior Chairmen

The heritage of vascular surgery at Emory University began with its first Chief of Surgery, Daniel Elkin, who directed the department from 1930-1955. Dr. Elkin was a graduate of the Emory University School of Medicine and completed his surgical residency under Harvey Cushing at the Brigham Hospital in Boston with whom he co-authored his first publication in 1924 focusing on the management of a patient with a cirscoid aneurysm of the scalp. Along with Rudolph Matas, Dr. Elkin can rightfully be considered one of the original fathers of vascular surgery in the United States. In 1934, he published a remarkable report detailing the surgical treatment of a series of 62 aneurysms and subsequently described the largest collection of patients with penetrating trauma of the heart that were successfully managed by surgical intervention. At the 1940 Annual Meeting of the American Surgical Association he reported successful treatment of a patient with a symptomatic infrarenal aortic aneurysm. The patient was alive 11 months after the procedure and represented only one of six patients in the literature to have survived a period longer than six months after aortic ligation. He was a prolific author throughout the 30s, 40s, and early 50s, and his lasting contributions include his description of pericadiocentesis for cardiac tamponade and his popularization of what are now considered standard operative exposures of vascular structures including the proximal subclavian and innominate arteries, the peroneal artery, and the intraosseous portion of the vertebral body.

Vascular surgery in the era following Dr. Elkin was very much influenced by Dr. Garland Perdue. After serving as a member of a special forces unit during World War II, Dr. Perdue returned to Emory University, completing medical school as well as his surgical training. He was Chief of Vascular Surgery from 1960-1984 and founded the Emory Residency in Vascular Surgery in 1969 with Dr. Robert Smith. He wrote a large number of scholarly clinical reports and initiated the transplant surgery program at Emory, performing the first kidney transplant in Georgia in 1966. He was a past president of the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery-North American Chapter — the forerunner of what is now known as the American Association for Vascular Surgery — and a founding member and past president of the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery. Dr. Perdue died on September 11, 2007, at age 81 after an extended series of illnesses. To honor his legacy as one of the premier vascular surgeons, educators and innovators in the South during the second half of the twentieth century, Dr. Perdue's family and many of his grateful residents, colleagues and friends initiated the Annual Garland Perdue Lectureship in 2008.

Dr. Robert B. Smith, III, was the Chief of the Emory Vascular Service from 1984-1998. Dr. Smith ranked first in his class at the Emory University School of Medicine and received surgical training at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. He was influenced by Dr. Arthur Voorhees, who fabricated the first synthetic vascular prosthesis in 1952 from Vinyon N (nylon-6,6) and subsequently performed the first successful repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm with a synthetic graft as reported in 1954. Dr. Smith served as president of the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery-North American Chapter, the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery, the Georgia Surgical Society, and the Atlanta Vascular Society. He was Associate Chairman of the Department of Surgery from 1991-2006, Medical Director of Emory University Hospital from 1995-2006, and currently holds the Skandalakis Emeritus Chair in Vascular Surgery. The Robert B. Smith, III, Visiting Professorship was inaugurated in 2006 to honor Dr. Smith's many years of impressive service to his chosen field and to the Emory community.

Dr. Alan B. Lumsden was the Chief of the Vascular Surgery Service from 1997-2001 and was responsible for the expansion of the Non-Invasive Vascular Laboratory, the Venous Clinic, and the Endovascular Service. A graduate of Edinburgh University, Dr. Lumsden completed his general surgical and vascular surgery training at Emory. He currently serves as Medical Director of the Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, prior to which he was Professor and Chair, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, The Methodist Hospital.

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Dr. Elliot Chaikof, the current division director, received his MD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, his general surgical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, and PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT. In 1992, he completed the Emory Residency in Vascular Surgery and joined the faculty of the Department of Surgery. Dr. Chaikof established Emory's first program directed at the endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm. His current research interests lie at the interface of medicine and engineering with research programs focused in reparative medicine, organ fabrication, and in the design of engineered living systems. In fiscal year 2004-05, the National Institutes of Health reported that Dr. Chaikof was awarded five RO1 grants. He has received numerous honors and awards, including being ranked in Castle Connolly's Best Doctors in America from 2005-2008, and serves on several editorial boards, including Annals of Vascular Surgery, Vascular, Current Cardiology Reviews, and The Open Transplantation Journal.

Additional faculty:

	Dr. Matthew Corriere earned his MD from Mercer University School of Medicine in 1999 and an MS in Health Sciences Research from Wake Forest University in 2008. His residency training at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, completed in 2006, included two years of basic and clinical research. He completed a fellowship in vascular surgery at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in 2009. His primary interests are atherosclerosis, renovascular disease, carotid disease, and venous thromboembolism.
	Before joining the division in 2003, Dr. Wanxing Cui did his fellowship in vascular surgery and endovascular therapy at Emory. Prior to that, he acquired his PhD in general surgery at the Department of Surgery and Surgical Basic Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. His research focus is pancreatic islet transplantation.
	As a medical student at the University of Alabama–Birmingham, Dr. Thomas F. Dodson was influenced by Dr. John W. Kirklin. He received his surgical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, did his vascular surgery fellowship at Emory, and was on the surgical faculties of the Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center, the Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the University of Massachusetts. He has served as president of the Eastern Surgical Society, secretary-treasurer of the Georgia Surgical Society, on the Education Task Force of the American College of Surgeons, and has received numerous teaching and best doctor awards.
	Dr. Carolyn Haller received her PhD in biology research from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2002. From 2002-2006 she was a senior research scientist on Dr. Chaikof's research tem, developing novel anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory agents that characterized in vitro activity and in vivo applicability; designing protein expression and purification protocols, implement expression scale-up, and endotoxin removal strategies; and characterizing the role of heparan sulfate proteoglycans in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and abdominal aortic aneurysm. She joined the research faculty in 2006, and is focusing on molecular engineering of novel antithrombotics and anti-inflammatory agents.
	Dr. Karthikeshwar Kasirajan graduated from Madras Medical College, India. He received general surgery training at Grant Medical College (Bombay, India), the Lincoln Medical System (New York, NY) and the Western Reserve Care System and completed his vascular surgery residency at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He specializes in the development and application of minimally invasive approaches to carotid angioplasty and stenting, thoracic stent grafts, and super-selective embolization techniques. In 2008, Dr. Kasirajan participated in a significant clinical trial that tested the Parodi antiembolism system's ability to prevent the vascular dementia that can afflict patients who have received treatment for stroke.
	Dr. Atef Salam was an associate of Dr. Dean Warren's at the University of Miami and was recruited by Dr. Warren when he assumed the chairmanship of the Department of Surgery at Emory in 1971. Dr. Salam has made many significant contributions to vascular surgery and the treatment of portal hypertension, including being the co-developer of the distal splenorenal shunt. He has received various teaching awards, was awarded the 2001 Shield of Medicine by the Medical Scientific Society of Egypt for being one of the ten most outstanding Egyptian doctors in the world, and was a recipient of the Egyptian Medical Association's 1996 Award for Lifetime Contributions to Surgical Education and Healthcare in Egypt.
	Dr. Murali Urlam received his PhD in organic chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, India, followed by research fellowships at the Department of Chemistry, University of Alabama, and the Division of Vascular Surgery at Emory. He specializes in organic synthesis, biomimetics, and molecular engineering.
	Joining the faculty in 2006, Dr. Ravi K. Veeraswamy did his general surgery residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and his vascular surgery fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine. His clinical interests are carotid stent, carotid endarterectomy, aortic aneurysms, thoracic outlet syndrome, and peripheral vascular disease.

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