UND to host Rural Surgery Symposium The Department of Surgery will host the third annual Rural Surgery Symposium, a national meeting for surgeons who practice in rural areas, next year in Grand Forks. The event is dedicated to addressing and resolving problems encountered by rural surgeons in the United States, as well as providing an educational forum for these surgeons, according to Robert Sticca, surgery department chair and residency program director. David Antonenko, professor of surgery and director of surgical education, is coordinating the educational component of the meeting, set for September 2007 at the Alerus Center and Canad Inn. “This meeting gives us national exposure from the standpoint of rural surgery,” he said. For many years, UND has been widely known as a leader in rural medicine, so it is “natural for this meeting to be held in North Dakota.” The surgery residency program also has earned an exemplary reputation for its training of surgeons for rural areas, Sticca said, noting that more than 45 percent of its graduates practice in rural communities in North Dakota and around the country. The Rural Surgery Symposium is expected to draw up to 200 rural surgeons from throughout the United States, especially those who practice in the Midwest and West. The UND Surgery Department will be conducting the meeting in conjunction with the Mithoefer Center for Rural Surgery, a division of Bassett Health Care System of Cooperstown, N.Y., which has hosted the event for past two years. For more information, contact Geralyn at 701-777-2589 or email, glunski@medicine.nodak.edu . -30- Contact: Pamela D. Knudson, director of public affairs, 701-777-4305, pamelak@medicine.nodak.edu or Amanda Scurry, Office of Public Affairs, 701-777-0871, ascurry@medicine.nodak.edu 11-17-06 -- Shelley Pohlman, Assistant to the Director, Public Affairs, spohlman@medicine.nodak.edu, 701-746-1898