Heather Evans, M.D., MS, Named Chief of Surgery at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center

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Heather Evans, M.D., MS, has been named the Chief of Surgery at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, a role previously held by surgical oncologist Mark L. Lockett, M.D., who now serves as Deputy Chief of Staff for Acute Care Services at the VA.

“We are extremely excited to welcome Dr. Evans to the VA. Her surgical expertise and research experience will expand the capabilities of our Surgical Department,” said Lockett. “She will help support our continued growth in all facets of our mission – outstanding clinical care, cutting edge research, and training the next generation of surgical professionals.”

The Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center is the highest volume surgical program within Veterans Integrated Service Network 7 (GA, SC, AL) with a high complexity of care. As Chief of Surgery, Evans will lead 133 employees across 17 clinical divisions.

Evans, a trauma surgeon with expertise in robotic and minimally invasive general surgery procedures, joined MUSC in the Department of Surgery in 2018, where she also serves­ as the Vice Chair of Clinical Research and Applied Informatics.

“We were fortunate to have recruited a surgeon into our department with her tremendous academic credentials,” said Prabhakar Baliga, M.D., chair of the Department of Surgery. “I am delighted to see her promoted to this leadership role at the VA. I believe Dr. Evans will be truly impactful to the care of the veterans and to the innovation at the VA.”

Evans says she welcomes the opportunity to serve veterans in this leadership role.

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Surgery, ID and Pharmacy Alliance Key For Optimal Infection Management

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A strong, interconnected relationship between the surgeon, infectious disease physician and infectious disease pharmacist is essential for optimal antibiotic stewardship and management of challenges ranging from surgical site infections and ventilator-assisted pneumonia to severe Clostridioides difficile infections and necrotizing soft tissue infections, agreed experts from each of these specialties during a session at the 2022 annual meeting of the Surgical Infection Society.

“I envision this relationship as a trio,” said James Sanders, PhD, PharmD, the antimicrobial stewardship director and an assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas. “At all the institutions I’ve worked at, the surgeons have been my allies to help enforce antimicrobial stewardship principles, and without them I don’t think the programs I’ve worked with would have been as successful. I really think there needs to be interplay between the surgeon, the ID pharmacist and the ID physician, not only to promote antimicrobial stewardship but in day-to-day patient care. We’re navigating the review of patients on antimicrobials throughout the hospital, and often ensure providers reach out to surgery or the ID providers.”

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AI Tool Predicts Surgical Infections, but Is Highly Site Specific

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An artificial intelligence tool developed by researchers in the Netherlands proved quite accurate at predicting postoperative surgical infections in a local hospital, but less so when extended to a large academic center, emphasizing the need to retrain AI data on external data as these tools gain ground in medicine.

Despite multipronged efforts to reduce the incidence of postoperative infections, they still occur in approximately 20% of all patients. On average, these infections are not diagnosed until postoperative day 5, said Siri van der Meijden, a junior data scientist and PhD candidate at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), in the Netherlands, who presented her team’s research at the Surgical Infection Society’s 2022 annual meeting.

To be more proactive in the care of postoperative patients, Ms. van der Meijden and her colleagues developed an AI tool to estimate the risk for infection based on preoperative and interoperative variables; the tool is meant to be applied directly after surgery. Patients deemed at high risk could be closely monitored, “and ideally patients with a low risk of infection could be discharged from the hospital earlier,” she said.

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