VANGUARD SURGICAL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Surgeon
- General & Gastrointestinal Surgery, Advanced Laparoscopic Surgeon Located in Louisville, KY
Michael Hughes Jr., MD, is a board-certified surgeon and owner of Vanguard Surgical LLC. Dr. Hughes provides general and gastrointestinal surgery services to people in Louisville, Kentucky, and around the world to improve their quality of life.
Dr. Hughes is a true surgical innovator when treating chronic pancreatitis. He established the islet autotransplant (TP-IAT) program at the University of Louisville Health - Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, thanks to a grant worth nearly $1 million from the Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence.
Dr. Hughes then co-founded Koligo Therapeutics to expand islet autotransplantation to hospitals around the world. He served as Koligo's chief medical officer and trained surgeons throughout the United States how to perform the procedure. He continues to work with Koligo Therapeutics to treat his patients and is one of the top 5 surgeons world-wide performing TP-IAT.
After earning his medical degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Dr. Hughes completed his residency at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.
He also completed a transplant surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in Minneapolis, Minnesota, before serving as an attending surgeon and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and then the University of Louisville, where he was promoted to Associate Professor of Surgery
While at the University of Louisville, Dr. Hughes performed more than 1,000 gastric stimulator surgeries as an abdominal transplant surgeon and the director of the pancreas transplant program. He also began focusing on the surgical treatment of gastroparesis and started his own practice to meet the demand for these services. He has now done more than 1,600 gastric stimulator surgeries and 500 pyloroplasty surgeries.
Dr. Hughes is the only surgeon in the United States performing these procedures at an ambulatory surgical center (ASC), which offers significantly reduced costs for patients and insurance companies.
Dr. Hughes has received the recognition of his colleagues with numerous awards, including the American Society of Transplant Surgeons - Team Donate Life Junior Faculty Award, the Poster of Distinction Award from the American Transplant Congress, and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Career Development Award in Liver Transplantation.
With a mission to provide his patients with a better life, Dr. Hughes takes a caring and efficient approach to addressing the challenges of chronic pancreatitis and gastroparesis.
As a medical assistant at Vanguard, Michelle's passion is to help patients with whatever ails them. She has worked in the healthcare industry for more than 20 years serving in various positions and specialty areas. She currently focuses on giving Vanguard patients relief from gastroparesis. Having a personal understanding of how this disease can affect one's health, daily life and mental well-being she is in a unique position to give the kindness and compassion these patients deserve.
Job Titles:
- Chronic Pancreatitis Nurse
Phyllis joined Vanguard Surgical when the doors opened in 2019. Just prior to coming to Vanguard, she worked in the field of organ donation and transplantation for over 25 years. She served as the coordinator for the Pancreas Disease Program, working directly with Dr. Hughes. She also has a background in Critical Care and Surgery. Though her experience is mainly in treating patients with chronic pancreatitis, she has expanded her knowledge in the area of treating those with gastroparesis
Taylor Rich, APRN FNP, provides comprehensive preoperative and postoperative care at Vanguard Surgical LLC in Louisville, Kentucky.
Taylor has extensive experience in the medical management of gastroparesis patients, including the adjustment of gastric neurostimulator systems. She is certified as a family nurse practitioner by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP).
After earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Louisville, Taylor stayed in Louisville to pursue both her bachelor's degree in nursing from Bellarmine University and later her master's in nursing from Spalding University.
Taylor remains an active member of the Kentucky Association of Nurse Practitioners & Nurse-Midwives, the American Nurses Association (ANA), and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.
Collaborating with the Vanguard Surgical LLC providers, Taylor ensures individuals receive the detailed attention they deserve before, during, and after surgery. Her compassionate, empathetic approach to care allows Taylor to provide the highest level of personalized support throughout surgery and beyond.