Biography

Dr. Rege received a BS of Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA in 1971 and his MD from The Milton S. Hershey Medical School, Pennsylvania State University in Hershey, PA in 1975. Following medical school, he remained at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center for his first year of residency in General Surgery, and then served 2-years as a general medical officer in the US Navy. He returned to Hershey in 1978 and completed his Residency in Surgery in 1982. After an additional year of training in gastrointestinal research at Northwestern University Medical School, he remained on the faculty at Northwestern. During 15-years at Northwestern, he rose through the academic ranks to the level of Tenured Professor of Surgery, assumed the position of Chief of Surgical Services at the VA Chicago Medical Center, Lakeside Division, and established a busy general surgery practice with an emphasis on complex hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery. In recent years, Dr. Rege has been a leader in development of advanced laparoscopic surgery, including laparoscopic hernia repair, Nissen fundoplication, esophagomyotomy, colectomy and splenectomy. With the Division of Transplantation Surgery at Northwestern University, he developed the first successful laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy program in the Midwest and taught one of the transplant surgeons the technique. The program now functions independently and harvests more than 100 kidneys each year. He was recruited to UT Southwestern and appointed Professor and Chairman of the Division of Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Surgery in July 1998. In addition, Dr. Rege maintained an active basic research program to study the pathogenesis of gallstones, which has been continuously funded via external sources since its inception in 1983. In April 2001, Dr. Rege was named Chairman of the Department of Surgery and became The Hall and Mary Lucille Shannon Distinguished Professor.

Education

Medical School
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine (1975)
Internship
Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (1976), General Surgery
Residency
Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (1982), General Surgery
Fellowship
Northwestern University Medical School (1983), Research

Research Interest

  • Pathogenesis of Gallbladder Diseases

Publications

Featured Publications LegendFeatured Publications

Is a "Simple measurement" of intra-abdominal fat a simple tool for a surgeon?: Comment on "Simple measurement of intra-abdominal fat for abdominal surgery outcome prediction".
Rege RV Arch Surg 2010 Nov 145 11 1073-4
General surgery training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center: a legacy of excellence.
Rege RV Am Surg 2010 Mar 76 3 245-52
Training of surgeons in clinical research.
Livingston E, Rege RV Surgery 2009 Jun 145 6 644-50
Laparoscopic esophagomyotomy for achalasia: how I do it.
Rivas H, Rege RV J. Gastrointest. Surg. 2009 Mar 13 3 542-9
Ultrasound-guided breast biopsy curriculum for surgical residents.
Hoover SJ, Berry MP, Rossick L, Rege RV, Jones DB Surg Innov 2008 Mar 15 1 52-8
Biliary pancreatitis.
Sarosi G, Rege RV J. Gastrointest. Surg. 2006 Sep-Oct 10 8 1170-9
Laparoscopic Splenectomy
Rege RV The SAGES Manual, Fundamentals of Laparoscopy, Thoracoscopy, and GI Endoscopy 2006 2nd Edition, Springer Ed Carol E.H. Scott-Conner, 411-420
Multicenter construct validity for southwestern laparoscopic videotrainer stations.
Korndorffer JR, Clayton JL, Tesfay ST, Brunner WC, Sierra R, Dunne JB, Jones DB, Rege RV, Touchard CL, Scott DJ J. Surg. Res. 2005 Sep 128 1 114-9
Do resident duty hour restrictions reduce technical complications of emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy?
Naylor RA, Rege RV and Valentine RJ J Am Coll Surg 2005 201 724-731
Integrating technical competency into the surgical curriculum: doing more with less.
Valentine RJ, Rege RV Surg. Clin. North Am. 2004 Dec 84 6 1647-67, xi-xii

Professional Associations/Affiliations

  • Association of VA Surgeons, President 2003-2004
  • Fellow of the American College of Surgeons
  • Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons
  • Society of Surgical Chairmen
  • Texas Surgical Society