On Thursday, Jan. 9, the Department of Surgery celebrated its 16th annual Research Summit. The theme of this year’s summit was “Advances in Surgical Research and Innovation.” There were over 300 attendees at this year’s Research Summit.
Our keynote speaker was Dr. Carla Pugh, the Thomas Krummel Professor of Surgery and Director of the Technology Enabled Clinical Improvement Center at Stanford University School of Medicine. She spoke about “Precision Learning & Data Sharing Through Wearable Technology. What’s AI Got to Do With It?”
The rest of the day was devoted to highlighting the tremendous research work happening within the Department of Surgery. Out of the more than 110 research abstracts that were submitted, eight were chosen for oral presentations. The morning then wrapped up with a poster session featuring more than 75 poster presentations.
Our afternoon session started with a Surgical Innovation panel discussion. We heard from a diverse group of panelists who highlighted how they have taken advantage of the unique infrastructure at UW to conduct innovative research and product development. In the final session of the day, we heard from several of our scientists who have formed valuable partnerships with donors to drive impactful research, improve the quality of clinical care, and find new ways to educate and train residents and students.
As a part of the summit, several awards were given to recognize excellence in posters, presentations, and images. The 2025 award winners were:
- Layton F. Rikkers, MD Best Basic or Translational Oral Presentation Award: Mary Junak, MD
- Louis C. Bernhardt, MD Best Clinical, Health Services or Education Oral Presentation Award: Kaleem Ahmed, MD, MSAI
- Debra A. Hullet, PhD Best Poster Award: Wesley Blashka
- Craig Kent, MD Best Poster Award, Student: Caterra Leavens
- Charles N. Ford, MD Surgery Science Image Contest Winner: Michael Beninati, MD
Thank you to all of our presenters, our judges, and all who attended.
Special thanks to our Research Summit planning committee: Co-Chairs Dr. Courtney Balentine and Dr. Mehreen Kisat, as well as committee members Hannah Clark, Dr. Luke Funk, Dr. Angela Gibson, Sally Gray, Jessica Karls-Ruplinger, Kayden Louzada, Karen Lynch, Bhabna Pati, and Jennifer Zellner.











