Hand Center Research

Research is a central focus of our work at the Curtis National Hand Center.  Our surgeon-scientists have a long history of academic productivity, making regular high-impact contributions to the hand surgery literature.  We have state of the art basic science and biomechanics facilities, and a health services and outcomes research team.  Alongside our faculty projects, our fellows each complete a research project during their training.  We also have many resident-led and resident-supported projects ongoing, with orthopedic and plastic surgery residents from Medstar Union Memorial Hospital, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, and Johns Hopkins Hospital.  We regularly present our work at the top national and regional meetings, along with a consistent record of publishing in the top journals for our specialty.

In 2017, Aviram M. Giladi, MD, MS joined as our newest hand surgeon, and our Research Director.  Under his leadership we will be increasing our efforts in health services research, using our unparalleled clinical experience to gain valuable information that will improve hand surgery care worldwide.  Additionally, we will have an added focus on translational research and implementation research, finding ways to take the newest research findings and apply them towards the cutting-edge treatment of patients.

STAT Lab

The STAT Lab is one of the most advanced teaching laboratories in the Mid-Atlantic region, offering multi-station facilities for training in contemporary surgical techniques. The educational benefit of training with fresh anatomical specimens is instrumental in honing the advanced skills required for the complex, contemporary surgical procedures demanded of today’s surgeons.

Microsurgery Lab

This 1600-square-foot laboratory, accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC), is available for studies as well as basic and advanced training in microsurgical procedures including microsurgical vessel & nerve repair. The microsurgical lab contains three dissecting microscopes and related microsurgical instruments.

Health Services Research

Health Services Research is a growing focus at the Curtis National Hand Center.  With the breadth and depth of our clinical experience we are uniquely positioned to contribute to outcomes, care delivery, and implementation research in hand and upper extremity surgery.  Additionally, through our Level 1 Trauma status with MIEMSS we house the largest upper extremity trauma database in the region, facilitating research on trauma systems, regionalization, post-injury pain management, and many other topics with an added focus on caring for the medically underserved.  We work closely with the team in Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics within the MedStar Health Research Institute, who provide methodology, data management, and analytic support, and we also have numerous collaborations with other leading researchers across the field, enhancing implementation and translational research opportunities to improve the care of our patients.

Publications

A complete list of our publications can be found here:

Curtis National Hand Center PubMed List

Research Team

Aviram M. Giladi, MD, MS
Research Director
Kenneth R. Means Jr., MD
Vice-Chief of Hand Surgery
Isaac C. Fleming, CCRC
Program Manager
Gongliang Zhang, Ph.D, MS
Rebecca J. Saunders, PT, CHT
Sione Fanua, MSc
Pooyan Abbasi, MSc