Dr. James Murphy is a pediatric surgeon at the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital and associate professor at the Larner College of Medicine at UVM in Burlington, VT. He specializes in conditions such as liver disease (Biliary atresia), cancers such as neuroblastoma which is when cancer cells begin to grow out of control, and Wilms’ tumor, one of the most common types of kidney cancers in children. He also treats gastroschisis and omphalocele which are defects of the abdominal wall, as well as undescended testes, inguinal hernias, and hydroceles, a condition where the fluid sack in the testicles causes the groin area to swell.
Dr. Murphy’s research interests include pediatric surgical oncology, pediatric trauma, biomedical engineering, pediatric bowel obstruction, inflammatory bowel disease, outcomes research, quality improvement and surgical education.
As a father of four children, Dr. Murphy is honored to help sick children become well. He can empathize with the parent’s stress and anxiety about their sick child and therefore treats every child as if they were his own. He loves children and enjoys every aspect of their care, be it seeing them pre-operatively in surgical clinic or performing delicate surgical procedures to make them well. The most gratifying part of the job for him is seeing patients back in follow-up when they are well and fully recovered from their operation, knowing that they have a long and full life ahead of them.
Dr. Murphy also takes pride in training pediatric surgeons and educating medical students and surgery residents, all the while offering the highest quality surgical care to patients. He has published more than 60 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. In many of those projects, he mentored students who have gone on to careers in academic medicine.
Learn more about the pediatric surgery program at the University of Vermont Medical Center.