John Alverdy - from Jazz music to the microbiome

Dr. John Alverdy is a professor of Surgery at the University Of Chicago who is probably best known in recent years for his extraordinary work on the microbiome and how it may relate to anastomotic leaks. He is a true surgeon scientist, following a path of scientific rigor that most of us could only imagine. He has been NIH funded for a quarter of a century and despite recently retiring from operating, he continues to run his lab three days a week - and more as he sees fit.

His early career was anything but conventional having started in medical school in Guadalajara in Mexico before returning for his residency training in his hometown of Chicago. He spent a research fellowship with Dr. George Sheldon in San Francisco before going on Faculty back at the University of Chicago where he has been ever since. Although he perhaps didn't recognize it in himself, his early mentors spotted his intelligence and determination to pursue a scientific career.

Throughout the years, there has been so much more to this man than laboratory experiments and clinical surgery. He is something of a musician and is equally fascinated with the mathematical complexities of a solo by John Coltrane as he is by mapping the interactions of the gut microbiome.

During this interview, he has quite a lot to say about the challenges facing any surgeon wishing to pursue a research career and how it is perhaps becoming more and more difficult every year.

If you prefer to watch rather than listen, then don't forget that this interview is available on all the #SurgeonsLives YouTube channel.

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#microbiome #anastomoticleak #surgicalresearch #NIHfunding #herbiehancock #johncoltrane #chicago #universityofchicago

https://mmp.bsd.uchicago.edu/steering-committee/john-alverdy/

https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/John-C-Alverdy-39796247

https://www.castleconnolly.com/top-doctors/john-c-alverdy-surgery-82cc015288

https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/surgery-articles/surgeon-receives-prestigious-award-for-groundbreaking-clinical-research