Diana L. Farmer | |
---|---|
Spouse(s) | Charles Cauldwell (m. 1983) |
Academic background | |
Education | BSc, marine studies and molecular biology, 1977, Wellesley College MD, University of Washington School of Medicine |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of California,Davis University of California,San Francisco |
Diana L. Farmer is an American pediatric surgeon. She is the Pearl Stamps Stewart Professor of Surgery and chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of California,Davis and surgeon-in-chief of UC Davis Children's Hospital. In 2010,Farmer was inducted as a fellow into the Royal College of Surgeons of England,becoming the second woman surgeon from the United States to receive this honor.
Farmer grew up in Chicago and Boise,Idaho,to a flight attendant mother and Navy fighter pilot father. [1] Her grandfather was a surgeon in Nebraska who graduated from the now defunct National University of St. Louis. [2] Upon completing her Bachelor of Science degree in marine sciences and molecular biology from Wellesley College,Farmer conducted research at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. [3] As a result,she was named a Rhodes Scholar finalist. While driving to her interview,she was involved in a car accident and chose to pursue a career in medicine while recovering from her injuries. [1] She earned her M.D. from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1983,where she also completed her internship. [4] She finished her residency at the University of California,San Francisco (UCSF) in 1993 where she was introduced to fetal surgery. [1] After a surgical fellowship in Michigan,Farmer was awarded a Luce Scholarship to study medicine in Asia and moved to Singapore with her husband. [3]
In 1988,Farmer returned to UCSF and became the first female fetal surgeon. [1] As the UCSF Children’s Hospital Surgeon-in-Chief,Farmer’s research interests include fetal therapy interventions for myelomeningocele and other birth defects. In January 2010,Farmer was inducted as a fellow into the Royal College of Surgeons of England,becoming the second woman surgeon from the United States to receive this honor. [5] The following year,she was also elected a Member of the National Academy of Medicine. [6]
Upon joining the faculty of University of California,Davis,Farmer became the Pearl Stamps Stewart Professor of Surgery and chair of the Department of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief of UC Davis Children's Hospital. In February 2019,she was elected to the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons. [7] While serving in these roles,Farmer continued her research into curing spina bifida. In 2019,Farmer and Aijun Wang identified exosomes and galectin 1 as key to protecting neurons and ultimately reducing the lower-limb paralysis associated with the birth defect. [8] Due to her research,Farmer won a 2020 U21 Award for advancing global perspectives in her field. [9] She was later awarded a grant to co-launch the world’s first human clinical trial using stem cells to treat spina bifida with Aijun Wang. [10] The following year,Farmer became the third woman named president-elect of the American Surgical Association. [11]
Farmer married her husband Charles Cauldwell in 1983. [1]
The University of California,San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco,California. It is part of the University of California system and it is dedicated entirely to health science. It is a major center of medical and biological research and teaching.
Spina bifida is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types:spina bifida occulta,meningocele and myelomeningocele. Meningocele and myelomeningocele may be grouped as spina bifida cystica. The most common location is the lower back,but in rare cases it may be in the middle back or neck. Occulta has no or only mild signs,which may include a hairy patch,dimple,dark spot or swelling on the back at the site of the gap in the spine. Meningocele typically causes mild problems,with a sac of fluid present at the gap in the spine. Myelomeningocele,also known as open spina bifida,is the most severe form. Problems associated with this form include poor ability to walk,impaired bladder or bowel control,accumulation of fluid in the brain (hydrocephalus),a tethered spinal cord and latex allergy. Learning problems are relatively uncommon.
Hand of Hope is a 1999 medical photograph taken by Michael Clancy during open fetal surgery,showing the hand of the fetus extending from the incision in the mother's uterus and seeming to grasp a surgeon's finger. Clancy was documenting a procedure being developed at Vanderbilt University to treat spina bifida. The photograph was taken on 19 August and the baby was safely delivered on 2 December.
UC Davis Medical Center is part of UC Davis Health and a major academic health center located in Sacramento,California. It is owned and operated by the University of California as part of its University of California,Davis campus. The medical center sits on a 142-acre (57 ha) campus located between the Elmhurst,Tahoe Park,and Oak Park residential neighborhoods. The site incorporates the land and some of the buildings of the former Sacramento Medical Center as well as much of the land previously occupied by the California State Fair until its 1967 move to a new location.
Fetal surgery also known as antenatal surgery,prenatal surgery,is a growing branch of maternal-fetal medicine that covers any of a broad range of surgical techniques that are used to treat birth defects in fetuses who are still in the pregnant uterus. There are three main types:open fetal surgery,which involves completely opening the uterus to operate on the fetus;minimally invasive fetoscopic surgery,which uses small incisions and is guided by fetoscopy and sonography;and percutaneous fetal therapy,which involves placing a catheter under continuous ultrasound guidance.
Michael R. Harrison served as division chief in pediatric surgery at the Children's Hospital at the University of California,San Francisco (UCSF) for over 20 years,where he established the first fetal treatment center in the U.S. He is often referred to as the father of fetal surgery. He is currently a professor of surgery and pediatrics and the director emeritus of the UCSF Fetal Treatment Center.
The Fetal Treatment Center at the University of California,San Francisco is a multidisciplinary care center dedicated to the diagnosis,treatment,and long-term follow-up of fetal birth defects. It combines the talents of specialists in pediatric surgery,genetics,obstetrics/perinatology,radiology,nursing,and neonatal medicine.
UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland formerly known as Children's Hospital Oakland,is a pediatric acute care hospital located in Oakland,California. The hospital has 191 beds and is affiliated with the UCSF School of Medicine. The hospital provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants,children,teens and young adults aged 0–21 throughout Northern California. UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland also features a Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center,one of five in the state.
The MOMS Trial was a clinical trial that studied treatment of a birth defect called myelomeningocele,which is the most severe form of spina bifida. The study looked at prenatal and postnatal surgery to repair this defect. The first major phase concluded that prenatal surgery had strong,long-term benefits and some risks.
Melvin Malcolm Grumbach was an American pediatrician and academic who specialized in pediatric endocrinology. Called Edward B. Shaw Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics,Emeritus at the University of California,San Francisco School of Medicine,Grumbach was noted for his research and writing on the effect of hormones and the central nervous system on growth and puberty and their disorders;the function of the human sex chromosomes;and disorders of sexual development.
Dr. John F. Sarwark is Martha Washington Foundation Professor of Pediatric Orthopedics at Lurie Children's Hospital;Former Head,Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery,Lurie Children’s Hospital;and Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery,Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago,Illinois.
Karin Marie Muraszko is Julian T. Hoff Professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan. She is the first woman to head a neurosurgery department at any medical school in the US. She specializes in brain and spinal cord abnormalities. She has a spinal cord abnormality,spina bifida.
Benjamin Warf is an American pediatric neurosurgeon. Warf was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2012.
N. Scott Adzick currently serves as the Surgeon-in-Chief at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) as well as the Director of CHOP’s Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment,which he founded in 1995. Dr. Adzick is also the C. Everett Koop Professor of Pediatric Surgery at CHOP and a Professor of Pediatrics,Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center is an NCI-designated Cancer Center,affiliated with the UCSF School of Medicine and the UCSF Medical Center. It is one of 69 cancer research institutions in the United States supported by the National Cancer Institute,and one of three in Northern California. The HDFCCC integrates basic and clinical science,patient care,and population science to address prevention and early detection of cancer as well as the quality of life following diagnosis and treatment.
Carys Margaret Bannister was the first female British neurosurgeon. Born in Brazil to Welsh parents,she moved to England as a teenager and trained in surgery after qualifying as a doctor. She spent most of her career as a consultant neurosurgeon at North Manchester General Hospital and as a researcher at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. She specialised in treating disorders of the cerebral circulation,spina bifida,and hydrocephalus.
Robert Bransby Zachary was an English paediatric surgeon who spent the majority of his career at Sheffield Children's Hospital. He was an expert on the treatment of spina bifida and hydrocephalus.
Andre R. Campbell is an American physician. He is a Professor of Surgery and the Vice Chair for Diversity,Equity,and Inclusion at the University of California,San Francisco.
Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital (CMHH) is a nationally ranked women's and pediatric acute care teaching hospital located in Houston,Texas. The hospital has 234 pediatric beds and 76 beds for women. CMHH is affiliated with the John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School at University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and is a part of the Memorial Hermann Health System. The hospital provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants,children,teens,and young adults aged 0–21 throughout Houston and surrounding regions. Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital also sometimes treats adults that require pediatric care. CMHH also features an American College of Surgeons designated Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center,1 of 5 in the state. The hospital is located within the vast Texas Medical Center.
Julie Ann Freischlag is an American vascular surgeon and current CEO of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. She was the first female surgeon-in-chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and the first female chief of vascular surgery at the University of California,Los Angeles. In 2017,Freischlag was appointed Interim Dean of Wake Forest School of Medicine and CEO of the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. During the COVID-19 pandemic in North America,Freischlag was named chief academic officer of Atrium Health,Inc.,and appointed the President-Elect of the American College of Surgeons.