I am an associate professor of surgery in the University of Florida Division of Acute Care Surgery, director of the Abdominal Wall Reconstruction and Intestinal Rehab Service (UFAIR) and chair of the UF Nutrition Committee.
I earned my medical degree at Mercer University School of Medicine in Savannah, Georgia. Thereafter, I completed a general surgery residency and a fellowship in critical care medicine at UF. My post-graduate surgical training, includes nutrition fellowships at Louisville University and Oregon Health and Science University, and an abdominal wall reconstruction course at Oregon Health and Science University.
I am a member of several professional and medical organizations, including the American Society of Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition, Florida Chapter of American Society of Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the Florida Committee on Trauma, and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. I have authored numerous peer reviewed publication, book chapters and serve as reviewer for several academic journals.
My clinical expertise is in providing state of the art care for patients with large abdominal wall hernias, enterocutaneous fistulas, traumatically injured patients and the critically ill ICU patients. I have built several clinical protocols to guide healthcare for patients with enterocutaneous fistulas and hernias to serve as a means for pre-habilitation prior to surgical intervention to improve outcomes for this patient population. I am regarded as an expert in nutritional therapies in order to decrease inflammation and catabolism.