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elastic tissue in the body, such as bladders, aswell as tube-like structures like the urethra andesophagus.Although Fraizer’s surgery went well—andhis hospital recovery was sweetened uponlearning that he would soon be a grandfatherfor the first time—his heart will forever beweak. “If I see 65, I’ll be a blessed man,” hesays, now almost 61.Perhaps 10 years from now, if all goes wellin the laboratories at McGowan, a patientwith Fraizer’s heart condition will be able tolive a lot longer than that. Wagner and Sackswill be testing the patch, with and withoutstem cells, in large animals and humans overthe next few years.After his second triple-coronary-bypasssurgery in 2002, then-43-year-oldDouglas Laney was told by his doctorsthat there was nothing more they coulddo. Even two triple bypasses hadn’t fixed hisproblem permanently. The average lifespan ofa vein graft is seven to 10 years—a lifespanthat diminishes with every additional bypasssurgery. So Laney was scared, especially whenhe began having chest pain again last year.“I didn’t know what to do,” he says. But hedid do something: He got a second opinion.After performing a catheterization, the doctorstreating Laney visited him in his recoveryroom. Laney was waiting anxiously, afraid ofwhat they might tell him. But the doctorsdelivered good news: They were willing to takethe chance that his previous doctors refusedto take. They were willing, they said, to try toperform another bypass.“I experienced probably every human emotionwithin five minutes,” Laney says. “I wasoverwhelmed with joy.”In patients with clogged arteries, bypassesusually fail because the replacement veins,which are often nonessential veins taken fromanother part of the body, aren’t up to the job.Veins are used to living “a pretty cushylifestyle,” according to Pitt vascular engineerDavid Vorp, and are not prepared for thedemanding arterial environment. Veins areused to low blood pressure and low flow, andthey don’t feel the pulsations of the heart.Arteries, on the other hand, have higher bloodflow, higher shear stresses, and they pulsatebecause of their proximity to the heart. Sowhen veins from the leg are plugged into thearterial environment, they tend to panic.“They say, ‘Wait a minute, we’re veins,we’re not supposed to be experiencing this,’”says Vorp, an associate professor of surgery. Heexplains that a vein implanted into the arterialenvironment assumes that it is injured, so itimmediately begins trying to counteract theproblem. It does so by thickening. As it thickens,however, the canal also begins to narrow.Sound familiar?“You end up having the exact same problemas you had before. You have narrowingand clotting off of the blood flow, and that’sone of the primary failure mechanisms of veingrafts,” Vorp says.That’s exactly what happened to Laneyafter his first two bypasses—his grafts failed.Although he was understandably nervousabout going in for another triple bypass, hesays that, psychologically, it was easier the thirdtime around. “This time, I had reached a pointof acceptance that what was going to happenwas going to happen,” he says. Luckily, thesurgery was a success; even so, he can’t be asactive as he once was, though he likes to helpout with his church and do other volunteering.And there is always the fear that the graftscould fail again.Vorp, who is soft-spoken and sports a reddish-goldenbeard, hopes that his collaborationwith Wagner will eliminate the need forrepeat bypass surgeries by making implantedveins stronger. If the vein to be used in bypasssurgery is first wrapped in a biodegradablepolymer material like the one developed forWagner and Sacks’ cardiac patch, it may notthicken as much upon exposure to its newenvironment. Then, after a few days perhaps,the wrap degrades, allowing the vein to slowlyadapt to its new harsh environment. The veingirdle has a patent pending.Vorp describes himself as being “born,bred, raised, trained, and differentiated, if youwill, in Pittsburgh.” What actually “differentiated”him from a typical mechanical engineerinto a bioengineer was a class he was requiredto take as a Pitt student. “This silly littlecourse, that I tried to put off and tried to getout of taking, pretty much changed my life,”he says. In it, he was required to write a reporton how mechanical engineering impacts society.When he explained this to his girlfriend atthe time, who was in dental school, she notedthat mechanical engineering plays a big part indentistry. That piqued his interest.“I went to the library, and I stumbledacross two journals. One was the Journal ofBiomechanics, and the other was the Journal ofBiomechanical Engineering. I just was devouringthese, and I thought it was the coolestthing,” he recalls.At the time, Pitt didn’t have a bioengineeringdepartment, but Vorp was able to get aresearch position after graduation working withbioengineer Harvey Borovetz, who was then inthe Department of Surgery. That’s where Vorpdeveloped his expertise in vascular bioengineering.He also worked closely with patients anddoctors in the artificial heart program.The “bread and butter” of Vorp’s work thesedays is studying the mechanics of the abdominalaortic aneurysm, a condition in which the largeblood vessel supplying blood to the lower bodybecomes abnormally large. Vorp is developingnoninvasive ways to predict which types ofaneurysms are at risk of bursting.He also is trying to develop fully syntheticarteries using tiny biodegradable polymer-basedtubes that can be seeded with stem cells. Hewants to coax the stem cells to develop into vascularcells. Then, as the polymer breaks downafter implantation, the cells would take over andcreate a complete blood vessel. If his team canfind a way to do this, it will have become thefirst to create a successful artificial artery.Asked how long it will be before all of theseprocedures, including the vein girdle, are testedin humans, Vorp laughs, saying, “It’s funny, itseems like every time someone asks me how faraway we are from clinical translation, I say fiveyears. I said that 10 years ago, and I said thatfive years ago.” Then he smiles. “This is probablythe first time that I can think about it andbelieve that it’s going to be less than five years.”Wagner and Sacks are also pursuing otherprojects. For example, they are developing anengineered heart valve using the same polyurethanematerial as the patch. Although it will be ayear or two before they begin testing it in smallanimals, the mechanical properties of their engineeredvalve seem to match natural valves.The value of life has become even clearerfor Fraizer since his surgery. Althoughhis heart is no longer as big as a football,metaphorically, it still seems to be. He pours asmuch of it as he can into his 1-year-old granddaughter,BreAnna, whom he babysits everyday. He admits that he spoils her a little, but,he says, that way she will always know she onlydeserves the best.“Things really do blossom out of tragedy,”he says. “I absolutely love being around thisgirl.”“What we are doing,” says Vorp, reflectingon his work one day recently, “is really trying tomake life happen.”■32 PITTMED
MATCH RESULTSCLASS OF 2007There was a lotof celebrating asgraduating studentslearned wherethey’d be doingtheir internshipsand residencies.KAPELEWSKI / CIDDEANESTHESIOLOGYEsper, StephenUPMC Medical Education ProgramGabriel, JesseWestern Pennsylvania HospitalGrable, BenjaminUPMC Medical Education ProgramKwok, GarrickUPMC Medical Education ProgramLin, CharlesUPMC Medical Education ProgramMcCray, JustinUPMC Medical Education ProgramVictor-Vega, CassandreUniversity of Rochester/Strong Memorial Hospital,N.Y.Webber, AudraUPMC Medical Education ProgramZehnaly, AlenHarbor – UCLA Medical Center, Calif.DERMATOLOGYCarlos, CaseyHospital of the University of PennsylvaniaKwon, SoonyouUniversity of Maryland Medical CenterPatel, ShailyUniversity of Chicago Medical Center, Ill.DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGYGage, KennethJohns Hopkins Hospital, Md.Ho, AndrewUniversity of Chicago Medical Center, Ill.Kantartzis, StamatisUPMC Medical Education ProgramPatel, AmishHenry Ford Health Science Center, Mich.Seo, Su-hunAllegheny General Hospital, Pa.Whetstone, JosephOregon Health & Science UniversityEMERGENCY MEDICINEAblordeppey, EnyoBarnes–Jewish Hospital, Mo.Barton, JosephUC Davis Medical Center, Calif.Brown, EmilyBrigham & Women’s Hospital, Mass.Cochran, KristinBeth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Mass.Connors, MeganStanford University Programs, Calif.Frattaroli, GregoryChristiana Care Health Services, Del.Pousson, AmeliaChristiana Care Health Services, Del.Rivenburgh, MatthewUPMC Medical Education ProgramRoberts, LindsayBeth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Mass.Shetty, PranavHarbor–UCLA Medical Center, Calif.Skolnik, AaronBrigham & Women’s Hospital, Mass.Sokolowski, DevinRhode Island Hospital/Brown UniversityTarr, CarlyAllegheny General Hospital, Pa.Terrano, JenniferChristiana Care Health Services, Del.Wheeler, MatthewUPMC Medical Education ProgramFAMILY PRACTICEBarragan, LorenaMacNeal Memorial Hospital, Ill.Butela, HeatherOregon Health & Science UniversityFarahi, NargesUniversity of California, San FranciscoImler, ErinUPMC St. MargaretLeBlanc, KarenMemorial Hospital of Rhode Island/Brown UniversityLewis, AlisonBeth Israel Medical Center, N.Y.Manuel, VladimirUCLA Medical Center, Calif.Marshall, KristaUPMC St MargaretMcDowell, MarkBeth Israel Medical Center, N.Y.Miller, BrianUPMC St. MargaretPhelps, TracyUPMC St. MargaretSullivan, BrianScripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista,Calif.Wick, MatthewWashington Hospital, Pa.INTERNAL MEDICINEAgcaoili, Cecily MarieUniversity of Maryland Medical CenterBrahmanandam, VikramBoston University Medical Center,Mass.Cheung, SoniaUniversity of California, DavisDe Vito, NicholasThomas Jefferson University, Pa.Falke, EricYale–New Haven Hospital, Conn.Gascon-Flores, AvegailHarbor–UCLA Medical Center, Calif.Kagan, SethSanta Clara Valley Medical Center, Calif.Koprucki, MichaelUPMC Medical Education ProgramMastalerz, KatarzynaOregon Health & Science UniversityMazzarella, DaraUniversity of Michigan Hospitals–Ann ArborMehta, MonaNew York University School of MedicineNayeb-Hashemi, HamedUCLA Medical Center, Calif.Pan, StephenStanford University Programs, Calif.Rachakonda, VikrantBarnes–Jewish Hospital, Mo.Rao, ShivdevUniversity of Michigan Hospitals–Ann ArborRavella, ShilpaBoston University Medical Center, Mass.Sabatini, MichaelUPMC Medical Education ProgramSawatsky, AdamMayo School of Graduate Medical Education, Minn.Singh, DivyaUniversity of Chicago Medical Center, Ill.Staub, BrianUPMC Medical Education ProgramStephenson, LydiaUPMC Medical Education ProgramSwan, ChristopherUniversity of California, San FranciscoTan, RoderickUPMC Medical Education ProgramTu, BenjaminJohns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Md.Williams, VonzellSUNY Health Science Center–Brooklyn, N.Y.INTERNAL MEDICINE—PEDIATRICSMcCormick, AndrewUPMC Medical Education ProgramINTERNAL MEDICINE —PRELIMINARYWolski, MichalUPMC Medical Education ProgramINTERNAL MEDICINE—PRIMARYDolan, BrigidBrigham & Women’s Hospital, Mass.INTERNAL MEDICINE—WOMEN’S HEALTHOsterholzer, ChristineUPMC Medical Education ProgramTilstra, SarahUPMC Medical Education ProgramMAXILLOFACIAL SURGERYNorbutt, CraigUPMC Medical Education ProgramNEUROLOGICAL SURGERYBonfield, ChristopherUPMC Medical Education ProgramGologorsky, YakovMount Sinai School of Medicine, N.Y.NEUROLOGYLui, AlbenUniversity of California San Diego Medical CenterShtrahman, MatthewUCLA Medical Center, Calif.OBSTETRICS/GYNECOLOGYBrannon, RyanDrexel University College of Medicine, Pa.Ching, MelissaWhite Memorial Medical Center, Calif.Gerschultz, KellyUPMC Medical Education ProgramJones, CandiceWalter Reed Army Medical Center, D.C.Krajewski, ColleenCase Western/MetroHealth Medical Center, OhioLandis Lewis, DeborahUPMC Medical Education ProgramO’Neill, EricaUniversity of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel HillPhillibert, DonaldStony Brook Teaching Hospitals, N.Y.Sakamoto, SaraUPMC Medical Education ProgramOPHTHALMOLOGYHealey, JeffreyUPMC Medical Education ProgramIsawi, HannyPennsylvania State University–HersheyKim, GeneEmory University School of Medicine, Ga.Stuber, ChristiannaUniversity of California, DavisORTHOPAEDIC SURGERYFrank, MatthewUMDNJ–New Jersey Medical SchoolHeffernan, MichaelUniversity of Massachusetts Medical SchoolStarman, JamesCarolinas Medical Center, N.C.VanBeek, CorinneNew York–Presbyterian Hospital–ColumbiaWiegand, LauraHospital of the University of PennsylvaniaOTOLARYNGOLOGYDhanisetty, ShilpaUPMC Medical Education ProgramJabbour, NoelUniversity of Minnesota Medical SchoolKim, HaenaNorthwestern McGaw/NMH/VA, Ill.MacKechnie, CherylUPMC Medical Education ProgramRodriguez, KennethUPMC Medical Education ProgramPATHOLOGYGilbert, ChristopherUPMC Medical Education ProgramMiller, JenniferUPMC Medical Education ProgramPEDIATRICSBerger, LorettaDartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center, N.H.Christ, LoriChildren’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pa.DiCaprio, HeatherBaylor College of Medicine, Houston, TexasEhrlich, LoriChildren’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pa.Ghanem, LouisChildren’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pa.Hong, BorahUniversity of Washington Affiliated Hospitals, SeattleLee, VivianMiami Children’s Hospital, Fla.Min, StuartChildren’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Calif.Ogonowski, JulieUPMC Medical Education ProgramPinto, RupalSt. Christopher’s Hospital, Pa.Sabnis, AnimeshNorthwestern McGaw/CMH, Ill.Steinhauser, SarahCase Western/University Hospitals, OhioPHYSICAL MEDICINE &REHABILITATIONGleason, LisaVA Greater Los Angeles Health System, Calif.Groh, MeganMount Sinai Hospital, N.Y.PLASTIC SURGERYDudas, JasonBarnes–Jewish Hospital, Mo.Rogers, CarolynUniversity of Wisconsin Hospital and ClinicsPSYCHIATRYManchandia, AvinashUCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience, Calif.Marcsisin, MichaelUPMC Medical Education ProgramPaleos, K. CaseyNew York University School of MedicineShaw, BillinaUniversity of Maryland Medical CenterStoklosa, JosephMassachusetts General HospitalPUBLIC HEALTHMarino, NatalieUniversity of Pittsburgh GSPH(Pursuing Master of Public Health)RADIATION ONCOLOGYShen, XingleiThomas Jefferson University, Pa.SURGERY—GENERALCavallo, JaimeBarnes–Jewish Hospital, Mo.Colovos, ChristosCedars–Sinai Medical Center, Calif.Hoffman, MarcusUPMC Medical Education ProgramHowell, GinaUPMC Medical Education ProgramMoran, ColleenShands Hospital, University of FloridaNaiditch, JessicaNorthwestern McGaw/NMH/VA, Ill.SURGERY—PRELIMINARYWin, KarenMercy Hospital of PittsburghTRANSITIONAL MEDICINEFeng, MatthewUPMC Presbyterian ShadysideWegner, RodneyUPMC Presbyterian ShadysideUROLOGYAkhavan, ArdavanMount Sinai Medical Center, N.Y.Mori, RyanCleveland Clinic Foundation, OhioOgagan, P. DafeUPMC Medical Education ProgramSUMMER 2007 33
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Page 9 and 10: CLOSERCLOSERPRE PITT MEDAlexis Chid
Page 11 and 12: COURTESY J. OCHOAJuan Ochoa started
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Page 15 and 16: COVER STORYA BETTER LIFE FOR THEIR
Page 17 and 18: OPPOSITE PAGE AND BELOW: Pediatrici
Page 19 and 20: OPPOSITE PAGE: Dustin Hahn, who has
Page 21: FEATUREWHOSE LAST WISHES DO WE HONO
Page 24 and 25: lines for the first time in the org
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Page 36 and 37: ATTENDINGRuminations on the medical
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Page 40 and 41: ROBERT BASFORDAUG. 21, 1923-MAR. 11
Page 42 and 43: LAST CALLFRANKENSTEIN’S BIRTHDAYI
Page 44: YOU COULD WATCHTHE GRASS GROWBut it

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