Walter Emerson Pofahl II, M.D.

WALTER EMERSON POFAHL, II, M.D.
Chief of the Division of Advanced Laparoscopic, Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Surgery

Address:
Brody School of Medicine
East Carolina University
600 Moye Boulevard
Greenville, NC 27858
Phone: (252) 744-4751 (clinical)
(252) 744-4748 (administrative)
E-mail: pofahlw@ecu.edu

Current Professional and Academic Appointment:
2000 – present Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina

Licensure:
Alabama, North Carolina

Certification:
Diplomate, American Board of Surgery, 1995

Education:
1980 - 1984 Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN (B.A., Molecular Biology)

1984 - 1988 West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV (M.D.)

Postgraduate Training:
1988 - 1989 Intern, Department of Surgery, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

1989 - 1994 Resident, Department of Surgery, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

1991 - 1992 Research Fellow, Department of Surgery, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

Professional Society Memberships:

American Association of Endocrine Surgeons
American College of Gastroenterology
American College of Surgeons, Fellow
American Geriatrics Society, Section for Surgical and Related Medical Specialties
Association for Surgical Education
Pancreas Club
Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons
Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract
Southeastern Surgical Congress

Academic Appointments:
1994 - 2000 Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama

1995 -2000 Associate Scientist, University of South Alabama Hospitals Cancer Center

Administrative Responsibilities:

University of South Alabama:
1995 - 2000 Director, Surgical Endoscopy

1996 – 2000 Director, Medical Student Education

East Carolina University:
2002-2003 Interim Chief, Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Pitt County Memorial Hospital

2003-Present Chief, Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Pitt County Memorial Hospital

University Committees:

University of South Alabama:

2000 Ad Hoc Longitudinal Medical School Planning Committee
2000 Internal Review Gastroenterology Residency, Ad Hoc Committee
1999 - 2000 Continuing Medical Education Committee
1998 – 2000 Clinical Focus Group, Southwest Alabama Rural Telehealth Network
1997 – 2000 Curriculum Committee; Co-Chair, Early Clinical Experience Subcommittee
1997 – 2000 Student Promotion and Evaluation Committee
1995 - 1998 Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

East Carolina University:

2001-present Compliance Committee
2002-present Telemedicine Advisory Board
2002-present CME Advisory Committee
2003-present Medical Faculty Practice Plan Compensation Committee
2003-present Clinical Directors Committee
2004-present Faculty Senate

Hospital Committees:

University of South Alabama:

1995 - 1999 PrimeHealth Utilization Management Committee
1995 - 2000 Surgical Case Review Committee
1998 – 1999 Special Care Committee
1999 – 2000 Surgery Committee
1999 - 2000 Quality Assurance Committee

Pitt County Memorial Hospital:

2001 Information Flow and Availability Subcommittee
2001-present Computerized Physician Order Entry Steering Committee
2003-2004 Patient Care Access Committee
2003–present Graduate Medical Education Policy Committee
2004-present Utilization Management Committee
2004-present Operating Room Committee

Departmental Committees:

University of South Alabama:

1994 - 2000 Surgery Grand Rounds Committee
1994 - 2000 Resident Education Committee
1994 - 2000 Research Committee

East Carolina University:
2000 - present Surgical Education Committee

2004 – present Personnel Committee

National Committees:

1996 - present Committee for Evaluation and Testing, Association for Surgical Education
Co-chair, Steering Committee for developing assessment item bank (2002)
1998 – present Committee for Curriculum, Association for Surgical Education
2000 - 2002 Awards Committee, Association for Surgical Education (chair, 2001-2002)
2001 – 2002 Executive Committee, Association for Surgical Education
2002 – 2003 Program Committee, Association of Program Directors in Surgery
2002 – present Program Committee, American Geriatrics Society, Section for Surgical and Related Medical Specialties
2003 – present Surgical Curriculum Committee, American Board of Surgery

Other:
University of South Alabama:
1997 – 1999 Clinical Science Advisor to the Student Assembly

1998 – 2000 Faculty Advisor, Surgery Interest Group

East Carolina University:
2002 Co-director physician assistant student surgery lecture series

2002 - present Physician Reviewer, Colon Cancer Patient Care Evaluations, Pitt County Memorial Hospital Tumor Registry

Awards and Honors:

Eagle Scout, Troop 20, Huntington, WV, 1980
Van Liere Award Competition, West Virginia University, Recipient third place award, 1985
American College of Surgeons State Committee on Trauma Resident Paper Competition, Recipient third place award, September 1991
Frederick A. Coller Surgical Society Clinical Tour, 1993
Medical Excellence Scholarship Award, Southern Medical Association, 1997
Red Sash Award, 1998, 1999, 2000
Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, 2002

Publications:

Papers:
1. RW Schwartz, WA Arden, WE Pofahl, M Derbin, R Oremus, RN Greenberg, DR Gross. Effect of anti-lipid A monoclonal antibody (E5) on microcirculatory function during lipopolysaccharide shock. Journal of Surgical Research, 54:474, 1993.

2. Toursarkissian, TN Zweng, PA Kearney, WE Pofahl, SB Johnson, DE Barker. Percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy: Report of 141 cases. Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 57:862-7, 1994

3. WE Pofahl, WA Arden, WF Marterre, DW Smith, M Derbin, R Oremus, DR Gross, WE Strodel. Intestinal microcirculatory effects of octreotide. Journal of Surgical Research, 56:345, 1994

4. WE Pofahl, SM Walczak, E Rhone, SD Izenberg. Use of an artificial neural network to predict length of stay in acute pancreatitis. American Surgeon 64:868-872, 1998.

5.WE Pofahl, F Ringold. Management of early dislodgment of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tubes. Surgical Laparoscopy, Endoscopy, & Percutaneous Techniques 9:253-256, 1999.

6 WE Pofahl, SM Walczak. Predicting length of stay in acute pancreatitis. Surgical Forum 50:657-659, 1999.

7. RW Schwartz, WE Pofahl, MJ Mastrangelo, Jr. Introduction: current reviews in gastrointestinal, minimally invasive, & endocrine surgery. Current Surgery 57(4):312, 2000.

8. WE Pofahl. Surgical judgment and decision making. Focus on Surgical Education 17:33-34, 2000.

9.TD Balint, BM Bailey, KG Mendelson, WE Pofahl. Hepatic abscess: current concepts in diagnosis and treatment. Current Surgery 58(4):381-384, 2001.

10. S Robbins, WE Pofahl, RP Gonzalez. Laparoscopic ventral hernia repair reduces wound complications. American Surgeon 67(9):896-900, 2001.

11. KG Mendelson, BM Bailey, TD Balint, WE Pofahl. Meckel’s diverticulum: review and surgical management. Current Surgery 58(5):455-457, 2001.

12. WE Pofahl, JA DiPalma. Acalculous cholecystopathy. eMedicine Journal 3(1), 2002. http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic347.htm.

13. W.E. Pofahl, W.J. Pories, Is it possible to stay up-to-date after the residency? Current Surgery 59(1):112-114, 2002.

14. WE Pofahl, MS Swanson, SS Cox, DM DaRe, CE Haisch, WJ Pories, WR Chitwood. Performance standards improve American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination Scores. Current Surgery 59(2):220-222, 2002.

15. WE Pofahl. Review of Sabiston Textbook of Surgery: The Biological Basis of Modern Surgical Practice, 16^th ed, Townsend, Beauchamp, Evers, Mattox (eds.), Philadelphia, PA: W.B. Saunders, 2001; Current Surgery 59(4):401, 2002.

16. JH Garofalo, WE Pofahl. Achalasia: a brief review of treatment options and efficacy. Current Surgery 59(6):549-553, 2002.

17. S Walczak, WE Pofahl, RJ Scorpio. A decision support tool for allocating hospital bed resources and determining required acuity of care. Decision Support Systems 34(4):445-456, 2003.

18. WE Pofahl, WJ Pories. Current status and future directions of geriatric general surgery. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 51(7S):S351-354, 2003.

19. J Johnson, JS Roth, J Hazey, WE Pofahl. The history of open inguinal hernia repair. Current Surgery 61(1):49-52, 2004.

20. JS Roth, J Johnson, J Hazey, WE Pofahl. Current laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair. Current Surgery 61(1):53-56, 2004.

21. WE Pofahl, JS Kelly, TD Smith. The Internet and laparoscopy: does cybersurgery have a future? Current Surgery (in press).

22. WE Pofahl. Review of Geriatrics Syllabus for Specialists, Katz, Grossberg, Potter, Solomon, (eds.), New York, NY: American Geriatrics Society, 2002; Annals of Surgery (accepted for publication).

23. AM Jarchow, DA Blanks, WE Pofahl. Management of hyperparathyroidism in elderly patients. Current Surgery Accepted for publication).

Abstracts:
1. WE Pofahl, RJ Neff. Stimulation of in-vitro macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity. West Virginia Medical Journal, 81:263,1985.

2. WE Pofahl, DW Smith, WF Marterre, RW Landrum, WE Strodel. High-energy phosphate recovery following graded warm hepatic ischemia. Gastroenterology, 102:A869, 1992.

3. JN Benoit, H Gao, WJ Thompson and W Pofahl. Reduced vasoconstrictor function in resistance arteries from portal hypertensive rats; evidence for impaired calcium mobilization and increased cAMP dependent protein kinase activity. Gastroenterology, 110:A312, 1996.

4. WE Pofahl, BA Marble, AA Rizzo, PA Logsdon, JR Fletcher. Adenosine maintains tissue perfusion in endotoxemia. FASEB Journal 10:A577, 1996.

5. WE Pofahl and SD Izenberg. The use of neural networks to predict complications in acute pancreatitis. Gastroenterology, 112:A473, 1997.

6. WE Pofahl, TB Pickron, JN Benoit. Intestinal vascular responses to octreotide in portal hypertension are restricted to proximal microvessels. Gastroenterology, 112:A395, 1997.

7. OL Middleton, H Gao, Z Jiao, W Pofahl, and JN Benoit. Modulation of vascular norepinephrine responses by KATP channels in normal and portal hypertensive rats. Gastroenterology, 112:A385, 1997.

8. WE Pofahl, SM Walczak, E Rhone. Predicting length of stay in acute pancreatitis with a neural network. Gastroenterology 114:A491, 1998.

9. WE Pofahl, J Richerson. Vascular reactivity in acute pancreatitis. Gastroenterology 116:A1156, 1999.

Book Chapters:
1. KW Sharp, WE Pofahl. Pancreas. In: PF Lawrence, ed. Essentials of General Surgery, third edition. Baltimore: William and Wilkins, 2000:327-342

2. WE Pofahl, DA Sloan. Implementation of the Objective Structured Clinical. In: JA McCoy, HW Merrick eds. The Objective Structured Clinical Examination. Springfield: Association for Surgical Education Clearinghouse 2001:24-33.

3. Contributor to: DM Jacobs, D Poenaru, eds. Surgical Educators Handbook. Springfield: Association for Surgical Education Clearinghouse 2002.

Editorial Service:

2000 - present Current Surgery, Editorial Board
2001 - present Content expert, General Surgery; Research Agenda Setting Process, American Geriatrics Society/Hartford Project: Increasing Geriatrics Expertise in Surgical and Medical Specialties
2002 - present Association for Surgical Education Editorial Board
2003 Surgical Resident Curriculum, 4th ed. SS Cox, WE Pofahl, WJ Pories, eds. Arlington, VA: Association of Program Directors in Surgery, 2002.
2002 IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, reviewer
2003 Environmental Geochemistry and Health, reviewer
2003 Item writer, American Board of Surgery Qualifying Examination