Wayne State's Department of Surgery held its first David Fromm Research and Wayne State Surgical Alumni Day recently at the McGregor Conference Center. The event was held in honor of David Fromm, M.D., Penberthy Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery from 1988 to 2004, in recognition of his passion for and contributions made to surgical research.
More than 100 guests, including Department of Surgery faculty, Wayne State surgical alumni, surgery residents and fellows, and medical students on surgery rotations, attended the full-day symposium. Sixteen presentations were given by faculty members of the Department of Surgery for their resident/fellow designees spanning the realm of basic, translational and clinical research.
Following his dinner presentation, Dr. Fromm was honored as the inaugural Wayne State Surgical Alumnus of the Year for 2006, and three research stipend awards were granted in his name to those delivering the top research presentations during the symposium. Given its initial success, the Department of Surgery plans to hold the event on an annual basis, not only as a perpetual tribute to its former chair of surgery, but also to showcase the cutting-edge research being done in the department and to emphasize that research remains an important priority. The event was chaired by Scott A. Gruber, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chief of the Section of Transplant Surgery.