Research

The Department of Surgery conducts a broad range of both basic and clinical research aimed at bringing medical problems found in patient care to the research lab and returning research advances to patient care.

Among current research projects are studies addressing how surgery and trauma affect the body's ability to compensate for such stress; when carotid endarterectomy is best performed in order to reduce the risk of stroke during/after coronary bypass surgery; how to improve the body's response to cardiopulmonary bypass surgery; and the effectiveness of new therapies for lung cancer.

The research conducted by the Department's faculty is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in addition to other public sources — and also private sources — of funds for biomedical research.

Our faculty collaborate with Stony Brook's General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) in multidisciplinary efforts to speed basic research into better patient care. Unique on Long Island and one of only 74 centers nationwide supported by the NIH, the GCRC was federally funded in 1998, and facilitates patient-focused "translational" research.

As the regional center for numerous clinical trials in cancer, Stony Brook uses the latest in therapeutic advances for the care of different cancers — and this gives our patients the only opportunity available in Suffolk County to benefit from such studies. Indeed, innovative use of technology has put Stony Brook at the forefront of cancer research and treatments, and the Department of Surgery contributes to this distinction in both basic and clinical sciences.

Click here to see selected faculty publications which reflect the breadth and depth of our basic/clinical research.