Argenta Honored with Scholarship and Fellowship in His Name
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Louis C. Argenta, M.D., F.A.C.S., professor and chairman emeritus of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, is being honored for his work developing negative pressure wound therapy and for his continuing contributions to surgical patient care.
Kinetic Concepts Inc. (KCI) and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Foundation announced a five-year, $250,000 educational grant for a research fellowship and an international scholarship – both named for Argenta – to promote surgical education and research vital to advancing wound care.
Argenta and his colleague, Michael J. Morykwas, Ph.D., associate professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery, developed the technique that became the Vacuum-Assisted Closure (V.A.C.®) Therapy to treat hard-to-heal wounds. KCI is the manufacturer and distributor of the V.A.C.® Therapy, which has been used to treat more than three million wound patients throughout the world.
“I’m deeply honored by this educational grant in my name,” said Argenta. “I’ve spent the better part of my career in education and research with a deep sense of personal fulfillment and professional accomplishment. It’s rewarding to know that my name will be attached to ongoing research and education regarding a discipline as life-changing as wound care.”
The Dr. Louis Argenta Faculty Research Fellowship will award a surgeon $40,000 a year over five years to help establish an independent research program on wound care. The Dr. Louis Argenta ACS International Guest Scholarship will offer an $8,000 stipend each year for five years focusing on the education of practicing surgeons through the ACS Clinical Congress. The remaining furnds are for the administration of the grants by the ACS Foundation. The remaining furnds are for the administration of the scholarship and fellowship by the ACS Foundation.
The stipend will be awarded to a surgeon between the ages of 35 and 45 from a country outside North America. The stipend will allow the surgeon to participate in that year’s ACS Clinical Congress and visit an academic institution in the United States for further education in advancing wound care.
“Dr. Argenta’s pioneering work created a real opportunity to globally change the standard of care in wound therapy,” said Catherine Burzik, KCI president and CEO. “The people of KCI are privileged to honor his accomplishments with an enduring commitment to research in this important area of medicine.”
Argenta is a member of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons, the American Burn Association, the American Cleft Palate Association, the American Medical Association, the American Society of Craniofacial Surgery, the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, and the North Carolina Medical Society.
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