New Orleans, LA – Dr. Larry H. Hollier, Chancellor of LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has joined Dr. Michael DeBakey and other icons in the field of vascular surgery who have been awarded the John Homans, MD Lecture. Named for a charter member of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), the lecture was established in 1950 at the fourth annual SVS meeting. The John Homans, MD Lecture was to be presented "from time to time by distinguished vascular surgeons." The first John Homans, MD Lecture was presented in 1951. The Society is very selective in awarding this distinction, and very few vascular surgeons have received it. In the 63 years since the establishment of the Homans Lecture, there have only been nine. Dr. Hollier presented the Homans Lecture at the 2013 Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Annual Meeting in San Francisco, the only one in the past 18 years. The last Homans Lecture was awarded in 1995, to one of Dr. Hollier's mentors.
Dr. Hollier, who in addition to his duties as chancellor continues to practice vascular and endovascular surgery, chose to highlight multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). A condition not well enough understood, MODS is one of the most common causes of death in surgical intensive care units. MODS begins when injuries such as trauma, cardiac arrest, burns, massive infection, or shock block blood flow and set off a cascade of events resulting in too little oxygen in tissues. Uncorrected, it can progress as the body responds with chemicals unleashing exaggerated inflammation generating oxygen-free radicals that damage tissue, eventually leading to organ dysfunction and death.
While there is some research experience, in the clinical arena there has universally not been a treatment that reverses the multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment is of utmost importance to increase oxygen delivery as soon as possible. High-dose hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been shown to effectively and quickly reduce oxygen debt in severely injured commercial divers, leveraging the chances of recovery. Dr. Hollier urged members of the Society, young students, residents and fellows to consider research in this area to find definitive answers.
A native of Crowley, Louisiana, Larry H. Hollier received his B.S. degree at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and his MD degree at LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. After completing his general surgery training at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, he moved to Dallas to spend a year of fellowship in vascular surgery with Dr. Jesse Thompson. He then returned to practice at the LSU School of Medicine, where he was soon promoted to the academic rank of Associate Professor of Surgery.
Following a brief stint in the U.S. Air Force, in 1980, Dr. Hollier joined the faculty and staff at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. In Rochester, Dr. Hollier soon established himself as an energetic and visionary leader, a skillful technical surgeon and a compassionate physician. He established the Section and then the Division of Vascular Surgery and initiated an accredited Vascular Surgery Training Program at Mayo Clinic. Dr Hollier made special contributions to aortic, renal, and carotid surgery; he is an expert in thoracoabdominal reconstructions and in research of spinal cord ischemia.
In 1987, he returned to Louisiana and was named Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Ochsner Clinic Foundation. In the mid-1990s, Dr. Hollier served as the Chair of Surgery and Executive Director of Clinical Affairs at Health Care International Medical Centre in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1996, Dr. Hollier was appointed as Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Surgeon-in-Chief at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was named President of the Hospital and served as its Chief Medical Officer.
In 2004, he was recruited to lead his alma mater as Dean of the School of Medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans. In 2006, he was named Chancellor, leading the six health professional schools and centers of excellence of LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans.
Dr. Hollier is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American College of Cardiology, the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, Scotland. He is member of all major national and many international societies of vascular surgery including SVS. In addition to being a lecturer on vascular and endovascular surgery, Dr. Hollier is the author of more than 300 journal articles and has served on the editorial boards of 13 surgical journals.
LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans educates Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's academic health leader, LSUHSC New Orleans consists of a School of Medicine, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, Schools of Allied Health Professions and Graduate Studies, and the only School of Nursing within an academic health center in the State of Louisiana. To learn more, visit http://www.lsuhsc.edu and http://www.twitter.com/LSUHSCHealth
The Society for Vascular Surgery® (SVS) is a not-for-profit professional medical society, composed primarily of vascular surgeons, that seeks to advance excellence and innovation in vascular health through education, advocacy, research, and public awareness. SVS is the national advocate for 4,000 specialty-trained vascular surgeons and other medical professionals who are dedicated to the prevention and cure of vascular disease.