Janice Bilby, M.D., family doctor, establishes south Indianapolis practice with Franciscan Physician Network

INDIANAPOLIS – Janice Bilby, MD, has joined Franciscan Physician Network Greenwood Parke Family Medicine and is accepting new patients.

She has been in medical practice for more than 25 years.

Certified by the American Board of Family Medicine, Bilby received her undergraduate degree in biology at Ball State University, where she was an honors student. She earned her medical degree at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and completed an internship and residency training at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Bilby, a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, resides in Indianapolis.

Greenwood Parke Family Medicine is located at 8920 Southpointe Dr., Suite E-1, in Indianapolis. For appointments and other information, call 317-882-0535. Get directions.

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Temporary closure of Heart Center entrance

Beginning Aug. 2, the St. Francis Heart Center main entrance will temporarily close due to the inpatient construction construction. The Heart Center patient and visitor access will temporarily shift to the Women & Children’s Services entrance, located just south of the Heart Center. Heart Center staff and volunteers will be in the Women & Children’s Services lobby providing directions and assistance.

The entrance closure should only last 45 days or less, and we are working to ensure you continue to have convenient access to the Heart Center.

Parking remains available in both the Heart Center and Women & Children’s parking lots.

(Download a parking map.)

A free shuttle service is offered Monday through Friday from 4:45 a.m. to 9 p.m. To call the shuttle directly, please call 416-8725.

We apologize for any inconvenience the construction may cause and appreciate your cooperation during this time of transition. If you have any questions or concerns, please call 851-1580.

Physicians join newly established St. Francis County Line Pediatrics

INDIANAPOLIS – Shanna Bowman, M.D., and Stacey Smith, M.D., members of St. Francis Medical Group, have joined County Line Pediatrics.

Bowman earned her undergraduate degree from Indiana University in Bloomington and her medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine. She completed her residency training at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.

She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and is board-certified in pediatrics.

Smith received her undergraduate degree from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN and a master’s degree in biology from Purdue University. She earned her medical degree from
Indiana University School of Medicine and completed her residency training at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville.

She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and is board-certified in pediatrics.

County Line Pediatrics is a newly established St. Francis Medical Group practice, located at 8325 South Emerson Ave, Suite B-1 in Indianapolis.

Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 317-781-7297 for an appointment or for more information.

To learn more about St. Francis Medical Group and its physicians, go to http://www.stfrancisdoctors.org/.

Grieving youth learn coping skills through St. Francis Hospice program

INDIANAPOLIS -- Death is a part of the life cycle, and it’s especially difficult for children to grasp and make sense out of it, particularly when they lose a loved one.

That’s why St. Francis Hospice offers Caterpillar Kids, a support program that offers learning experiences for children ages 5 to 12.

“Children do grieve and they may express it differently than adults, but their feelings are as genuine and essential in healing,” said bereavement coordinator Karla Riggs Norton. “Caterpillar Kids brings children together in a safe, nurturing environment where they receive information about grief and learn healthy ways to cope with the death of a loved one.”

St. Francis Hospice will offer its Spring Caterpillar Kids program beginning Wednesday, April 7, and ending May 12. The workshops, which are free, are from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., meeting each Wednesday.

Meetings are at Christ United Methodist Church, 8540 U.S. 31 South, one mile north of Greenwood Park Mall.

Led by staff trained in bereavement support for children, youngsters participate in storytelling, art projects, games and other sharing opportunities. Parents also are invited to participate in a concurrent session to assist them in supporting their children.

Registration is required. To register or for more information about Caterpillar Kids, call 317-865-2092 or toll-free at 800-390-9915.

More information about St. Francis Hospice is at www.stfrancishospitals.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=280.

St. Francis Heart Center offers low-cost cardiac risk screenings

INDIANAPOLIS -- Life Line Screening, the leading provider of community-based health screening services in the United States, is working with St. Francis Heart Center to offer important preventive screenings to the community.

These preventive screenings are noninvasive and use ultrasound to test for peripheral vascular disease, carotid artery disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm and osteoporosis. Knowing your risk of any of these conditions can help you and your physician determine what treatments to choose or preventive measures to take to lower your risks.

Upcoming screening dates and locations:

Feb. 2 – 9 a.m., Acton United Methodist Church, 5650 Senour Road, Indianapolis
Feb. 8 – 9 a.m., Souls Harbor Assembly of God, 8434 E State Road 267, Plainfield
Feb. 12- 9 a.m., Rocklane Christian Church, 4430 Rocklane Road, Greenwood
Feb. 16 – 9 a.m., Warren Township Government Center, 501 North Post Road, Suite B, Indianapolis
Feb. 24- 9 a.m., Miller's Senior Living Community, 225 West Harrison Street., Mooresville

The price for all four screenings is $129; individual tests are $45 each. Tests take about 45 minutes to complete and registration is required.

To make an appointment, call toll-free 800-779-6353.To learn more about the services and programs at the St. Francis Heart Center, go to www.stfrancishospitals.org/heart.

Long-time family medicine practice joins St. Francis Medical Group

INDIANAPOLIS – Gray Road Family Medicine has joined the St. Francis Medical Group.

The physicians, all of whom completed their residencies at St. Francis, have been in practice together for more than 30 years. They are Roger Core, M.D.; John Lawlis, M.D.; Max Runkle, M.D.; and Philip Snyder, M.D.

The four are graduates of the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Gray Road Family Medicine is located at 6801 Gray Road, Suite A, Indianapolis, Ind., 46237.

Drs. Lawlis and Snyder are accepting new patients. To make an appointment call 317-787-9471.

The St. Francis Medical Group is an association of physicians affiliated with St. Francis Hospital to provide high quality medical care to the residents of Indianapolis and south-central Indiana. St. Francis Medical Group offices are conveniently located in many parts of the metropolitan area.

For more information about St. Francis Medical Group, go to www.StFrancisDoctors.org.

St. Francis’ South 31 Family Care opens doors for public visit

INDIANAPOLIS – The doors at South 31 Family Care will be open to the public , 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 27, at its new south side location.

Tours and refreshments will be offered at the newly opened center, located U.S. 31 and Southport Road.

Physicians on staff also will be on hand to meet with guests. The four physicians, all of whom are members of St. Francis Medical Group are: Matthew Wolf, M.D., Joe Johnston, M.D.; Lisa Altuglu, M.D.; and John Baldea, M.D.

South 31 Family Care is a new St. Francis family practice located at 610 E. Southport Road at the corner of Southport Road and U.S. 31. The phone number is 317-781-7370.

Cancer support group for oral, head, neck patients meets Sept. 3

INDIANAPOLIS – Support for People with Oral, Head and Neck Cancer will hold its south side care and share group meeting from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 3.

The next class meets Thursday, Oct. 1.

The meeting is at the St. Francis Education Center, 5935 S. Emerson Ave., Suite 100. Come share your experiences and learn from other oral, head and neck cancer patients. Ample time will be provided for participants’ questions and discussion.

This monthly support group meets the first Thursday of each month and is for anyone with oral, head or neck cancer, regardless of stage or type of cancer. Caregivers are welcome.

For more information, call 317-782-4422.

St. Francis surgeon uses tissue regeneration technology to rebuild patients’ heart structures

INDIANAPOLIS – A surgeon at the St. Francis Heart Center is using a revolutionary technology that allows patients to rebuild their own cardiovascular tissue.
Marc Gerdisch, M.D., is using the CorMatrix Extracellular Matrix (ECM)™ to modify and repair cardiac structures, allowing heart tissue to re-grow inside the beating hearts of heart surgery patients. The CorMatrix ECM is a unique biomaterial that harnesses the body’s innate ability to repair damaged heart tissue. Over time, it is replaced by the patients’ own tissue.

"The use of this biomaterial is a major advancement in cardiac surgery and allows us to provide our patients with restoration of normal anatomic structures. It opens the door to a new level of cardiac tissue reconstruction," said Gerdisch, director of cardiothoracic surgery at the St. Francis Heart Center and a partner at Cardiac Surgery Associates.

In August 2007, Gerdisch, who specializes in complex heart valve surgery, became the first in the world to apply this technology inside the heart, repairing a congenital defect.

"Similar uses of the ECM followed, at our and other institutions," reported Gerdisch, who is co-director of the St. Francis Midwest Heart Valve Center. "Then, in March 2008, we performed the first enlargement of the path blood follows as it exits the heart using the CorMatrix ECM, in lieu of a prosthetic device, for a patient undergoing valve surgery.

The first mitral valve reconstruction using CorMatrix occurred at St Francis Heart Center as well, in October of 2008. Large defects had been created in a patient’s valve by infection. The valve was restored to normal function using CorMatrix patches, avoiding a valve replacement.
"We have been able to make similar repairs for other patients since," added Gerdisch.

The CorMatrix ECM is derived from porcine small intestines and is processed in a way that removes all cells, leaving the complex structural matrix intact. Once surgically implanted, it serves as a scaffold, allowing the patient’s cells to infiltrate and ultimately replace the ECM scaffold.

While the patient continues to heal, the matrix gradually is replaced as the body reinforces and remodels the tissue. In the past, tissue replacement has been limited by options for implantation.

Animal tissue implants are subject to calcium deposition and hardening, due to the body’s ability to recognize them as foreign. Synthetic material lacks the performance characteristics of tissue and causes an inflammatory response. ECM, however, leads to growth of functional tissue where scarring would normally be expected.

More information about how the ECM is being used at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers is at http://www.cardiactissuerepair.net/.

About St. Francis Heart Center
Referring physicians wanting to learn more about heart valve surgery and Dr. Marc Gerdisch’s work with ECM can call toll-free at 1-866-237-0565. The St. Francis Heart Center is dedicated to providing our patients with the region's most comprehensive heart and vascular services. The commitment of our physicians to the prevention and cure of heart disease has led to innovative care, better outcomes and improved quality of life for patients. St. Francis created the Emergency Heart Attack Response Team protocol, which has revolutionized heart attack treatment in the United States and abroad. St. Francis has the only 24/7 comprehensive heart center in South Central Indiana, providing everything from angioplasty to heart valve repair. For more information, go to www.stfrancishospitals.org/heart.

About St. Francis Hospital & Health CentersSt. Francis Hospital & Health Centers has three main hospitals in Indianapolis, Beech Grove and Mooresville and operates a medical office building in Plainfield. St. Francis Hospital is part of a network of 13 growing hospital campuses in Indiana and Illinois owned and operated by the Mishawaka-based Sisters of St. Francis Health Services Inc., one of the largest health-care systems in Indiana. For more information, go to http://franciscanalliance.org/hospitals/indianapolis.

About CorMatrix® ECM Technology™CorMatrix Cardiovascular holds an exclusive license from Purdue University to research, develop, manufacture and market naturally occurring ECM™ products for cardiovascular applications. The company currently has U.S. clearance and European approval with a CE Mark for its ECM Technology as an implant for pericardial closure, and clearance in the U.S. for use in cardiac tissue repair. For more information, visit http://www.cormatrix.com/.


Media Contacts:
Joe Stuteville-St. Francis 317-782-7986 (office) Joe.Stuteville@ssfhs.org
Becky Soja-CorMatrix Cardiovascular 415-946-1080 (office) Bsoja@wcpglobal.com

Nurse navigator will guide breast cancer patients through treatment

INDIANAPOLIS – Janice Leak, M.S.N., has been appointed as a nurse navigator at the St. Francis Breast Cancer Center of Excellence.

She will assist breast cancer patients and their families in coordinating diagnostic appointments and physician visits, help them manage their symptoms, provide education, make patients aware of clinical trial availability and very importantly, easing patient anxiety.

Leak is part St. Francis’ team of nurse navigators with other nurses assigned to help patients with colorectal and lung cancers. In 2006, she became St. Francis’ first nurse navigator, serving patients diagnosed with oral and head and neck cancers.

A resident of Indianapolis, Leak is a nurse practitioner and earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Indiana University. She has held several positions in the 35 years she has worked at St. Francis, most notably as an oncology nurse and educator.

Leak has led and coordinated various cancer-related clinical, educational and patient support programs during her tenure at St. Francis.

She is on faculty for the nursing education program at Indiana Wesleyan University and has been a frequent lecturer at the University of Indianapolis and the IU School of Nursing. Leak also has held several leadership positions in the local chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society.

To learn more about the Cancer Services at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers, go to http://stfrancishospitals.org/cancer.

Support group reaches out to cancer patients, caregivers

INDIANAPOLIS – Support for People with Oral, Head and Neck Cancer will hold its south side care and share group meeting from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Thursday, May 7.

The meeting is at the St. Francis Education Center, 5935 S. Emerson Ave., Suite 100. Come share your experiences and learn from other oral, head and neck cancer patients. Ample time will be provided for participants’ questions and discussion.

This monthly support group meets the first Thursday of each month and is for anyone with oral, head or neck cancer, regardless of stage or type of cancer. Caregivers are welcome.

For more information, call 317-782-4422.

MEDIA ADVISORY: Tuesday, Feb. 3

Blog chat with COO addresses construction, consolidation plans

INDIANAPOLIS – St. Francis Chief Operating Officer Keith Jewell will answer questions about the Indianapolis construction project and the possible future uses of St. Francis Hospital-Beech Grove after medical services are consolidated at the Indianapolis campus in early 2011.

The chat will occur from Noon until 1 p.m.

Visit the St. Francis Hospital-Indianapolis construction blog at http://stfrancis-Indianapolis.blogspot to post questions to Jewell.

Those unable to participate in the chat session can e-mail questions in advance to the St. Francis Community Relations team by 10 a.m., Feb. 3. http://stfrancishospitals.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=141.

This chat session is real conversation. For this reason participants should observe the same etiquette when participating in the chat session as they would in day-to-day conversation.

Reporters who visit the site and want to pose questions are asked to identify themselves and their news organizations.

Contacts:
Joe Stuteville
Media Relations Manager
317-782-7986 (office)
317-946-9930 (cell)
317-906-0079 (pager)
Joe.Stuteville@ssfhs.org

Robbie Schneider
New Media Manager
317-782-7996
Robbie.Schneider@ssfhs.org

St. Francis COO goes on-line to answer construction, consolidation questions

INDIANAPOLIS -- Whether looking southward from a downtown Indianapolis skyscraper or motorists glimpsing a towering crane near Interstate 65, it’s hard to miss the construction at the St. Francis Hospital-Indianapolis campus.

St. Francis is offering a live blog chat with Chief Operating Officer Keith Jewell from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, to answer questions about the construction project and what it means for medical services on Indianapolis’ south side.

Jewell also will field questions about the possible future use of St. Francis Hospital-Beech Grove after medical services are consolidated at the Indianapolis campus in early 2011.

Visit the St. Francis Hospital-Indianapolis construction blog at http://stfrancis-Indianapolis.blogspot to post questions to Jewell.

Those unable to participate in the chat session can e-mail questions in advance to the St. Francis Community Relations team by 10 a.m., Feb. 3. http://stfrancishospitals.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=141.

This chat session is s real conversation. For this reason participants should observe the same etiquette when participating in the chat session as they would in day-to-day conversation.

Those who would like to post comments should observe some simple conversational guidelines below. St. Francis reserves the right to delete comments it thinks may be offensive to the audience at large.

Purchase ageement for Beech Grove under review

For the past two years, a committee of St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers leadership and Beech Grove officials, led by Beech Grove Mayor Joe Wright, have met to discuss new uses for the Beech Grove campus once inpatient care and other hospital services move to the Indianapolis campus.

Two of the main goals of this committee were to blend the community’s needs with the best future use of the Beech Grove campus, and that future re-use of the Beech Grove campus would conform to the values of Catholic principles and Franciscan values.

Recently, the hospital was approached by The Delamore Companies, a company with solid experience in redeveloping health-care facilities. We have executed a purchase agreement with Delamore and are now going through a required process of due diligence. This will be followed by an approval process through the Sisters of St. Francis Health Services, Inc. Last week, the City of Beech Grove held a meeting to present a timeline for a proposed bond sale for the St. Francis redevelopment project.

St. Francis and the City of Beech Grove are optimistic that the sale of the hospital could be final as soon as the end of the year. Once the sale is finalized, the hospital will lease the facilities from Delamore while the Indianapolis construction continues.

Weight Loss, Diabetes and Integrative Health Centers move to new location

INDIANAPOLIS – The St. Francis Weight Loss Center and the Franciscan Center for Integrative Health have moved to their new location at 5230A E. Stop 11 Road, Indianapolis, 46237.

The expanded offices are across Stop 11 Road from St. Francis Hospital – Indianapolis, west of the Indiana Heart Physicians building.

The St. Francis Diabetes & Endocrinology Center treats adult patients with diabetes or endocrine disorders. The center offers an extensive list of diabetes education programs, recognized by the American Diabetes Association. The diabetes center can be reached at (317) 865-5904.

The Franciscan Center for Integrative Health uses both conventional treatments, as well as “complementary” or “alternative” therapies to provide care for patients. Health and healing are based upon addressing patients’ physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, as well as examining the impact of their connections within the community. The Franciscan Center can be reached at (317) 788-0907 or visit stfrancishospitals.org/altmed.

The St. Francis Weight Loss Center is an American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence. The center offers medical and surgical treatments for obesity, including physician-supervised weight loss, LAP-BAND, gastric bypass, gastric sleeve, group weight management programs and StomaphyX. Call (317) 782-7525 or visit stfrancishospitals.org/weightloss.

Upon these rocks an Indy hospital’s heritage, future forge foundation

INDIANAPOLIS – Some very special material is part of the concrete foundation on which a six-story bed tower will rise at St. Francis Hospital & Health Center’s Indianapolis campus.

Surrounded by the hum of construction and rumbling of trucks rolling in and out of that site on June 23, Sister Marlene Shapley, vice president of mission services, and Father John Mannion of Spiritual Care, stepped forward and cast six small stones into the foundation’s newly poured concrete. And it marked the completion of an idea that surfaced nearly a year ago while on a pilgrimage to Italy with Chief Operating Officer Keith Jewell and Anita Trackwell, R.N., clinical services director of St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville.

Sister Marlene Shapley and Father John Mannion offer a brief prayer moments after placing stones into the newly poured concrete foundation.


“The purpose of our pilgrimage was to deepen our knowledge and understanding of our Franciscan heritage,” said Sister Marlene. “At the time, St. Francis was about to launch its consolidation and construction and it just seemed like an opportunity to link our past with our future.”

While in Italy, the trio visited San Damiano – the place where Francis heard the words of the Christ who said, “Francis, repair my church for it is falling into ruin” – where they were given a stone as a keepsake. They also collected stones from Carceri, a hill top area above Assisi that Francis and his followers often went to pray; The Portiuncula, another one of the churches that Francis repaired; La Verna, where Francis received the stigma of Christ; and Greccio where Francis re-enacted the living Nativity.

The rock-placing ceremony began in the lobby of the nearby Heart Center, where Sister Marlene explained the significance of what she was about to do to a group that included Robert J. Brody, CEO and president.

“Symbolically and quite literally, the expanded hospital is being built on our Franciscan tradition,” Sister Marlene said.

Meanwhile, construction continues to progress at the hospital’s Emerson Avenue and Stop 11 Road location. Planned new facilities include, but are not limited to a six-story inpatient bed tower, expanded and relocated Emergency Department , enhanced imaging facilities and equipment, additional inpatient surgery operating suites, and 1,000 additional parking spaces.

The project is expected to be complete in 2010.

Nurse navigator will guide lung cancer patients through treatment

INDIANAPOLIS – Cheryl Streeval, R.N., has been appointed as nurse navigator for the Lung Cancer Center at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers.

She will assist lung cancer patients and their families in coordinating diagnostic appointments and physician visits, help them manage their symptoms, provide education, make patients aware of clinical trial availability and very importantly, easing patient anxiety.

Streeval joins two other nurses at St. Francis who are designated as navigators to help patients with colorectal and head and neck cancers.

Streeval comes to her new position from University of Cincinnati Physicians, where she was an oncology research nurse. She oversaw pharmaceutical clinical trials and worked closely with patients to schedule treatments, scans and labs. She previously worked at Oncology/Hematology Care of Cincinnati as an oncology infusion nurse.

A resident of Columbus, Ind., Streeval earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing.

The St. Francis Lung Cancer Center is a multidisciplinary group of physician specialists experienced in and dedicated to the prevention and treatment of lung cancers.

The physicians of the Lung Cancer Center meet regularly to review and discuss treatment plans, examine new developments in clinical and basic science that could be beneficial to patients, adhere to evidence-based guidelines and protocols for patient care, and seek to enroll patients in the latest clinical research protocols.

More information about St. Francis Cancer Care Services is at http://stfrancishospitals.org/cancer.

New radiation therapy offers more effective, precise targeting of cancers

INDIANAPOLIS – Radiation therapy at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers is being delivered in a revolutionary way, providing physicians with more options and flexibility to precisely treat cancerous tissue.

It’s called TomoTherapy®, and it uses thousands of radiation beamlets delivered continuously 360 degrees around the patient.

Designed and built in the Midwest, the TomoTherapy unit at St. Francis is the first in use in central Indiana. Tomo means “slice” and since cancer is diagnosed looking at every angle, treatment can be given precisely to every slice with the help of computer assisted tomography (CT) scans generated by the TomoTherapy machine.

"St. Francis has recognized the need to provide the most precise treatment planning and delivery capabilities,” said Peter Garrett, M.D., medical director of oncology at St. Francis. "In patients we have treated to date, our expectations have been exceeded in the amount of healthy tissue that we can spare and by the quickness of the treatments, leading to a more convenient experience for the patients.”

Patients are treated with a helical mode of delivery (360 degrees of continuous treatment) which results in maximum dose delivered to the cancer site while sparing normal structures.

Patients are scanned before each treatment to confirm accuracy and then are targeted similar to a CT scan. The initial scan takes about five minutes and treatments, which are painless, begin immediately after the scan.

During a patient’s six-to-eight weeks of treatment, many physical changes can occur. Tumors shrink, organs move in the body and patients can gain or lose weight. This means initial treatment plans may be changed during therapy.

To accommodate these physical changes TomoTherapy uses an adaptive planning system. Since the TomoTherapy planning system is part of the overall unit, adjustments can be made to the original plan during the overall course of therapy, ensuring radiation delivery to the cancer immediately.

TomoTherapy is a complete package of treatment planning software, quality assurance tools, image acquisition and treatment delivery. Since all the data is in one system and not transferred between multiple systems, there is less risk of error.

Types of cancers ideally treated with TomoTherapy are prostate, head and neck and the central nervous system and all cranial tumors. All have critical normal tissues that are necessary to avoid yet require high doses of radiation for adequate treatment.”

The first patient treated with TomoTherapy was in 2003. More than 100 units are now being installed worldwide, according to TomoTherapy officials

More information about the Cancer Care Services program at St. Francis is at http://stfrancishospitals.org/cancer and at http://stfranciscancercare360.org. To learn more about TomoTherapy, go to www.tomotherapy.com.

Colorectal surgeon honored with prestigious fellowship

INDIANAPOLIS – Bridget Sanders, M.D., has been named a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

Sanders practices with the Kendrick Regional Center for Colon and Rectal Care on the campuses of the St. Francis Mooresville and Indianapolis hospitals. She specializes in the treatment of pelvic floor disorders, as well as laparoscopic colon and rectal surgery.

A 1998 graduate of the Indiana University School of Medicine, Sanders completed her general surgery residency at IU and finished her fellowship in Colon and Rectal Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Florida.

Sanders attained board certification from the American Board of Surgery and was board-certified in colon and rectal surgery in 2006.

She is a member of the ACS, American Women Surgical Association, American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons, the American Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Association, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and SAGES.

Sanders was named a Fellow during the ACS’s 93rd annual Clinical Congress, held recently in New Orleans.

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The organization has more than 72,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.

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