R EED O. D INGMAN S OCIETY - Department of Surgery - University ...

R EED O. DINGMAN S OCIETY
2 0 0 5 N E W S L E T T E R
L ETTER FROM THE S ECTION H EAD
hanks for looking at this issue, our second, of the Reed O.
T Dingman Society News. Despite my best intentions, we
did not publish a spring issue; I offer all the usual excuses.
Michigan Plastic Surgery did have an
eventful year, with many honors and
accomplishments, some significant
challenges, and some notable changes.
In addition to news about our
graduating residents, a report of our
yearly Dingman Visiting
Professorship, and news of general
goings-on both here and among our
alumni, I would point your attention
to the item on our many visiting professors this past year. I am
particularly happy that our active effort to bring more visiting
professors to Michigan throughout the year has been
successful. We have enjoyed visits from experts in our field
who are diverse in every imaginable way, and who greatly
enhanced our already-rich academic environment.
Volunteers to visit are most welcome. I would also point you
to this issue’s research update from Paul Cederna. Paul’s
group has made enormous progress in the cutting-edge field
of nerve transplantation; I think you will be impressed with the
scope and depth of this effort.
We did have challenges this year, the biggest of which was
the decision by the RRC for Plastic Surgery to place our
residency program on probation. Although I thought twice
(OK, about 20 times) about including this news in a “feel
good” newsletter, I ultimately concluded that it was best that
we inform our alumni about this decision and about our
response. Details are enclosed by Steve Kasten, our Associate
Residency Director. We are all proud of Michigan’s Residency
Program; we are working hard, and are confident that we will
maintain the elite status we have enjoyed among Plastic Surgery
residencies in the country.
Most, most importantly, this issue of the News gives dates
and plans for next year’s Dingman Society Meeting, to be held
here in Ann Arbor. This will be a special meeting because we
will honor Hack Newman, who will be retiring during the
2006-2007 academic year. Please put the dates on your
calendar, and please, please, please plan to attend.
Lastly, I hope to see you all at the Dingman Society
dinner in Chicago at the end of this week.
Sincerely.
With greatest admiration,
At this year’s Dingman graduation ceremony, held on June 10, 2005 Gregory
Borschel, Sameer Jejurikar, and Robert Rodrigues celebrated the completion
of their Plastic Surgery Residency. Over 140 attendees, including the residents’
families, and the faculty, residents, and staff of the Section of Plastic Surgery
honored Greg, Sameer, and Robert for their achievements and thanked them
for their contribution to Michigan Plastic Surgery.
G RADUATING R ESIDENTS:
G RADUATION D AY 2005
–By Dr. Steven Buchman MD
At the graduation dinner on June 10, 2005, Sameer Jejurikar, Gregory Borschel,
and Robert Rodrigues celebrated the completion of their Plastic Surgery Residency.
The faculty, residents, and staff of the Section of Plastic Surgery as well as the
residents’ families were all in attendance. Each graduating Chief Resident took an
opportunity to share their thoughts and reminiscences about the culmination of
their training; relating anecdotes and
heartfelt appreciation for the support
and guidance of those that helped them
along the way. We are all exceptionally
proud of this year’s graduating residents
who are caring and competent
physicians that have achieved at the
highest levels and will be a credit to our
specialty. We are honored to accept this
year’s graduating class as our newest
members of the Dingman Society.
Gregory H. Borschel, MD
Dr. Borschel received his B.S. from
Emory University and his medical
training at Johns
Hopkins
University prior to
coming to
Michigan to join
the residency.
During his
residency here,
he spent two years in the Functional
Tissue Engineering Laboratory
working on projects in tissue
engineering. His research efforts
resulted in the awarding of two grants
on which he was the Principal
Investigator. He was given awards for
the best paper presentation at six
meetings. He was honored with the
2005 Crudup Award, given by the
Department of Surgery to the chief
resident with the most distinguished
Rodrigues, Borschel & Jejurikar receiving
their Plastic Surgery Certificates
research achievements. Dr. Borschel
has 10 manuscripts and seven book
chapters in print, and has authored
51 presentations. He co-edited with
Dr. David Brown, The Michigan Manual
of Plastic Surgery, published by
Lippincott, which serves as the
number one training resource for
residents, medical students and
nurses in many countries around
the world. Since leaving Michigan
this summer, Greg went on to the
University of Toronto to engage
in its Pediatric Plastic Surgery
fellowship. He is currently searching
for an academic position where his
research and clinical niches can
flourish. He and his wife Tina
have two beautiful young children,
Anjali and Nikhil. Greg can be
reached at 424 Yonge St, Suite 713,
Toronto, ON, Canada M5B 2H3;
416-979-7183; borschel@gmail.com.

Sameer S. Jejurikar, MD
Dr. Jejurikar was a Michigan “lifer”.
He attended undergraduate and medical
school at the University
of Michigan, in the 7
year combined program.
We were lucky to attract
him to stay to do his
residency training with
us, as well. He spent two
years in the Muscle
Mechanics Laboratory, studying skeletal
muscle denervation injury. He has
published 11 journal manuscripts, been
awarded two research grants as principal
investigator, and has given 11 presentations
at national meetings. Dr. Jejurikar was
selected to be the sole resident member of
the Plastic Surgery Residency Review
Committee, selflessly devoting may long
hours toward evaluation and betterment of
plastic surgery training programs in the
U.S. Sameer was also selected to be the
administrative Chief Resident in the
Section, and served as an excellent leader
and mentor to our junior residents. He
was accepted for fellowship training in the
highly coveted aesthetic program at The
Manhattan Eye and Ear Institute. Dr.
Jejurikar is currently refining his search for
a job to begin next summer.
Chris Pannucci grew up in the Chicago suburbs
and went to undergrad in Bloomington,
Indiana (Indiana University). He joins the
University of Michigan
Section of Plastic
Surgery in this year’s
intern class, having
matched from
Washington University
in Saint Louis. While
there, he worked to
establish a non-invasive quantification
method for axon regrowth after nerve injury
using transgenic mice whose axons
constitutively express yellow fluorescent
protein. As he adjusts to life in Ann Arbor,
he thanks the 80 hour workweek and
recently closed SICU for allowing him time
to continue his hobbies of rock and
mountain climbing and ballroom dancing.
He’s been rock climbing all over but
(Graduating Residents continued)
He and his wife Maria have two wonderful
children, Sophie and Kai. Sameer can be
reached at 1161York Avenue,Apartment
9-L,New York, NY 10021;
734-223-2594; sjejurikar@gmail.com.
Robert R. Rodrigues, MD
Dr. Rodrigues grew up in Butte, Montana,
and completed his undergraduate degree
from Carrol College in Helena. He then
moved to Denver, Co,
for his medical degree
at the University of
Colorado. After 4
years in the integrated
program at Case
Western Reserve, the
plastic surgery residency program was
closed by the RRC. UM was fortunate to
pick-up Dr. Rodrigues who finished his
last two years in our plastic surgery training
and is now one of 5 Hand Fellows at the
prestigious Mayo Clinic. He and wife,
Diana, and three children--Tristan (10),
Bryson (8), and Eliya (3)--are still unclear
as to where they will relocate following this
one year fellowship.
Robert can be reached at 4860 Valley Dr.
NW, Rochester, MN 55901;
507-292-0314; robert.48176@gmail.com.
N EW R ESIDENTS W ELCOME!
concentrating in the mountains of the
Pacific Northwest with recent ascents of
Mount Baker and Mount Adams in
Washington in addition to a thirty day
crossing of British Columbia’s Waddington
Range.
James P. Phillips grew up in
Oklahoma, and did his
undergraduate work at
Oklahoma State
University, and Medical
Degree at the University
of Oklahoma.
Robert B. Maniker
grew up in Cleveland
Ohio, and did his
undergraduate work at
University of Michigan,
and Medical Degree at the
University of Michigan.
2 R E E D O . D I N G M A N S O C I E T Y
R ESIDENCY P ROGRAM N EWS
By Steve Kasten, MD
On the residency front, there is mixed news.
We had another successful recruiting year,
and matched three outstanding students into
the integrated program. This July we
welcomed Chris Pannucci (MD, Washington
University), Jimmy Phillips (MD, Oklahoma
University) and Rob Maniker (MD,
University of Michigan) as our new interns.
Expect great things from them in the future.
Although our training program
continues to improve in many ways and
produce outstanding residents, we must
inform you that the Plastic Surgery
Residency Review Committee (RRC) had
three concerns at our site visit in 2004. We
felt that the concerns were easily addressed
and petitioned the RRC with our solution.
The RRC agreed; it appeared that the issues
had been resolved, but felt that probation
was warranted until it could be documented
with a repeat site visit. Confident that we
were in complete compliance with the
program requirements, we requested an
expedited repeat site visit. We are pleased to
inform you that we completed that site visit
August 29th, and presented thorough
documentation that we remain an
outstanding program. We eagerly await a
response from the RRC and anticipate a
return to full accreditation.
A LUMNI AND
R ESIDENT N EWS:
Tim Janiga announces
the birth of daughter Ayla
Christine Janiga.
His wife Jennifer started
dermatology residency at
Henry-Ford.
Keith Wolter and wife Jill
announce their first child,
Fiona Skye Wolter, on
August 25th, 2005. She,
and Mom, are doing great!
No new pets – the dog is
very jealous, though.
Jafar Hasan announce the birth of his son
Ahmed Hasan. He also won Micrins
Microsurgical Instruments Award for
Outstanding Clinical Research (at the
Dingman talks). The Authors: J. Hasan,
K. Chung., A. Storey, M. Bolg, P. Taheri
titled “Financial Impact of Hand Surgery Programs on
Academic Medical Centers”

A LUMNI AND R ESIDENT N EWS: (continued)
Dr. Christi Cavaliere was awarded the
Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars
Program and married Todd Bafus in
December.
Salvatore J. Pacella, M.D. was married
on May 28, 2005 to Jennifer Flegier in
Buffalo, N.Y. Several of his fellow residents
and attendings attended the ceremony.
Dr. Pacella also graduated with an M.B.A.
from the Ross School of Business at the
University of Michigan in May 2005.
Marlene (Calderon) Welch completed her
training in June of 2004. Since that time,
she has been an Assistant
Professor of Surgery at the
Medical University of Ohio
in Toledo. She successfully
completed her written board
examination and is preparing
for her oral board examination.
Throughout her residency, Dr. Welch was
actively involved in basic science research and
earned a PhD in muscle physiology. She is
currently collaborating with Dr. George
Cicila and Dr. David Allison at MUO,
preparing to submit a KO8 grant. She is
working on a rat model of obesity to define
candidate genes for polygenic obesity. Dr.
Welch has a busy clinical practice with
emphasis on breast surgery. In March,
Marlene Calderon married Philip Welch, of
Ann Arbor. They reside in Dundee,
Michigan and are looking forward to the
birth of their first child December 31st.
Ramin Behmand, MD (UMPRS ‘01)
continues to thrive in private practice in the
Walnut Creek suburb of San Francisco, CA.
The office and staff of the Behmand Institute
of Plastic Surgery provide an atmosphere for
superior patient-centered care. Dr.
Behmand has now begun to share his
expertise as an instructor in the Division of
Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery of the
University of California at San Francisco.
He is highly
committed
to the clinical
advancement
of our
specialty.
He has been
traveling on
Dr. Ian Jackson, Chief of Plastic Surgery and Director of
the Craniofacial Institute at Providence Hospital, served as
our 17th Annual Dingman Visiting Professor June 9-10,
2005. Dr. Jackson is an internationally renowned and
respected figure in plastic surgery
and we were honored to have the
opportunity to have him visit us in
Ann Arbor. Dr. Jackson gave a
fantastic presentation at the
Department of Surgery Grand
Rounds entitled “Management of
Skull Based Tumors”. His talk
emphasized to our colleagues in
Surgery the multifaceted role that
plastic surgeons play in helping to
solve a wide variety of reconstructive
problems in a diverse assortment of
patients. The residents had the opportunity to benefit from
Dr. Jackson’s expertise first hand during informal teaching
Drs. Behmand & Kasten
surgical missions since residency, most
recently to the Philippines this year,
operating on children with congenital and
acquired deformities. He is a true credit to
our training program.
17TH D INGMAN L ECTURE &VISITING P ROFESSORSHIP
Dr. Ian T. Jackson
2 0 0 5 N E W S L E T T E R
M ARGALIOT’ S
D EPARTURE:
We are sorry to be losing one of our
staff members this year. Dr. Zvi
Margaliot, who joined the faculty in the
summer of 2003, has left us to return
to Toronto, Canada.
After completing his
plastic surgery
training at the
University of
Toronto, Ontario,
Canada. Dr.
Margaliot completed a hand and
microsurgery fellowship at the Kleinert
Institute in Louisville, Kentucky. He
was a valuable addition to our busy
faculty, and he will be missed.
Zvi has taken a position at Trillium
Health Centre in Mississauga, Ontario,
which is in the Greater Toronto Area,
working as a hand and wrist surgeon.
He will also be covering hand and
plastics call at Trillium Health Centre,
the Credit Valley Health System, Halton
Health System, and William Osler
Health Care Centre. This is a nonacademic
position.
sessions and through case presentations. He also served as
our distinguished judge and guest moderator for our annual
resident research competition. The afternoon of research
talks by our trainees rivaled the program at any of our
national meetings. This years Micrin’s
Plastic Surgery Basic Science Award
recipient was Gregory Borschel. The
Clinical Research Award recipient was
Jafar Hasan. Dr. Jackson’s Dingman
Lecture Entitled: “Management of
Craniofacial Vascular Malformations”,
was both enlightening and humbling.
The breadth of his knowledge,
experience and skill in a particularly
challenging aspect of our specialty
captivated all those present. The faculty
and residents of the Section of Plastic
Surgery would like to thank Dr. Jackson for serving as the
2005 Dingman Lecturer & Visiting Professor.
3

This year is particularly exciting for the
hand program because a number of our
residents have matched into hand
fellowships and we are hosting several
international hand surgery fellows who
are training with us. Robert Rodrigues is
doing his hand fellowship at the Mayo
Clinic, which is one of the premier hand
surgery programs in the country.
Catherine Curtin, after a successful
Robert Wood Johnson Clinical
Scholarship, will do her hand fellowship
at Stanford University, another premier
hand surgery program where she can
foster her research and clinical interest in
the upper extremity rehabilitation of
spinal cord injuries. Equally impressive is
Christi Cavalier’s selection as the 2006-8
Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at
the University of Michigan. She will learn
about clinical trials and outcomes
research during her two-year fellowship.
Many international scholars are
training with us in hand surgery. Dr
Kenji Kawamura, Assistant Professor of
Surgery at Nara University in Japan, is
doing a 6-month hand/research
fellowship with us. He has already
submitted three manuscripts for
publication. Dr S.E. Kim, an attending
plastic surgeon from Pohang, South
Korea is starting his one year
hand/research fellowship with us.
Gulden Avci, MD Ministry of Health, Dr. Lutfi
Kirdar Kartal Education &
Research Hospital,
Instanbul, Turkey
Ayman Ahmed Elmeligy, MD Ain Shams University
Cairo, Egypt
4
I NTERNATIONAL F ELLOWS
Mazen Silman Al-Janabi, MD Shaikh Khalifi Medical Center
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Kenji Kawamura, MD Nara Medical University,
Nara, Japan
Seong Eon Kim, MD Pohan SM Christianity Hospital,
Pohang, Korea
A couple of foreign fellows sponsored
by major societies in the US will also visit
us in the next few months. Dr Ching-
Hua Hsieh, attending plastic surgeon
from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in
Taiwan, is the American College of
Surgeons International Travelling Fellow.
He will visit us as part of his fellowship.
In 2006, Dr Maria Skvortsova, a hand
surgeon from Moscow, Russia will visit us
as the American Society for Surgery of
Hand International Fellow.
We are privileged to have an
international interest to learn from us.
Our international trainees and visitors
have enriched our residency program. It
has also provided invaluable experiences
for our faculty and residents to new ideas
and cultures from abroad.
–Kevin Chung
Dr. Shohei Omokawa, Chief of
Orthopedic Surgery at Ishinkai-Yao
General Hospital in Osaka, Japan visited
the Section of Plastic Surgery in September
2004. Dr. Omokawa’s visit was part of his
itinerary as the Traveling Fellow of the
Japanese Society for Surgery of the Hand.
Dr. Omokawa observed our clinics and
operating rooms, and gave didactic sessions
for our faculty and residents, including a
session on his innovative approach to
difficult phalangeal fractures.
C LINICAL F ELLOWS, 2004-2005
NAME HOME INSTITUTION UM HOST FACULTY TENURE
William Kuzon, MD, PhD 12/2004 – 3/2004
Steven Buchman, MD 9/2004 – 9/2006
Edwin Wilkins, MD 6/2005 – 8/2005
Kevin Chung, MD 6/2005 – 12/2005
Kevin Chung, MD 9/2005 – 8/2006
R E E D O . D I N G M A N S O C I E T Y
F OR S ALE:
Dr. Gary Nobel who will be coming to
Ann Arbor for his Medical School
Alumni Reunion, October 7-8 is also
winding down his practice in San
Diego, California in the next year.
Of course, he hopes a U-M
Graduate will assume his practice. If
interested, please contact Dr. Nobel at
glnob@aol.com.
Drs. Sherick, Peled & Buchman
Dr. Issac Peled, Professor and Chief of the
Department of Plastic Surgery at Rambam
Medical Center in Haifa, Israel, visited the
Section of Plastic Surgery in August, 2004.
Dr. Peled spent time in the clinic and the
OR, and gave two teaching sessions on
innovative approaches to clinical problems,
including wound closure, lip
reconstruction, and the cleft lip nasal
deformity. Dr. Peled is a Dingman Society
member, having completed a fellowship
with Dr. Dingman.

This past academic year, the faculty and
residents at Michigan continued to excel
at both the national and international
level, receiving honors, awards, and
special recognitions that are far too
numerous to cite individually. The
following are some of the highlights,
offering a glimpse of our proud
accomplishments.
Our faculty has traveled all over the
world giving invited lectures and visiting
professorships this year. Dr. Kuzon was
invited to speak on neurovascular muscle
transfers at “Advances in Plastic Surgery,” an
international symposium held in
Hannover, Germany. Dr. Rees traveled
to Paris, France, to present at the World
Union of Wound Healing Society.
F ACULTY/RESIDENT A CCOMPLISHMENTS:
Finally, Dr. Chung presented his work
on distal radius fracture fixation as an
invited speaker both in Japan and in
Australia, adding 2 additional continents
to the list.
Closer to home, Dr. Buchman gave
several invited lectures, on topics ranging
from facial fractures to stem cells, at the
Florida Cleft Palate meeting in Daytona
Beach. In New York City–on September
11, 2004, in fact–Dr. Chung reported
on his Sterling Bunnell traveling
fellowship to the members of the
American Society for Surgery of the
Hand. On the heels of completing this
very prestigious fellowship, Dr. Chung
has been awarded an additional honor:
as the American College of Surgeons’
U NIVERSITY OF M ICHIGAN
S ECTION OF P LASTIC S URGERY 2005
1st row - Gregory Borchel, Robert Rodrigues, William Kuzon Jr, Sameer Jejurikar
2nd row - Cynthia Marcelo, De-Hong Tang, Edwin Wilkins, Salvatore Pacella, Paul
Cederna, Steven Haase, Nicholas Watson, Jafar Hasan, Christi Cavaliere, Catherine
Curtin, Daniel Sherick, Emily Hu
3rd row - teven Kasten, Laura Monson, Amy Holland, Keith Wolter, Brent Egeland,
Joon Choi, Jeffrey Kozlow, Timothy Janiga, Andrew Zwyghuizen, Douglas Sammer,
Amy Alderman, David Brown
Not pictured - Steven Buchman, Kevin Chung, Zvi Margaliot, M. Haskell Newman, Riley
Rees, Richard Beil, David Hing, Paul Izenberg, John Markley, Robert Oneal, Michael
Bernstein, Edwin Chang, Jonathan Wilensky, Tonyia Seeland, Melanie Urbanchek
2 0 0 5 N E W S L E T T E R
2004-2005 Australia/New Zealand
Traveling Fellow, he will continue to
represent Michigan Plastic Surgery on the
international stage.
Our residents continue to make us
very proud as well. For his work in tissue
engineering, Dr. Borschel took home
the Best Research Paper Award at the
2005 Plastic Surgery Senior Residents
Conference, the Outstanding Basic
Science Paper Award at the Michigan
Academy of Plastic Surgeons, and the
First Prize for PSEF Basic Research Grant
Award at the 2004 ASPS meeting in
Philadelphia. To recognize his overall
accomplishments in research, Dr.
Borschel also received the Crudup
Award, given annually to the resident
with the most outstanding research
record in the Department of Surgery.
There are far too many additional
honors to list in this brief column, many
of which are equally impressive. Please
join us in congratulating all of our faculty
and residents on another outstanding
year.
J OY G. LOVE’ S
M Y L I F E W I T H O U T
P E R F E C T I O N
B ASED ON A T RUE S TORY
Joy Love was a patient of Dr. Dingman’s
and dedicated the book to him.
Available at www.publishamerica.com or
amazon.com or your local book store.
5

A N H OMAGE T O M Y F RIEND — JOHN E DWARD O’CONNOR
On November 16, 2002 in North
Vietnam, an enduring friendship came to
an abrupt and mournful end. The place
was Hoa Binh –
“Peace” in
English – a
struggling,
dusty little
city located
43 miles west
of Hanoi.
The main
thoroughfare
bisecting the
bustling, but poor metropolis is daily
filled with the cacophony of the blaring
trumpets of lorries, incessant beeps of
mopeds and honking of automobile
horns. Just off this street, at the bottom
of a slight incline is a squat, sprawling
hospital complex of vintage French
architecture. Peeling beige paint and airy
buildings speak of another, and perhaps,
better time. The Vietnamese had long
repaired the craters and the hole blown
through the roof of the main building by
US Air Force bombing during the
Vietnamese-American war. John
O’Connor and I had come to this City of
Peace on a medical mission, and it was
here in this spare, old hospital – the same
room where we had operated on palates
just 12 hours earlier – he lay dying.
It had all started, 30 years before and
8,000 miles away in the quintessential
university town of Ann Arbor. We were
fellow residents in plastic surgery at the
University of Michigan. It was a unique
class–Bruce Novark, an oral surgeon,
John, a dentist and otolaryngologist, and
myself, a general surgeon – all board
certified. We would be guided, for two
years, by a notable troika of teachers –
each a perfect compliment to the other
two: the cerebral and perfectionist Bob
Oneal; the meticulous and methodical
Bill Grabb whose encyclopedic knowledge
of plastic surgery was downright
intimidating; and the chief – an
innovator, pragmatist and super-surgeon,
the imperturbable Reed O. Dingman. To
hold together that disparate sextet of
personalities was the supremely efficient
and erudite Lauralee Lutz, a.k.a. L-3,
who carried the rather insufficient title of
“Secretary”, but whom we residents knew
was the “de facto Chief”. Those were
heady times, and more than anyone, we
could attribute our fine spirit of
camaraderie and cooperativeness to that
tall, effervescent Nebraskan, John
O’Connor. I can say, without fear of
contradiction, that we had the finest
plastic surgery group anywhere.
John and I bonded despite our
considerable differences. How many
residents with a family, at the end of a
long day, would come by the operating
room to find out how things were going
and give a hand in an incontinuity
resection of a
left forehead melanoma,
parotidectomy and
radical neck dissection –
or drop by at the end of
the day and help finish a
hip disarticulation and
thigh flap? John
O’Connor would. We
covered each other’s cases
and freely shared our
expertise. Politics never
intruded on our
conversations, but we
knew and respected each
other’s sentiments. John
hovered to the right of the center, I was
firmly implanted to the left, but over that
chasm we found a bridge of common
interests and mutual affection. I had
profound respect for his breadth of
knowledge, his intellectual curiosity, and
his intellectual honesty.
John was one of those rare individuals
6 R E E D O . D I N G M A N S O C I E T Y
a person meets, maybe, once or twice in a
lifetime – a sui generis. Where do you find
a guy whom you have to fight to pay the
bill every time you go to a restaurant? We
were in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1985
and John told me about this exciting
restaurant located on an old plantation.
By that time, I had up given up squabbling
with him over who would pay and stated
flatly: “ John, it is my turn to pay and I
am not going unless we have that clear!”
Thinking he had conceded, we went to the
restaurant that evening. Never sure that
he hadn’t again outwitted me, I
surreptitiously handed the maitre d’ my
credit card and told him: “That big fellow
there with the toothpick stuck between his
teeth is going to try to pay the bill, but
just tell him it’s been taken care of.” The
maitre d’ sympathetically responded: “ I
am sorry, sir, but that big fellow came in
this afternoon and paid.”
Left to right, Bottom row: Reed Dingman & Bill Grabb
Top Row: Jim Norris, Bruce Novark & John O’Connor
John could be devastatingly
outspoken. His frankness was never
motivated by viciousness – just honesty.
Once he walked in the operating room
while I was in the middle of a procedure,
looked over my shoulder and asked: “ Jim,
what are you doing?” and as I proceeded
to show him – he proclaimed, with the

least finesse in his booming, baritone
voice: “Why Jim, that is just wrong!”
Not offended, I simply replied: “John,
you may be right, but this is the way I am
doing it.”
His folksy homilies and signature
toothpick disappearing between his lips
were as much a part of his persona as his
distinctive laugh and gentle manner. John
had a bank of aphorisms that he would
draw on whenever the situation
demanded. Once I got in an argument
with him; the more I said, the worse I
sounded; he finally and curtly cut off the
discussion: “Jim, when you’re in a hole,
quit digging.”
I had hoped that John would have
stayed at the U of M for I felt he belonged
there, but at the end of the residency, he
took off for the hills of Montana.
Although I had numerous invitations to
visit him, my great regret is that I never
did. Nevertheless, we made just about
every society meeting, and our families
always had the ritual dinner. Only in the
three years before he passed did I take him
up on his offer to travel together on
medical missions. Our first trip was to
Brazil in 1999. In 2002, we were off to
Honduras. While on the trip to
Honduras, he asked about my trips to
Vietnam. He said: “You know, I always
wanted to go there.”
J OHN E DWARD O’CONNOR ( CONT.)
On John’s first mission to Vietnam
and his last anywhere, he operated every
day for four days. On Thursday,
November 15th he repaired three
palates, teaching the staff on each one.
I marveled at his patience and
consideration for the
residents. That evening
we were invited to a
goat’s meat dinner, but
he declined the
invitation because of an
earlier commitment.
I returned about
midnight to the Thap
Vang Hotel in Hoa Binh
and he was having severe
pain. I was relieved I
hadn’t twisted his arm
about joining us for I
would have surely felt that the meal had
contributed to his illness. I insisted that
we go over to the hospital and have him
checked, but he steadfastly refused. He
couldn’t sleep for discomfort; I couldn’t
sleep because I knew he was having
discomfort, so we talked. We regaled
each other with
stories about
ourselves and our
wives – Bunny of 46
years and Motoko of
35 years, and our
sons, his three –
Dan, Sven, and Bill
and my son, Takashi,
of whom we were
intensely proud. We
brought up again the
visit he and Bunny
had taken to Tokyo
to visit Bill about
1995. Takashi was living there and he
and Bill had connected. They all agreed
to go out for dinner. To this day, it is
not clear which son selected the
restaurant. What is not in dispute is the
2 0 0 5 N E W S L E T T E R
bill – $800.00 for the four. I asked:
“John, how in the hell could those guys
select a restaurant where the cost was
$200.00 a person?” He shot back in
his inimitable style: “Oh Jim, that’s easy
– they weren’t paying for it.” John
would be dead six hours later.
John had been in Vietnam with our
group only five days, but in that brief
period he had captured the hearts of
everyone. The outpouring of grief over
his death came from the Vietnamese and
the Americans – doctors, nurses,
volunteers, hotel staff, but most
poignantly, the parents of the children
he had helped. Did John have a
premonition of his impending death?
We don’t know. We all are puzzled as to
why he would bring some 160 odd
surgical instruments to the mission.
The family donated them to Project
Vietnam. A memorial service was held
and it was fitting that Project Vietnam
named the mission, The John O’Connor
Medical Mission.
Barry Behrstock, a physician
volunteer with Project Vietnam, could
not have written a
more appropriate
epitaph than these
words in the 2002
Newsletter: “He had a
great life, a great last day
filled with everything he
valued most. He was
loving, caring, gregarious,
skillfully applying his well
honed surgical talents and
nurturing. He loved his life
and up until the last
moment, he generously
shared his mind, life,
spirit and talent with everyone. This is and was a
great man.”
I might add: “and a great friend.”
- James E. C. Norris, M.D.
9

In 1980, the US Congress passed the
Bayh-Dole technology-transfer law which
allowed universities and researchers
ownership of
research
breakthroughs
that were
developed on
campuses with
the backing of
federal
funding. This
transfer of
technology
from the
campus to the
marketplace
has been a
financial
windfall for
both the
university and
the
researcher. In
this article we
focus our
attention on
two Dingman
Society
members who
have made this transfer: Ernie Manders
(Promethean LifeSciences) and Riley Rees
(KeraCure).
It is not surprising that the Dingman
Society should promote such entrepreneurial
spirits; founder, Reed O. Dingman designed
the Dingman Mouth Gag which was
manufactured by Dick Sarns, founder of
Sarns-3M (now Terumo). The Dingman
Mouth Gag is still used today for cleft palate
surgery.
Ernie Manders, MD, wife, Sandra and
third son, Christian work in Promethean
LifeSciences. They produce a wound
dressing. The dressing is prepared from
human allograft skin harvested from multiple
organ donors. They process it in such a way
that it can be stored for two years at room
T ECHNOLOGY T RANSFER IN THE D INGMAN S OCIETY
temperature and it is used straight out of the
bag with no preparation. It sticks to the
wound and in two hours you need no over
dressing.
The patient
may bathe in it
and wear
clothes over it.
It lasts typically
from 4 to 8
weeks
depending on
the nature of
the wound.
It has been a
lifesaver in
Afghanistan
and Iraq
where it
traveled with
our Special
Forces and was
used in
treating Iraqi
burn victims.
It is now sold
all over the US
and
Promethean
has a Japanese
partner who will be their Far Eastern
distributor.
From here the company is branching out
to launch a new tissue expander with an
adjustable base. It makes each expander a
custom model because you can make it longer
or shorter and change the angle between the
arms so that it fits the defect of each patient.
This will greatly simplify the challenge of
maintaining an inventory of tissue expanders
because only four sizes will be needed to treat
small to extremely large defects.
Beyond this Promethean has new
technology in the patent offices in the US
and abroad that will be of major importance
for world medicine. They are also filing a
preliminary patent application for a new
means of cancer radiation therapy. In short,
10 R E E D O . D I N G M A N S O C I E T Y
Promethean is booming and the Manders are
enjoying it more every year. The business is
one of the few biotech startups that is selling
product and is actually profitable!
But that is not to say that the road was
easy. Dr. Manders admits; “We have learned a
lot in the process. We could give a heck of a
talk to a business or medical audience. We
have dealt with the FDA, the Federal Courts
(over naked patent infringement), and
foreign businesses and regulatory agencies.
We have been deeply involved in developing
new intellectual property and then protecting
it. We have learned that with a good idea
you can start a business without VC money
and make it a success. We have learned to
budget and sweat, from anxiety and effort,
also! Sometime I hope we get to tell this
story.”
KeraCure, a University of Michigan
start-up, has submitted an investigational
advice exemption to the FDA for approval.
The company, which just completed a pilot
trial with 11 patients, demonstrated successful
healing of diabetic foot ulcers. The company
is prepared to start a multi-center clinical
trial and has applied for approval to treat
approximately 300 patients in 15 centers.
The product, which is a keratinocyte
bandage, will be used to treat diabetic
foot ulcers.
KeraCure, was started five years ago at
the University of Michigan, was founded by
Riley Rees, M.D., a
plastic surgeon who is
the Director of the
University of
Michigan Wound
Care Center. The
company has been
capitalized with $7.6
million and has business
offices in Chicago and a manufacturing site
in Boston. The KeraCure patents are owned
by the University of Michigan will provide
royalties to the Section of Plastic Surgery if
successful.
– Riley S. Rees, M.D.

A MOMENT WITH S TEVEN “JUGS” GITT, MD, FACS
I have had an enjoyable association with Luke Air Force Base
here in Phoenix since my first few years of practice in the early
1990s. I have cared for many military and dependants over
that time. The military insurance carrier, Tricare, is both
difficult to deal with and a poor payer. Most of my colleagues
do not participate. Consequently, we see many of its patients.
I was introduced to the base commander, General Phillip
“Bwana” Breedlove in late 2003 at a function at the Luke AFB
officers club. Bwana knew of my commitment to, and support
of, the local military community. He also knew of my
fascination with Jet fighters and their exploits. He kindly
offered to nominate me to join the Honorary Commanders
ranks. I accepted and was inducted as Honorary commander
of the 56th Aerospace Medical Squadron in 10/2004.
My family and I
have enjoyed our
wonderful
interactions with
the base community
and we have tried to
“give back”
generously to those
who defend our freedom. One of the ‘perks’ of being an
honorary commander is the privilege of the “incentive flight”.
Mine was set for 8-19-2005 at 1440 hours. My pilot, Major
Rod “Kid” Gard was the reigning
“Top-Gun” at Luke. He spent the entire
day with me including egress training
(how to get into and out of the jet and
emergency conditions including
ejection), medical clearance, G-Suit and
harness fitting, and pre-flight briefing.
We took off of runway 3 northward over
Northern Avenue at precisely 1440
hours. The F-16 is also known as the
“Viper”. Kid had my wife and good
friend, Lt. Colonel Ty “Split” Witt (his
name is from his OB-Gyn training) park
2 0 0 5 N E W S L E T T E R
my Viper on Northern Avenue at the end of the runway. We
took off on full afterburners and flew to the road at 50 feet.
We reached 400+
MPH and headed
up into a 60 degree
climb over the
other Viper. Stacey
and Split were
super heated by Jet
wash. We flew north
to the Grand
Canyon and Lake
Powell. We then
headed south and
west. I flew the jet most of the way. Before heading back to
Luke, we did some barrel rolls, loops, and high speed
maneuvers. We topped out at 8.4Gs. No, I did not get sick as
most civilians do. We did 3 touch and go landings before
circling back and landing.
The whole crew of the “Top Dogs” 61st fighter squadron
was there for our arrival with my family and I got a fire hose
shower in celebration. That night I was included in the sacred
student pilot naming ceremony (Luke is a training base and
the largest fighter wing in the world). My fighter pilot name is
“Jugs”. No one at Luke calls me Steve or Dr. Gitt anymore. I
am known to all as Jugs.
The flight and related experiences
were, of course, awesome and
outstanding. More importantly, however,
I have been blessed by the opportunities
for me and my family to get to know the
men and women of Luke air force base.
These experiences have added greatly to
all of our lives and we now have
incredible respect and admiration for
our persons in uniform. Best regards
to all.
11

Options for reconstruction of peripheral nerve
gaps are currently limited. In clinical practice,
long nerve gaps following injury or tumor
resection that cannot be repaired primarily are
repaired with autologous nerve grafts. This
procedure requires sacrifice of healthy nerves
with permanent functional impairments. In
some clinical situations, there may not be
sufficient autologous nerve available for
reconstruction of larger, more complex nerve
defects. As a result, some investigators and
clinicians have turned to peripheral nerve
allografting as an alternative (MacKinnon
1992). The main obstacle to widespread clinical
use of peripheral nerve allografts however has
been T cell mediated immune rejection
(Ansselin 1990). Although potent
immunosuppressive drugs are currently
available to prevent graft rejection, they are
associated with many toxicities. In addition,
chronic global suppression of the immune
system with these medications may result in
opportunistic infections or secondary
malignancies and their routine use in nerve
allografting is not justified (Elster 2000).
Therefore more selective immunomodulatory
strategies to prevent graft rejection of peripheral
nerve allografts such as induction of specific
immune tolerance will need to be developed
before this technique can be routinely used
clinically.
The CD40-CD40L co-stimulatory
pathway has been shown to play a crucial role in
allograft rejection. CD40 is a 50-kDa
membrane glycoprotein found on a variety of
antigen-presenting cells (APCs) of grafted
tissue. The ligand for this membrane receptor
is CD40L, a 39-kDa glycoprotein that is
preferentially expressed on activated CD4+ T
helper cells of the recipient. The CD40-
CD40L interaction mediates T cell immune
responses by enhancing the co-stimulatory
pathway which leads to rejection (Steurer
2001). Manipulation of the CD40-CD40L
co-stimulatory pathway may be beneficial in
preventing allograft rejection. Indeed,
T HE CD40-CD40L CO - STIMULATORY P ATHWAY
IN P ERIPHERAL N ERVE A LLOGRAFT R EJECTION
-Paul S Cederna, M.D., Anil K Mungara, M.D., Sherri Y Wood, Keith D Bishop, PhD.
consistent with its central role in cell mediated
immunity, blockade of CD40-CD40L by anti-
CD40L monoclonal antibody (mAb) has been
shown to prevent rejection of solid organ
transplants such as cardiac and renal allografts
(Kirk 1997, 1999,Larsen 1996,Kenyon 1999,
Pierson 1999).
Current thinking about the mechanisms
leading to tissue rejection following
transplantation revolve around T cell receptor
(TCR) binding to genetically disparate major
histocompatibility class II antigens (MHC II Ag)
on APCs. The binding of the TCR to the
MHC II antigen leads to release of cytokines
from the T cell that lead to rejection of the
grafted tissue. The most important cytokines
released in this process are interferon gamma
(INF- g) and interleukins (IL) 2, 4, and 5.
INF- g and IL-2 are designated as TH1
responses and mediate cellular rejection by
activating macrophages as well as helper T and
cytotoxic T cells. IL-4 and IL-5 are designated
as TH2 responses and mediate humoral
rejection by transforming B lymphocytes into
plasma cells with subsequent antibody
production.
In addition to the MHC II Ag, APCs of
the transplanted tissue also express a molecule
referred to as CD40 on their cell surface.
When T cells encounter the foreign MHC II Ag
of grafted tissue they become activated and
produce the ligand for the CD40 molecule,
referred to as CD40L on their cell surface.
Interaction of CD40 with CD40L is essential
for the TCR binding to the transplanted MHC
II antigen. Without this CD40-CD40L costimulatory
pathway, the T cell receptor cannot
bind to the MHC II antigen of the grafted
tissue, and cytokine production is inhibited,
averting the cellular and humoral response
cascades. This data has led many investigators to
block this pathway using a monoclonal antibody
directed against the CD40L molecule of
activated T cells in an attempt to induce
tolerance to transplanted tissue. This approach
has been shown to be highly effective in
12 R E E D O . D I N G M A N S O C I E T Y
preventing rejection in cardiac and renal
transplantation models (Kirk 1997, Pierson
1999). However, induction of tolerance to
nerve allografts using this method has yet to be
determined.
In previous work from our laboratory, we
have used sciatic nerve grafting between
genetically disparate strains of mice such as
BALB/c and C57BL/6 as a model of peripheral
nerve allografting. Sciatic nerves from BALB/c
donor mice are placed into a subcutaneous
pocket in the back of recipient C57BL/6 mice.
Following nerve grafting and post-op recovery,
we harvest splenocytes and brachial lymph node
cells and expose these cells to the alloantigens
from the peripheral nerve graft donor.
Cytokine production (INF- g, ILs-2, 4, and5)
by these cells is then measured by the ELISPOT
technique as a measure of cellular rejection.
Humoral rejection is evaluated by measuring
serum IgM and IgG levels by mean channel
fluorescence. In this model, we have found that
treatment of mice with a 3 day course of anti-
CD40L mAb at the time of nerve allografting
significantly reduces both T cell mediated TH1
and TH2 responses as well as alloantibody
production. The reduction in cytokine
production is demonstrated in T cells isolated
from the spleen as well as the draining lymph
node basin. In addition, this hyporesponsiveness
may be tissue specific as
rechallenge with nerve allograft maintains an
attenuated response while rechallenge with
cardiac allografts results in a more dramatic
response.
In cardiac and renal allograft models, the
reported timing and duration of the anti-
CD40L mAb is quite variable. When
treatment is delayed until 5 days after surgery
in the mouse model of cardiac
transplantation, no prolongation of graft
survival has been observed (Larsen 1996).
Because sensitization to nerve allografts occurs
within the first several weeks following
transplantation, coverage of the host with
anti-CD40L mAb at least during this period

appears to be critical in promoting graft
success.
The exact mechanism of CD40L blockade
in inhibiting graft rejection has been
investigated by several groups. CD40L is found
on activated CD4+ cells. At least in some animal
models, CD40L blockade induces a state of
reversible T cell anergy (Yamada 2002). In the
induction phase of anti-CD40L mAb therapy,
apoptosis of antigen reactive T cells is known to
be enhanced (Graca 2000,Li 1999,Wells
1999). However, this may not be the only
mechanism of tolerance. Graca has shown that
tolerance, once it has been induced by anti-
CD40L mAb, cannot be broken by the
adoptive transfer of large numbers of naïve
nontolerant T cells. In addition, when these
naïve cells are allowed to coexist with the
regulatory population for 6 weeks, they become
tolerant themselves, exhibiting infectious
tolerance(Yamada 2002).
Although it is now clear that CD40L
blockade is effective in inhibiting CD4+ T cell
responses, it is not as effective in blocking
CD8+ T cell activation (Iwakoshi 2000, Jones
2000). It has been suggested that this may be
why anti-CD40L monotherapy is ineffective in
preventing chronic graft rejection (Ensminger
2000, Guillot 2002). While this may be true
for solid organ transplants such as cardiac or
renal grafts, chronic rejection is not as much of
a concern in nerve allografts. Nerve allografts
mainly function as a scaffold to allow host axons
and schwann cells to grow into the graft.
Blockade of the host rejection process is only
required until this ingrowth has occurred and
the grafted nerve is completely replaced by host
nerve. Once this has occurred, nerve allografts
will no longer elicit an immunologic response.
Peripheral nerve allografting holds
promise as a possible alternative to
autografting. However, for this to become a
reality, rejection is the main obstacle that needs
to be overcome. At present, the risks of
immusuppressive drugs do not justify their
routine use in clinical nerve allografting.
Therapies aimed at co-stimulatory pathway
blockade may allow nerve allografting to
become clinically useful in the future.
References:
MacKinnon SE, Hudson AR. Clinical application of
peripheral nerve transplantation. Plast. Reconstr. Surg.
90:695-699,1992
Ansselin AD, Pollard JD. Immunopathological factors in
peripheral nerve allograft rejection: Quantification of
lymphocyte invasion and major histocompatibility
complex expression. J. Neurol. Sci. 96:75-78, 1990
Elster AE, Blair PJ, Kirk AD. Potential of co-stimulation
based therapies for composite tissue allotransplantation.
Microsurgery 20:430-434, 2000
Steurer W, Oellinger R, Perwanger F, Brandacher G, et
al. Prolonged allograft survival following ex vivo blockade
of costimulatory signals B7-1/2 and CD40.
Transplantation proceedings. 33:274-275, 2001
Kirk AD, Burkly LC, Batty DS et al. Treatment with
humanized monoclonal antibody against CD154 prevents
acute renal allograft rejection in nonhuman primates.
Nat Med 5:686-693, 1999
Larsen CP, Elwood ET, Alexander DZ, et al. Long-term
acceptance of skin and cardiac allografts after blocking
CD40 and CD28 pathways. Nature 381:434-438, 1996
Kenyon NS, Chatzipetrou M, Masetti, M et al. Long
term survival and fuction of intrahepatic islet allografts in
rhesus monkeys treated with humanized anti-CD154
Proc Natl Acad SCi USA 96:8132-8137, 1999
Lederman S. The role of CD154 (CD40-Ligand) in
costimulation. Transplantation Proceedings 33;202-
206, 2001
Yamada A, Sayegh M.The CD154-CD40 costimulatory
pathway in transplantation. Transplantation 73:s36-39,
2002
Graca L, Honey K, Adams E, Cobbold S, Waldmann H.
Cutting Edge: Anti-CD154 therapeutic antibodies
induce infectious tolerance. Journal of Immunology .
165:4783-4786, 2000
Li Y, Li XC, Zheng A et al.Blocking both signal 1 and
signal 2 of T cell activation prevents apoptosis of
alloreactive T cells and induction of peripheral allograft
tolerance. Nat. Med. 5:1298, 1999
Wells AD, Li XC, Li, Y, et al. Requirement for T cell
apoptosis in the induction of peripheral transplantation
tolerance.Nat. Med. 5:1303, 1999
Iwakoshi NN, Mordes JP, Markees TG, Phillips NE,
Rossini AA, Greiner DL. Treatment of allograft
recipients with donor-specific transfusion and anti-
CD154 antibody leads to deletion of alloreactive CD8+ T
cells and prolonged graft survival in a CTA4-dependent
manner. J Immunol 164:512, 2000
Jones ND, Van Maurik A, Hara M, et al.CD40-CD40
ligand independent activation of CD8+ T cells can
trigger allograft rejection. J Immunol 165:1111 , 2000
Ensminger SM, Witzke O, Spriewald BM, et al.CD8+ T
cells contribute to the development of transplant
arteriosclerosis despite CD154 blockade. Transplantation
69;2609, 2000
Guillot C, Guillonneau C, Mathieu P, Gerdes C, et al.
Prolonged blockade of CD40-CD40 ligand interactions
by gene transfer of CD40Ig results in long term heart
allograft survival and donor specific hyporesponsiveness,
but does not prevent chronic rejection. Journal of
Immunology 168:1600-1609, 2002
2 0 0 5 N E W S L E T T E R
Sayegh MH, Turka LA. The role of T-cell costimulatory
activation pathways in transplant rejection. NEJM
338:1813-1821, 1998
Bishop DK, Wood S, Eichwald E, Orosz C.
Immunobiology of allograft rejection in the absence of
INF-g: CD8+ effector cells develop independently of
CD4+ cells and CD40-CD40 ligand interactions.
Journal of Immunology. 166:3248-3255, 2001
Matesic D, Lehmann PV, Heeger PS. High resolution
characterization of cytokine producing alloreactivity in
naïve and allograft primed mice. Transplantation.
65:906, 1998
Durham MM, Bingaman AW, Adams AB, et al. Cutting
edge: administration of anti-CD40 ligand and donor
bone marrow leads to hemopoietic chimerism and
donor-specific tolerance without cytoreductive
conditioning. Journal of Immunology. 165:1-4, 2000
Pierson RN, Chang AC, Blum MG, et al. Prolongation
of primate cardiac allograft survival by treatment with
ANTI-CD40 ligand (CD154) antibody.
Transplantation. 68 (11): 1800-5, 1999.
Gordon EJ, Woda BA, Shultz LD, et al. Rat xenograft
survival in mice treated with donor-specific transfusion
and anti-CD154 antibody is enhanced by elimination of
host CD4+ cells. Transplantation. 71:319-27, 2001
Kirk AD, Harlan DM, Armstrong NN, et al. CTLA4-Ig
and anti-CD40 ligand prevent renal allograft rejection
in primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences of the United States of America. 94: 8789-94,
1997
Gordon EJ, Markees TG, Phillips NE, et al. prolonged
survival of rat islet and skin xenografts in mice treated
with donor splenocytes and anti-CD154 monoclonal
antibody. Diabetes. 47:1199-206, 1998
Sun H, Subbotin V, Chen C, et al. Prevention of
chronic rejection in mouse aortic allografts by combined
treatment with CTLA4-Ig and anti-CD40 ligand
monoclonal antibody. Transplantation. 64:1838-43,
1997
J M Rovak, D K Bishop, L K Boxer, S C Wood, A K
Mungara, P S Cederna.
Peripheral Nerve Transplantation: The Role of Chemical
Acellularization in Eliminating Allograft Antigenicity.
Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery (In Press).
27. D L Brown, D K Bishop, S Y Wood, P S Cederna.
Short-Term Anti-CD40L Co-stimulatory Blockade
Induces Tolerance to Peripheral Nerve Allografts,
Resulting in Improved Skeletal Muscle Function. Plastic
and Reconstructive Surgery (In Press).
P S Cederna. Anti CD40 Ligand Antibody Permits
Regeneration Through Peripheral Nerve Allografts in a
Non-Human Primate Model. By M J Brenner, J N
Jensen, J B Lowe, T M Myckatyn, I K Fox, D A Hunter,
T Mohanakumar, S E Mackinnon. Plastic and
Reconstructive Surgery 114:7, 1815-1818, 2004.
A K Mungara, P S Cederna. The CD40/CD40L Co-
Stimulatory Pathway in Nerve Allograft Rejection.
Journal of the American College of Surgeons 197:3,
S60, 2003.
13

The Plastic Surgery Section with support
from colleagues from across the University
of Michigan has been awarded a second 5year
funding period.
The NIH Training grant in Burn,
Trauma and Wound Healing Research has
as PI and Program Director Cynthia L.
Marcelo, PhD and William M.Kuzon, Jr,
MD, Ph.D. as co-PI and co-Director.
This grant supports the training of
potential academic medical
surgeon/scientist in basic research related
to trauma in muscle and bone, burn
injuries, and wound healing and tissue
engineering. Residents can train in health
related areas of investigation and can chose
more fundamental research fields
(biophysics, tissue engineering, lipid
biochemistry and molecular and cell
biology).
The Grant supports two postdoctoral
fellows per year, plus supplies, course work
and travel allowances. The current
trainees are Deborah Yu, MD and Ian
Lytle, MD. Deborah Yu, MD, from
Bethesda, MD (Georgetown University
School of Medicine) is studying the muscle
differences between cleft palate and
normal palate muscle in a goat model.
She is also studying the origin of Schwann
cells in a peripheral nerve allograft. Dr Yu
is mentored by Paul Cederna, MD. Ian
Lytle, MD has just arrived from the
University of Cincinnati, and is beginning
his studies with Dr. David Brown in the
area of muscle regeneration. Applications
for the July 1, 2006 positions are being
accepted.
The Plastic Surgery Research
laboratories’ research faculty, composed of
Cynthia Marcelo, PhD, Melanie
Urbanchek, PhD, and Dennis Claflin,
PhD, continue their studies in the areas of
keratinocyte biology, facial muscle
reinnervation, muscle pathology
N EWS FROM THE LABORATORIES:
accompanying ventral hernia, contractile
properties of human single muscle fibers,
and effects of the absence of the protein
dystrophin on skeletal muscle contractile
properties.
Several fellows made significant
contributions to the Plastic Surgery field
through their research efforts. They
include: Yasushi Fujimori, MD is an
instructor of Plastic and Reconstructive
Surgery of Osaka Medical College and he
is currently a visiting fellow in the
laboratory of Dr. Marcelo. He is
investigating the role of fatty acids in
epidermal stem cell culture development as
part of an ongoing project in the
keratinocyte biology laboratories. Vikas
Dhawan, MD, PhD from Chandigarh,
India (Moscow State University of Medical
and Stomatological Sciences, Moscow,
Russian Federation) is studying skeletal,
cardiac, renal and tendon tissue
engineering. Dr Dhawan is mentored by
David Brown, MD. Erika Henkelman,
MD, is from Toronto (University of
Toronto). She is studying the
biomechanical pathogenesis of chronic
incisional hernia with special focus on
single muscle fiber function in the
presence of surgically induced ventral
hernia; and the role of mechanical strain
during laparotomy wound healing and
incisional hernia repair with focus on
fibroblast culture response to mechanical
stretch. Dr. Henkelman is mentored by
Drs Kuzon, Urbanchek, Franz and
Marcelo. Daniel Schwarz, MD
(University of Illinois in Chicago) is
studying metrics of bone healing in
Mandibular distraction ostegenesis
undergoing irradiation with the help of
Ayman Elmeligy, MD (University of
Cairo). They are mentored by Steven R
Buchman, MD.
Three current U of M medical
14 R E E D O . D I N G M A N S O C I E T Y
students have found time to complete
research investigations in the laboratories.
Winston Choi from Denver, CO.
(Stanford University, Biomechanical
Engineering) completed a project studying
the abdominal oblique muscular atrophy,
fibrosis and decreased compliance
associated with ventral incisional
herniation. Daniel Krochmal who is
from Farmington Hills, Michigan
(Washington University in St. Louis,
Biology, PNP (Philosophy, Neuroscience,
Psychology) is beginning an outcomes
study of recurrent ventral hernia repair
techniques after completing a study on
muscle force and power output following
tendon repair with altered tension.
Daemeon Nicolaou, from Los Angeles,
CA (UCLA Neuroscience Major) is
continuing a study on immunomodulation
with Anti-CD40L monoclonal Antibody
(MR1) and neuroregeneration in the nerve
allografts.
Four undergraduates are contributing
to our research goals through coursework,
independent studies, and summer
fellowships. Daniel Calderon, from Ann
Arbor, MI, Shaun Patel, from
Woodhaven, MI, and Thane Wolcott from
Dexter MI are LSA students majoring in
Biology at the U of M. Daniel studies
Collagen types I and III concentrations in
rectus abdominus and external oblique
muscles of a hernia model. Shaun studies
the effects of hernias upon abdominal
muscle properties, while Thane studies.
abdominal muscle contractile and material
properties following prostheses onlay.
Richard Cheng, another Ann Arbor
native who attends Northwestern
University studied the nerve morphology
related to an improved muscle recovery
using FK506 in a nerve repair model.
-Drs. Urbanchek and Marcelo

G RATEFUL PATIENT, PIONEERING D OCTOR: HARVEY L EMMEN AND R EED D INGMAN
Modest about his own accomplishments,
Harvey Lemmen (BBA ‘44, MBA ‘49) of
Grand Rapids grows positively effusive
when he speaks of Dr. Reed O. Dingman
(AB ‘28, DDS ‘32, MS ‘32, MD ‘36,
MDRES ‘45).
“He was a dynamic personality,”
recalls Lemmen. “He was very impressive,
very down-to-earth.
I had a lot of respect
for him.”
Dingman was a
pioneer in oral and
maxillofacial surgery, a
plastic surgeon when the
specialty was in its
infancy and the
founder, in 1964, of the
plastic surgery section in
U-M’s Department of
Surgery. A role model for
three generations of plastic surgeons until
his death in 1985, Dingman was equally
well known for his gentleness and
compassion for patients.
Lemmen can attest to that
extraordinary bedside manner. Born
and raised in Ionia, Mich., Lemmen
became Dingman’s patient in his freshman
year at Michigan. As an undergraduate,
he underwent more than a dozen
reconstructive operations for a cleft
palate—”some of them minor, some of
them not so minor,” Lemmen says
wryly—all with Dingman as chief surgeon.
He also recalls Dingman’s largerthan-life
confidence. “I remember one
extensive operation, when the head of the
dental school asked Dr. Dingman if he
had ever done it before, and Dr. Dingman
said, ‘No, but I know I can’,” Lemmen
says.
When Lemmen learned of the
Medical School’s initiative to establish a
professorship in Dingman’s name, he
leaped at the chance to give to the cause.
The reason was simple: “He
accomplished miracles,” says Lemmen.
“He ought to be recognized for what
he was.”
Harvey Lemmen
Lemmen’s generosity to the Reed O.
Dingman Professorship in Plastic Surgery
includes a cash gift of $30,000, a bequest
in his will and the establishment of a
$150,000 charitable gift annuity (CGA).
He chose to give through the CGA
because, he says, “I might as well give it
now, and I thought they’d probably
welcome that. A bird in the
hand is worth two in the
bush. And on top of that,
I get a return.”
It’s a sound answer
from a man who knows
something about managing
money. After receiving his
MBA from the U-M in
1949, Lemmen went to
work for Meijer Inc. as an
office manager when the
company had but four
stores, all small supermarkets. He rose
within the Meijer organization to become
president in 1975 and retired in 1986 as
company deputy chairman.
In appreciation of Lemmen’s service and
that of his colleague, Earl D. Holton, Fred
Meijer, chairman of the executive
committee of Meijer, Inc. and his wife,
Lena, named the Lemmen-Holton
Cancer Pavilion, part of the Spectrum
Health System, in Grand Rapids.
Immediately upon retirement
Lemmen became an American Red Cross
volunteer, driving disabled and senior
patients to hospitals within Kent County,
where he lives. Since the program
expanded its boundaries in 1992,
Lemmen has driven hundreds of patients
to hospitals throughout Michigan, often
volunteering seven days a week, and
occasionally making twice-daily round
trips from Grand Rapids to Ann Arbor.
He also schedules other volunteer drivers.
“This is something I can do that
seems worthwhile,” says Lemmen. “It’s
beneficial to me. I see people who are a
whole lot worse off than I am.”
Spoken in the generous spirit of Dr.
Dingman himself.
7 R E E D O . D I N G M A N S O C I E T Y
Reed Dingman led Plastic Surgery at Michigan as
an extraordinary surgeon and a teacher without
peer. His contributions to maxillofacial surgery,
facial trauma, and pediatric cleft lip and palate
repair are important to the present day. He trained
a generation of leaders for Plastic Surgery. For his
patients, he performed miracles by forming smiles.
His legacy is the excellence in clinical care, the
dedication to teaching, and the world class
research that defines Plastic Surgery at the
University of Michigan.
Please join the effort to immortalize this great man
with the Reed O. Dingman Professorship.
WWW.UMSURGERY.ORG

SAVE THE DATE & PLEASE JOIN US FOR:
18TH DINGMAN SOCIETY SCIENTIFIC MEETING AND GRABB LECTURE
Dr. Homer Stryker, was a UM
Orthopaedic Alumnus who started
Stryker Instruments, a multi-billion
dollar surgical instrument company,
name which Dingman Society member
amputated Homer Stryker’s finger?
Answer: James Stillwell (‘62) who lives in Rome, AL,
but practiced in Kalamazoo, MI.
HONORING DR. HACK \NEWMAN
June 9 and 10th, 2006
Dr. Jack Gunter (res 1980)
Dr. Grant Fairbanks’ father was a world
renown sculptor at the University of
Michigan, what Dingman member was
an art student in his father’s class?
Answer: Avard Fairbanks taught Reed Dingman at UM.
Aside from Drs. Reed and David
Dingman, what other Dingman Society
members have spawned plastic surgeons?
Answer: Otto Au (‘63) and Victor Au, North Carolina
Can you list the 5 surgical societies
at the University of Michigan?
Answer: Carl Badgley Society (Orthopaedics),
Reed Dingman Society (Plastics), John Alexander Society
(Thoracic), Reed Nesbit Society (Urology),
Fred Coller Society (General Surgery)
H OW’ S Y OUR H ISTORY OF UM PLASTIC S URGERY?
Seated (L-R): Lois Stilwell, Sophia
Hernandez, Reed O Dingman,
Thelma Dingman, Clyde Litton,
Dolly Mauzy
Standing: Leon Hernandez,
Jim Stilwell, Jack Alger, Ann
Natvig, Paul Natvig, Gordon Bell,
Cozy Grabb, Jane Lucid,
Marilyn Bell, Morgan Lucid,
Bill Grabb, Merit Mauzy
Thanks to Cozy Grabb for providing the answers to our first Dingman Meeting Guest List above.
Harvey Lemmen was a patient of Dr.
Reed Dingman’s back in the 1940s, what
plastic surgeon is Mr. Lemmen’s cousin
and who trained with Reed Dingman and
Ferris Smith in Grand Rapids?
Answer: Howard Lawrence, MD, who lives and
practiced in Scottsdale, AZ.
Two grandchildren of UM Surgical
Societies ran cross-country and track
at Dartmouth. Who are these two
grandchildren?
Answer: Dagny Dingman (grand daughter of Reed
Dingman and daughter of David Dingman) and Jessie
Coller Allen Young (great granddaughter of Fred Coller)
and now and Architecture Student at UM.
ASPS UM DINGMAN
SOCIETY DINNER
Sunday, September 25th, 7:00 pm
Gibson’s Steakhouse
& Hugo’s Frog and Fish House
1028 North Rush Street, Chicago, IL.
C ALENDAR OF E VENTS
2 0 0 5 N E W S L E T T E R
N EW Q UESTION:
Who cycles Route 66
and is related to Reed Dingman
and also a plastic surgeon?
Photo below
2ND STRYKER LECTURE
IN HAND SURGERY
December 9th-10th
James Lee, MD, West Virginia
University School of Med.
8