News Article
May 29, 2008
Duke Global Surgery Newsletter Spring 2008
Each year, millions of people in third world countries die from diseases that could easily have been treated—if not prevented altogether—here in the United States. Recently, Duke demonstrated its desire to address the health gaps between the poor and affluent through the creation of the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI).
To many members of Duke’s Department of Surgery, improving the health and wellbeing of populations across the globe is nothing new. But now Duke Surgery has teamed up with the Global Health Institute to form a program to respond to world health care needs—specifically within surgical subspecialty areas—through clinical care, research, and education.
Duke Global Surgery, as the new program is called in the Department of Surgery, will provide a centralized and coordinated approach to the global health problems that many surgeons have personally undertaken in their volunteer work. “Faculty and staff within our Department have been involved in humanitarian work for a long time—but until now, there has been no formal voice or formal platform,” says L. Scott Levin, MD, Professor and Chief, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
