News & Events: Michael R. Harrison, M.D.

Michael Harrison, MD, Professor Emeritus of Surgery, Pediatrics, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Shuvo Roy, PhD, Professor of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences at UCSF, and James Wall, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery at Stanford University have been awarded a five-year $6.7 million Pediatric Device Consortia (PDC) P50 grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The UCSF-Stanford PDC is one of five centers selected to participate in the national program aimed at accelerating the development [...]

Academic hospitals have all the makings for rich medical device development. They have physicians to identify surgical needs, researchers to test theories, bioengineers to design and create devices and patients to participate in clinical trials. However, the disconnect between engineering and surgical departments makes innovation a challenge. So does surgeons' all-consuming job Number One—treating patients. Providing the Infrastructure for Surgeons to Innovate Surgical Innovations, part of the University of California, San Francisco's Department of Surgery and Bioengineering & [...]

On May 17, the Second Annual UCSF Engineering for Children's Health Symposium was held at Mission Bay Conference Center. Over one hundred clinicians, engineers, scientists, administrators, industry professionals, and government partners gathered to discuss groundbreaking research and developing technologies in pediatric medicine. The event commenced with opening remarks by Hanmin Lee, MD, Surgeon-in-Chief of the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals and Professor and Chief of the UCSF Division of Pediatric Surgery, along with Bertram Lubin, MD, Associate Dean of Children's Health at UCSF, [...]

Results from the first-in-human clinical trial of a magnetic compression anastomosis device known as "Magnamosis" were recently reported on in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.  The study, led by Principal Investigator Michael Harrison, MD, is a prospective, single-center, first-in-human pilot clinical trial to evaluate the feasibility and safety of creating an intestinal anastomosis using the Magnamosis device. Magnetic compression anastomosis (magnamosis) uses a pair of self-centering magnetic "Harrison Rings" to create an intestinal anastomosis without sutures or [...]

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Children Health & Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded pediatric surgeons Benjamin Padilla, MD, and Michael Harrison, MD, a two-year grant to study the use of cryoanalgesia as a novel method of pain control in the Nuss Procedure. The research team includes Sunghoon Kim, MD, and Jill Imamura-Ching, RN. Claire Graves, MD, played a key role in setting up the project and developing the grant application while she was a resident in the Innovation Pathway from 2015 to 2017. The Nuss Procedure is a [...]

From developing sensors to detect pressure ulcers to conducting pre-clinical studies for novel magnetic therapies, Isabelle Chumfong, MEng, MD, and Claire Graves, MD took the unconventional route during their research years, electing to pursue cutting-edge research through the Innovation Pathway, one of five such pathways open to surgery and visiting residents during their research years.  The purpose of the resident research program is to encourage trainees to hone their skills as physician-scientists by asking critical questions and gaining the expertise needed to pursue answers to them. [...]

A novel device to treat patients with obstructive sleep apnea was profiled in a recent story on ABC7/KGO News Bay Area. The technology was developed by Michael R. Harrison, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Surgery, Surgery, Pediatrics, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and Director Emeritus of the UCSF Fetal Treatment Center. The surgery to implant the device was performed by Jolie Chang M.D., Assistant Professor in the divisions of General Otolaryngology, Salivary Gland Surgery and Sialendoscopy, Snoring and Sleep Apnea, and Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery in the Department of [...]

The UCSF Department of Surgery's longstanding partnership with engineers to invent new medical technologies in response to patient needs was featured in a recent story by UC Berkeley journalism student Alex Orlando. The article profiles Richard Fechter, Principal Development Engineer at UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, and long-time collaborator of Michael R. Harrison, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Surgery at UCSF, who pioneered the field of fetal surgery in the 1980s.  As medical technology continues to cross the threshold into the 21st century, clinical engineers [...]

Pediatric surgeon Michael R. Harrison, M.D. and UC Berkeley engineer Phillip Messersmith, Ph.D. are collaborating on an NIH-Funded research project to improve glues used in fetal surgery procedures, notably those used to treat twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. Dr. Harrision, widely acknolwedged as the "father of fetal surgery", is Director Emeritus of the Fetal Treatment Center and leads the research of the Harrison Lab. The full story was recently reported in UC Berkeley News. UC Berkeley engineer Phillip Messersmith is happy to be learning lessons from a lowly mollusk, with the [...]

UCSF News reports on the discovery by researchers at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco that fetuses with enlarged ventricles, the fluid-filled cavities inside the brain, may be less likely than other fetuses to benefit from surgery in the womb to treat spina bifida. These findings were based on data from the 2011 Management of Myelomeningocele (MOMS) study, which demonstrated the potential benefit of treating spina bifida, a birth defect, in utero. The researchers found that fetuses with enlarged ventricles were more likely to require a second surgery to relieve a [...]

UC Berkeley News reports on the "smart bandage," a device in development by a team of surgeons and scientists at UCSF and UC Berkeley that uses electrical currents to detect early tissue damage from pressure ulcers, or bedsores, well before they are visible to the human eye. The technology offers the possibility of early intervention to prevent progression of the wound. David M. Young, MD, Professor in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, is leading the clinical development of the technology.  Engineers at UC Berkeley are developing a new type of bandage that does far more [...]