The Department of Surgery is committed to excellence in research, and to advancing scientific knowledge in order to improve patient care and population health. Toward this end, we conduct a broad range of basic science research and clinical trials.

The Department is focused on "translational" research — on bringing problems identified in patient care to the research lab and then returning research advances made by us to benefit our patients, as demonstrated by our faculty's publications.

Among our current programs are, for example, research aiming to help the heart create its own coronary bypass through growth of new blood vessels; studies to improve the outcomes of breast reconstruction using new imaging technology; and trials of a new stem cell therapy for treating late-stage Crohn's disease.

Our research is supported by grants from the NIH, in addition to other public sources — and also private sources — of funds for basic and translational research.

As the regional center for clinical trials in cancer, Stony Brook uses the latest in therapeutic advances for the care of different cancers, and this gives our patients the only opportunity available in Suffolk County to benefit from such studies.

The Department's long history of excellence in basic and translational research is our tradition. It is a source of great pride for us, and one of the important ways we contribute to the best ideas in medicine at Stony Brook University Medical Center.