Research Opportunities

Syed Shahyan Bakhtiyar (Research Year 1)

I work with Dr. Peyman Benharash in the Cardiac Outcomes Research Laboratory (CORELAB) at the Division of Cardiac Surgery at UCLA. We are involved in a variety of projects ranging from surgical outcomes and resource utilization to biomedical engineering. I am specifically focused on analyzing adult heart transplantation outcomes in patient with congenital heart disease, increasing the donor organ pool, and using CAD simulations to evaluate the effectiveness of certain surgical techniques.

Michael Kirsch (Research Year 1)

I work with Dr. Marco Del Chiaro on cystic disease of the pancreas and its progression to cancer. I work closely with his team of international fellows. We perform clinical research while also working to develop consensus guidelines on the management of cystic disease of the pancreas.

I also work with Dr. Camille Stewart on the impact of cannabis use in liver cancer and melanoma patient outcomes. Cannabis has been legal recreationally in Colorado for almost a decade, but its influence on surgical outcomes is poorly understood.

Finally, I work with Dr. Yihan Lin on global surgical education. We have developed a low-cost surgical simulator that has been used in our own residency program, as well as in Kenya and Rwanda. We are designing a curriculum for essential surgical skills to be integrated in the orientation of new Rwandan interns to better standardize their learning.

Samuel Lai (Research Year 2)

I work with Dr. Chapman and Dr. Vogel on clinical research projects in the field of colorectal surgery. Most recently, we have started a national multicenter rectal surgery research collaborative with 40+ other centers around the United States. One of the initial projects is focused on practice patterns and outcomes in non-operative management of locally advanced rectal cancer in the United States. We are also conducting a randomized trial comparing 2 different TAP block formulations in postoperative pain control at UC Health, as well as participating in a national multicenter randomized trial on operative vs nonoperative management of left sided diverticulitis. Finally, we are working on a few other retrospective outcomes-based studies in colorectal patients as well.

Alyssa Vaughn (Research Year 2)

I work with Dr. Ken Liechty supported by the Laboratory for Fetal and Regenerative Biology. Our lab in conjunction with a group of collaborators developed a novel therapeutic consisting of a nanoparticle conjugated to a microRNA that we are now testing in different injury models including a lung injury model (ARDS), diabetic wound healing model, pressure ulcer injury model, and a colitis model. I am also working on various clinical outcomes projects in multiple areas including congenital diaphragmatic hernia, myelomeningocele, surgical necrotizing enterocolitis, and duodenal atresia.

Dor Yoeli

I work with Dr. Chris Huang on various projects focused on transplant immunology and tolerance. We are testing novel therapeutic approaches to inducing tolerance and treating acute rejection in a pig kidney transplant model. We are also investigating novel treatments to mitigate ischemia-reperfusion injury in vascularized composite allograft transplantation in rodent models. We also have various projects focused on the role of galectin-3 in liver disease, transplantation, and coagulation, and are collaborating with Dr. Cara Mack to study galectin-3 in biliary atresia. I am also working with Dr. Megan Adams to conduct outcomes and mixed methods research in pediatric liver and kidney transplantation.

Helen Madsen

I work with Dr. Meguid on a multi-disciplinary team on health outcomes research. We are working on many large population level analyses using the NSQIP database. I have focused on the assessment of a patient's surgical risk in various ways, such as the impact of certain factors on mortality or the impact of obesity on surgical risk. We meet once a week with our team to discuss projects. We work closely with biostatisticians who perform our statistical analyses.

I work with Dr. Stewart on a prospective trial evaluating pain medication use in cannabis users. We will be enrolling patients in the trial in order to collect blood samples and quantify levels of cannabinoids, we will be comparing non-cannabis users and cannabis users to assess surgical outcomes as well as pain medication usage.

Heather Carmichael

I work with multiple mentors, focusing on surgical outcomes research around violence prevention, access to care, healthcare inequalities, vulnerable populations and geriatrics/frailty. I work with Dr. Robinson at the VA, with research focusing on characterizing underlying fitness and activity levels prior to and following surgical operations. I also work with Dr. Velopulos, with research on the social determinants of health as they pertain to surgical outcomes and healthcare inequalities, violence prevention with a focus on intimate partner violence, as well as use of geographic information systems (GIS) in exploring access and quality issues. I also do some outcomes and access research with the UCH Burn unit. Finally, I'm very interested in Surgical Education and am involved in work with the medical school curricular reform and the 1st year anatomy course.

Julia Coleman

I work in Dr. Ernest "Gene" Moore's trauma research lab, composed of an interdisciplinary team that studies trauma-induced coagulopathy. Within this topic, i have developed an interest in sex dimorphisms in coagulation and how this may confer differential resuscitation strategies and clinical outcomes in trauma. This has led to several clinical projects focused on coagulation profiles of sex hormone-specific states and differential coagulation-related outcomes in trauma and basic science projects focused on the effects of sex hormones on coagulation in vitro. I recently received a $35,000 grant from the Foundation for Women and Girls with Bleeding Disorders to support this work. In addition to this work, I have conducted basic science research projects to better understand mediators of fibrinolytic shutdown and to characterize thrombin generation in trauma patients.​

Rashikh Choudhury

I work with Dr. Trevor Nydam and the Transplant Surgery Research Group. Our research group has several active clinical and transplantation projects related to the study of ​coagulopathy and transplantation and quality improvement metrics surrounding the transplantation process. In addition to working on these projects, I am also helping to evaluate and potentially implement an uncontrolled donation after cardiac death program. This includes working on feasibility studies in conjunction with surgeons, medical specialists and hospital administrators.

Lindel Dewberry

I am supported by the Laboratory for Fetal and Regenerative Biology (Dr. Ken Liechty) as well as the pediatric surgery division (Dr. Thomas Inge). I split my time between basic science and clinical outcome projects. In my basic science work, I have focused on the role of macrophage polarization in wound healing. We are also testing applications for an anti-inflammatory nanoparticles in various models including wound healing and inflammatory bowel disease. In my clinical outcomes work, I have focused on patient centered outcomes after adolescent bariatric surgery using a prospective, national database.​

Allie Kovar

I am working with the UCH Trauma Department under Dr. Frank Wright, the UCH Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery Department under Dr. Matt Iorio, and with Surgical Quality Improvement under Dr. Ethan Cumbler. I am specifically working on validating scoring systems to activate MTP in the pre-hospital setting, extremity reconstruction clinical outcomes, and hospital wide quality improvement initiatives. I am also participating in several training programs on campus including the Hospitalist Training Program and the Certificate Training Program with the Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety and Efficiency.

Christina Kim

I am currently working with Dr. Steven Abman, a pediatric pulmonologist interested in bronchopulmonary dysplasia. My research is currently focused on developing ways to improve and/or prevent lung disease in neonates through different types of drug administration. This includes working with primary cell culture and small animal models to determine what mechanisms are involved in the development and prevention of neonatal pulmonary disease.

Allie Halpern

I work with Dr. Michael Weyant in the Cardiothoracic Surgery Lab which is a basic science lab. Pat Kohtz is my co-resident and we collaborate on some projects but also work independently. I work with lung and esophageal cancer cell lines to determine cell signaling pathways that influence cancer cell growth. We also have a mouse model and I will perform in vivo studies looking at a cell signaling pathway inhibitor and its effect on lung cancer tumor growth this coming year.

In addition to our basic science projects, we also perform clinical projects in the area of Thoracic Surgery. We have just completed a review of outcomes in lung transplant for patients with Interstitial Lung Disease and we are also looking at factors effecting oncologic outcomes for esophagectomy using the NCDB with Dr. Gleisner in Surgical Oncology. Dr. Weyant is also one of the national PIs on a study which examines the outcomes for patients who have received an Ex-Vivo lung transplant (where marginal lungs are placed on an Ex Vivo machine and monitored for their ability to ventilate- this technique could improve the numbers of lungs available for transplantation). My personal interests include Thoracic Surgery and Surgical Oncology.

Sarah Hilton

I work with Dr. Liechty in the Laboratory for Fetal and Regenerative Biology. I work on both basic science and clinical projects in areas including diabetic wounds, pediatric and fetal surgery. Some of my projects include 3D printing for fetal repair of myelomeningocele, outcomes in congenital diaphragmatic hernia, and applications for nanoparticles in wound healing.

Mohamed Eldeiry

There are two main focuses in the aortic surgery research lab. Our basic science research revolves around protection of the spinal cord from ischemia reperfusion injury which can occur during complex thoracoabdominal aortic repairs and lead to paraplegia. This work includes neuron cell culture, a mouse model of spinal cord ischemia and more recently a pig model to evaluate techniques of augmenting collateral circulation to the spinal cord. In addition, as the aortic program has continued to grow, we have started a database looking at outcomes and interventions in aortic surgery that are paving the way for advancement of treatment of aortic disease.

Bobby Torphy

My research areas are basic oncology/tumor immunology research as well as clinical outcomes research in oncology. My basic science research is focused on elucidating the function of a novel G-protein coupled receptor that may play an important role in tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. Concurrently, I am doing several clinical projects using the National Cancer Database and multiple University of Colorado surgical oncology databases. I am pursing a PhD in Clinical Science while I am in the lab.