Research Opportunities

Syed Shahyan Bakhtiyar

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

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

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

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.