Events

Students will have a unique opportunity to:

Participate in guaranteed shadowing hours with attending surgeons at UMass Chan Medical School / UMass Memorial Medical Center, getting firsthand surgical research experience in the operating room
Collaborate with WPI and UMass faculty members to develop project proposals for innovative surgical solutions
Contribute to advancements in surgery and improve patient outcomes!

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Join us for our initial information sessions, in which surgeons from UMass will present on their areas of expertise and answer questions from students.

January 21 and 28, 2026

4-6PM

Location: BETC classroom, 2^nd Floor, Gateway II (50 Prescott Street)

RSVP requested but not required: https://wpi.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0B7lH1HICdN7uL4

PracticePoint: Surgical Innovation Collaborative Program - Info Session 2 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Specialties to be presented on January 21:

Minimally Invasive Abdominal and Bariatric Surgery - Dr. Nicole Cherng, Dr. John Kelly, and Dr. Demetrius Litwin
Surgical Oncology - Dr. James Lindberg
Pediatric Surgery - Dr. Jeremy Aidlen
Colorectal Surgery - Dr. Justin Maykel and Dr. Thomas Peponis
Neurosurgery - Dr. Arno Sungarian

Specialties to be presented on January 28:

Vascular Surgery – Andres Schanzer MD, Doug Jones MD
Transplant Surgery – Babak Movahedi MD, Justin Belin MD, Dheera Reddy MD, Randy Schaffer MD
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – Raymond Dunn MD
Thoracic Surgery – Mark Maxfield MD
Trauma Surgery and Critical Care – Michael Iannamorelli MD
Cardiac Surgery – James Barnard MD

RSVP here!

ABOUT THE TRAINING

Surgical ablation is continuously evolving, with the emergence of new technologies that enable more effective and efficient tumor destruction. Currently, surgeons face many options to choose from, with each technology and device utilizing different ablation algorithms and requiring different principles for needle placement.

This 1-day course is an opportunity to update your skills in these technologies and includes
a strong emphasis on procedural details and an animal lab in which to gain proficiency in these techniques. At the end of the course, participants are expected to have learned these procedures and be able to introduce them to their practice.

TARGET AUDIENCE

General surgeons, surgical oncologists, HPB surgeons, liver transplant surgeons, fellows in training

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this activity, the participants will be able to:

Understand the differences between different ablation technologies
Acquire radiofrequency ablation, microwave ablation, IRE and histotripsy basic skills
Understand detailed surgical steps of laparoscopic and open hepatic and pancreatic tumor ablations

Register now!

Register Now!

CONFERENCE AGENDA

7:00 AM - Registration and Breakfast (provided)
8:30 AM - Ultrasound: Laparoscopic and Open
9:00 AM - Radiofrequency Ablation: Laparoscopic and Open
9:30 AM - Microwave Ablation: Laparoscopic and Open
10:00 AM - Coffee break
10:30 AM - Use of Ablation to Assist in Liver Resection
11:00 AM - New Technologies (Histotripsy) & Modified Liver Ablation Procedure
11:30 AM - Vendor session
12:00 PM - Lunch (provided)
1:00 PM - Hands on Lab: All Ablation Technologies, Calf Liver Setup

Vendor exhibit hours: 7:00 AM-12:00 PM

Surgical Innovation Collaborative Program (SICP)