Current Residents In Research
Resident Spotlight:
Read about the work being done by Surgery resident Dr. Maia Nofal during her Fogarty Fellowship in Ethiopia, through the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health.
Research Residents 2023-2024
Andrea Alonso, MD R1
Clinical Year: PGY3
Site: Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Mentor: Jeffrey Siracuse, MD, MBA
Dr. Andrea Alonso will be obtaining a Master of Science in Population Health Research through the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, funded by the Primary Care Fellowship, during her academic development time. With her primary mentor, Dr. Jeffrey Siracuse, she will work on projects evaluating a diverse array of issues in vascular surgery, with a particular focus on disease screening and social disparities of health. These include evaluating long-term outcomes for endovascular procedures, including revascularization procedures for intermittent claudication, and carotid stenosis. She will also be working to improve outcomes for patients with advanced cardiovascular diseases at Boston Medical Center via structured multidisciplinary meetings spanning several relevant departments.
Funding: Primary Care Fellowship at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. T32 Hs022242: Training in Health Services Research for Vulnerable Populations
Nicole Cimbak, MD R3
Clinical Year: PGY-3
Site: Boston Children’s Hospital
Research Mentor: Christopher Weldon, MD, PhD
Dr. Cimbak is currently enrolled in a three year-long fellowship program based at Boston Children’s Hospital. The first year of the fellowship was spent as a Surgical Critical Care Fellow. During the past year and this her final year of the fellowship program, she is participating in a variety of clinical outcomes research projects centered around pediatric anorectal anomalies and nutrition in critically ill children.
Funding: Departmentally Funded at Boston Children’s Hospital
Priyanka V. Chugh, MD, MS R2
Clinical Year: PGY-3
Site: Boston Children’s Hospital
Research Mentor: Tom Jaksic, MD, PhD and Biren Modi, MD, MPH
Dr. Chugh evaluates outcomes for children with short bowel syndrome at Boston Children’s Hospital in collaboration with the Center for Advanced Intestinal Rehabilitation. She additionally works with faculty at both BMC and VA Boston in education and diversity/equity research. She is the founder and resident lead of the Advancing Cultural Competency and Equity in Surgical Specialties (ACCESS) group. She currently serves as the Senior Administrative Research Resident.
Funding: Departmentally Funded at Boston Children’s Hospital
Anna Kobzeva-Herzog, MD R2
Clinical Year: PGY-2
Site: Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Research Mentors: Aaron P. Richman, MD; Sabrina E. Sanchez, MD, MPH; Jeffrey J. Siracuse, MD, MBA; and Pamela Rosenkranz, RN, BSN, MEd
Dr. Kobzeva-Herzog serves as a Quality Improvement Research Fellow in the Department of Surgery at the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. She focuses on improving the quality of surgical care through both research efforts and institution-wide quality improvement programs. In this role, she aims to lead several multidisciplinary projects to reduce the frequency of gastrostomy tube dislodgments, to standardize VTE prophylaxis regimens for polytrauma patients, and to reduce the rate of breakthrough VTE despite proper chemoprophylaxis in the general surgery and trauma patient population.
Funding: NIH T32 grant and department funding
Maia Nofal, MD, MPH R2
Clinical Year: PGY-2
Site: Global Engagement at Stanford University
Research Mentor: Thomas Weiser, MD, MPH
Dr. Nofal serves as a researcher in the NIH Fogarty-funded Global Health Equity Scholars Program and Stanford Surgery’s Global Engagement group. Her work focuses on quality improvement initiatives to reduce surgical site infections in Sub-Saharan Africa in partnership with Lifebox, a charitable organization that advocates for safe surgical and anesthesia care worldwide. In her second year of research, she is piloting a program to reduce unnecessarily postoperative antibiotic use at five hospitals in Ethiopia and Rwanda.
Funding: NIH-Fogarty Global Health Equity Scholars Fellowship; Stanford Department of Surgery Global Engagement Group
Sophie Smith, MD R1
Clinical Year: PGY2
Site: Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Research Mentor: Sabrina E. Sanchez, MD, MPH
Dr. Smith is interested in trauma outcomes and reducing healthcare system waste and inefficiencies. Her primary research project is a multistage retrospective evaluation of loss to follow-up, emergency department (ED) utilization, and readmissions after traumatic injury, including using of a text-based check-in system to improve follow-up and identify high-risk patients for intervention prior to an ED visit or readmission. She is additionally interested in surgical education and plans to work on medical student engagement, with a specific focus on early mentorship for surgical specialties. Dr. Smith currently serves as the Junior Administrative Research Resident.
Funding: NIH T32 grant Immunobiology of Trauma
Please click here to view Past Research Residents, 2022
Please click here to view Past Research Residents, 2021.
Please click here to view Past Research Residents, 2020.
Please click here to view Past Research Residents, 2019
Please click here to view Past Research Residents, 2018.