Clinical Associate Professor
University of Michigan / Michigan Medicine
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dr. Theodore Kung is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Section of Plastic Surgery at the University of Michigan. Dr. Kung received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University. He then completed an integrated plastic surgery residency at the University of Michigan. In addition, he also pursued fellowship training at the University of Washington in Seattle to specialize in microsurgical reconstruction, breast reconstruction, and lymphedema surgery.
During his surgical training, Dr. Kung developed a deep clinical interest in extremity traumatic amputation and peripheral nerve injuries. As a research fellow in the University of Michigan Neuromuscular laboratory, he conducted experiments that investigated the potential of novel techniques to harness neural signals from residual peripheral nerves after amputation injury. Specifically, he studied the processes of axonal sprouting, elongation, and muscle reinnervation in order to develop a peripheral nerve interface (RPNI) that could be used to control a neuroprosthetic device. As a plastic surgeon, he has expanded on this previous work on developing RPNIs for the purpose of enhanced prosthetic control and extended his efforts to studying novel treatment strategies for peripheral nerve neuromas. This line of research coincided with his interest in patient-reported outcomes and the use of validated survey instruments to obtain health-related quality of life data from clinical studies. Dr. Kung is currently the PI of two Department of Defense-funded prospective investigations examining the efficacy of RPNI surgery to reduce postamputation pain, medication consumption, and centrally-mediated pain conditions in amputation patients.
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose
Friday, September 22, 2023
7:00 AM – 8:00 AM PDT