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MUSC adds another vascular surgeon to star-studded staff by Mary Helen Yarborough Public Relations MUSC’s Department of Surgery has landed another star to add to its already star-studded list of vascular surgeons.   Dr. Kakra Hughes has become the newest member of the prestigious vascular surgeon team at MUSC. From left are Drs. Hughes, Jay Robison, Bruce Elliott and Thomas Brothers.  Kakra Hughes, M.D., a board-certified vascular surgeon, joined the department in early July, bringing a wealth of knowledge and skill in endovascular surgery. He joins Bruce Elliott, M.D., Jay Robison, M.D., and Thomas Brothers, M.D., in the section of vascular surgery.   Hughes, a native of Ghana, also was recruited by other leading medical centers across the country before he accepted the position at MUSC.   “I like the weather and the water here,” Hughes said with a smile. “I interviewed around the country and got a few offers. I like the folks I am working with at MUSC.”   On the professional side, Hughes was encouraged by the direction MUSC is taking in its surgery department.   “A big part that played in my decision to come here was the specific opportunity to assist in the further development of  MUSC’s endovascular program,” said Hughes, who received his medical degree from Wake Forest University. “An increased focus in  minimally invasive surgery has occurred in major academic medical centers around the country in the past decade or so and in the field of vascular surgery, endovascular surgery has come to have a very real place in vascular disease management.”   Endovascular surgery often provides alternatives to the more costly, invasive open-heart operations. It also enables the surgeon to perform tasks that once were technologically restricted to interventional radiologists. “Now, an endovascular surgeon will have the interventional skills, which means the patient would not have to be sent to a radiology suite on one day for one procedure and then come to the operating room on another day for the operation. The endovascular surgeon can do both procedures in the same setting in a so-called hybrid fashion,” Hughes said. “One possible advantage of doing this is that it takes away the potential bias, i.e. traditional open operations versus minimally invasive interventions. …There still is debate over whether physicians should use interventional techniques or surgery on certain patients with vascular disease.”   Prior to coming to MUSC, Hughes served as an endovascular surgery fellow at the Arizona Heart Institute and Hospital in Phoenix. His residency in vascular/endovascular surgery was performed at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Hughes also was a research fellow in cardiovascular surgery at the University of California in Los Angeles Medical Center; and he was a surgical resident at the Los Angeles County MLK/Drew-UCLA Program following graduation from Wake Forest.   Hughes, who is one of four children, may have inherited his yearning for knowledge and excellence from his parents. The Summa Cum Laude graduate from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, was inspired by his mother who was in charge of the Catholic Schools in Ghana. Now retired, she oversees a regional Catholic health care system in Ghana.   His father, a lawyer, now presides over the parliament of Ghana as its speaker. Though he left Ghana at age 17 to attend college in America, Hughes said he would like to make frequent trips to Africa as part of a medical mission to help under-served populations.   “I have an interest in doing missionary work,” said Hughes, expressing interest in the medical exchange programs in which MUSC participates.     Friday, Aug. 4, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.