Research news
Mentor Spotlight: David Greer, MD
David Greer, MD, Chair and Chief of NeurologyDr. David Greer is Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and the Richard B. Slifka Chief of Neurology at Boston Medical Center. He has been a neurointensivist since 2001, having trained at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he began his career. He was then Vice Chair at Yale from 2010-17, before joining Boston University and Boston Medical Center in 2017. Dr. Greer did not originally envision a career in research, but growing frustration with numerous unanswered and neglected questions motivated him to take action by asking, "why not me?". He began modestly by creating a database and compiling records of patients in coma, which over the years expanded into a long-term commitment and ultimately became his life's work.
Student Spotlight: Sophia Bahad, M2
Sophia Bahad is a current M2 student and 2025 MSSRP researcher. This past summer she presented her poster at the Boston Medical Center Pediatric Research Day titled, “Comparing Area-Based Sociodemographic Measures and Their Association with Latent TB Infection at Boston Medical Center.” Mentored by Dr. Jeffrey Campbell in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Department at BMC, Sophia’s research rethinks how the “household” is defined in latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) prevention and care. LTBI often clusters within households, yet households are typically treated as static, co-residential units in clinical care. Using a mixed-methods approach, Sophia's project characterizes household composition and fluidity among patients with LTBI in Boston and examines how household structure relates to disclosure patterns and TB-relevant risk factors. Based on patient interviews, she created participant-centered household diagrams to develop household membership phenotypes that may inform more effective household-level LTBI care strategies. Sophia also notes the project's research assistants, Ariane Garing and Dorine Lavache, who were instrumental to study execution and data collection.
Sophia studied medical anthropology as an undergraduate at Boston University, where she became deeply interested in how social context shapes health behaviors and outcomes. Medical anthropology helped Sophia understand why systems function the way they do; she carried this outlook into her medical school research. Through this project, Sophia translated that lens into practical, clinically relevant TB care work. Household-centered TB prevention depends on understanding who patients actually consider part of their household and who they choose to disclose their diagnosis to. Their findings show that real-world households are dynamic networks rather than fixed residential units, which has direct implications for how LTBI screening, treatment, and support are delivered. This is especially important in diverse, migrant-rich settings where tr
aditional household definitions may miss key relationships.
Through her research experience, Sophia learned how differently qualitative and quantitative methods generate insight, and how essential both are for understanding health and disease. Working directly with patient narratives, diagrams, and lived experiences showed her how qualitative data provides context and meaning that large datasets often cannot capture alone. In contrast, earlier quantitative work using R to analyze area-based sociodemographic indices taught me how structured data can reveal population-level patterns, and together these experiences showed me the value of integrating multiple methods with strong mentorship guiding the process.
Sophia is currently preparing to present this household-focused project at the 2026 Medical Student Research Symposium.
Student Spotlight: Wei Ni Zhou, M2
Congratulations to Wei Ni Zhou, a current M2 and 2025 MSSRP researcher, on her recent selection to present her research, Medical Optimization of Patients with Intermittenet Claudication in A Safety-Net Hospital Setting, at the 53rd Annual Symposium on Vascualr Surgery in March 2026. Her research explores the disease progression and treatment adherence in patients with lower extremity claudication (pain with walking that subsides with rest) at Boston Medical Center. Under the mentorship of Dr. Jeffrey Siracuse and surgery resident Dr. Andrea Alonso, they did a retrospective study of patients who were diagnosed with intermittent claudication (IC) at BMC from 2018-2025 and collected data on their first four clinic visits for claudication. Demographics, comorbidities, medications, symptoms, lifestyle modifications, progression to tissue loss/rest pain, and interventions were recorded.
Wei Ni enjoyed learning about peripheral artery disease in my undergraduate biochemistry class and wanted to learn about it further in a research setting. She was interested in researching disease progression over time and seeing how impactful treatment adherence was -- especially in preventing progression to the point where one needs life changing interventions like a leg amputation.
Many patients with intermittent claudication are started on conservative therapies (such as smoking cessation, optimized medication use, and supervised exercise therapy). So far, there is limited data on how IC patients fare on these therapies long term, but this project offers insight on claudication progression in the setting of variable patient therapy adherence, comorbidities, and social determinants of health. Their research demonstrates that medical optimization for patients with IC in the safety-net setting is suboptimal and highlights the importance of continuing research in the following areas: how to decrease barriers for supervised exercise therapy, have better assessments of patients' walking ability, and increase smoking cessation.
Her research experience has taught her that she truly enjoys doing clinical research. Prior to medical school, Wei Ni did not have as much exposure to retrspective chart studies and is grateful to have the opportunities to dive and explore something unfamiliar. She also learned that she enjoys translating her databases into variables that can be statistically analyzed since it involves problem solving and simple coding on Excel -- both of which she notes she hasn't done in a while!
Mentor Spotlight: Daniel Roh, MD/PhD
Dr. Daniel Roh, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Surgery
Daniel Roh, MD, PhD, specializes in plastic and reconstructive surgery. His interest in research began in high school and solidified at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine through a formative summer mentorship, which led him to pursue MSTP training to integrate science with clinical care. He received his MD and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program and went on to complete the Harvard Combined Plastic Surgery Training Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital. After completing plastic surgery residency while remaining engaged in research, I launched my independent research program at BU/BMC in November 2019, supported by pilot studies that seeded my initial grant funding. Dr. Roh’s clinical practice spans both re constructive surgery for trauma or cancer patients and cosmetic
Dr. Roh's research focuses on cellular responses to tissue injury and the mechanisms that govern effective tissue repair, with particular emphasis on how cellular senescence influences skin wound healing with aging. A major goal of his laboratory is to translate these insights into clinically actionable strategies, including senolytic and senescence-modulating therapies that may improve repair while limiting pathologic scarring. This work is highly collaborative and includes partnerships with engineers to study extracellular matrix dynamics, tissue mechanics, and biomaterial-informed approaches. By integrating single-cell and spatial analyses with preclinical and human models, his research aims to inform the design of senescence-targeted interventions and guide future clinical trials in wound healing and surgical recovery.
Medical students in my laboratory have contributed to projects spanning senescence biology, epigenetic regulation, and age-related wound repair, including Jack Crouch, Grace Shin, Jannat Dhillon, Joy Ha, Minsung Cho, Sydni Britton, and Kylie Tang. Their work has led to multiple peer-reviewed publications and national-level scholarly dissemination in journals focused on aging and cell biology. Dr. Roh's lab has also recently welcomed Rayna Magesh, who is leading spatial transcriptomic analyses to study how aging and cellular senescence influence wound healing, and he works closely with Katie Hohl, an MD-PhD student, on a translational project examining relaxin-based approaches to reduce pathologic scarring.
Dr. Roh on mentorship:
To me, mentorship is about cultivating curiosity, independence, and purpose. I strive to help trainees find their own entry point into a scientific question, transforming inquiry into ownership and sustained motivation. I view mentorship as collaborative in which I provide structure, opportunity, and guidance, allowing students to build confidence and develop their identities as future clinician-scientists. One of the most rewarding aspects of mentorship is seeing a student become genuinely excited by a new result and recognize its potential for discovery; when that spark appears, it signals a deep connection to the work and meaningful scientific growth.
I emphasize that consistent effort, curiosity, and persistence are what ultimately drive success. The most effective mentees approach their work with discipline and resilience, remaining engaged even when progress is slow or results are uncertain. When sustained hard work is paired with genuine interest in the questions being asked, meaningful and lasting impact in medicine and science naturally follows.
There are numerous medical student–led work from my laboratory has resulted in multiple peer-reviewed publications, including:
- Samdavid Thanapaul RJR, Shvedova M, Shin GH, Roh DS. Viewpoint: An insight into aging, senescence, and their impacts on wound healing. Advances in Geriatric Medicine and Research 2021;3(3):e210017. PMID: 34414398 PMCID: PMC8373038
- Crouch J, Shvedova M, Thanapaul RJRS, Botchkarev V, Roh D. Epigenetic Regulation of Cellular Senescence. Cells. 2022 Feb 15;11(4):672. doi: 10.3390/cells11040672. PMID: 35203320; PMCID: PMC8870565.
- Thanapaul RJRS, Shvedova M, Shin GH, Crouch J, Roh DS. “Elevated skin senescence in young mice causes delayed wound healing”. GeroScience. 2022 Jun;44(3):1871-1878. PMID: 35399134; PMCID: PMC9213596.
- Shvedova M, Thanapaul RJRS, Ha J, Dhillon J, Shin GH, Crouch J, Gower AC, Gritli S, Roh DS. Topical ABT-263 treatment reduces aged skin senescence and improves subsequent wound healing. Aging (Albany NY). 2024 Dec 3;16. doi: 10.18632/aging.206165. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39630941. PMCID: PMC11810067.
In addition, students have presented their work through oral and poster presentations at multiple local, national, and international scientific meetings.
Mentor Spotlight: Vipul Chitalia, MD/PhD
Dr. Vipul Chitalia (MD PhD) is a physician-scientist and Professor in the Department of Medicine and an affiliate at the Institute of Medical Engineering and Science at MIT. He completed his internal medicine residency in a program with Columbia University, a renal fellowship at Boston University and a postdoc fellowship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research is focused on the intersection of cardiovascular complications in different diseases. His reverse translational model has contributed to the fundamental understanding of cardiovascular diseases in patients with kidney failure and cancer.
As an MD-PhD, Dr. Chitalia’s primary goal is to help patients, particularly those he encounters through his clinical work at Boston Medical Center—a unique and diverse patient population. He applies a "bedside to bench" approach, bringing clinical challenges back to the lab for investigation. His postdoctoral experience at MIT, working with Nobel laureate Philip Sharp, Bob Langer, and Elazer Edelman reinforced his commitment to bridging patient care and research.
Since establishing his lab around 2011-2012, Dr. Chitalia has aimed to translate patient problems into research questions that can lead to meaningful therapies. He is passionate about nurturing the physician-scientist mindset, emphasizing that physicians—who intimately understand patient suffering and disease processes—are uniquely positioned to innovate new treatments. Without this perspective, he believes crucial insights into patient care might be missed.
Dr. Chitalia on mentorship:
For Dr. Chitalia, mentorship is a role that naturally emerges through the act of mentoring itself and is deeply rooted in his passion for giving back what he has gained. Reflecting on his own training, he was inspired by mentors during his residency and fellowship who encouraged him to think deeply about patients and to translate clinical problems into research questions that ultimately benefit patient care. He strives to pass on this “art of science” to his students.
His mentoring approach centers on making the scientific journey an enjoyable and meaningful experience. Dr. Chitalia spends time with his students everyday discussing hypotheses and emphasizes the importance of understanding the “why” behind their work, as this fosters greater enthusiasm and insight. To connect research with real-world impact, he also takes students on clinical rounds to witness firsthand how their scientific inquiries relate to patient care, reinforcing that even small contributions can have significant future impact. He views mentoring as an art that can only be learned by doing, and this hands-on, patient-centered approach defines his guidance to mentees.
Student Spotlight: Dr. Vipul Chitalia’s Lab (Anna Natrakul, Arjun Patel, Pranav Yadati, DJ Wu Wong)
Arjun Patel, M1 (2026 LEADS/MSSRP scholar) has been involved in several projects in Dr. Chitalia’s lab, notably researching the impact of semaglutide therapies on deep vein thrombosis. This project originated from one of Dr. Chitalia's clinical observations at Boston Medical Center, linking patient care directly to research. Their findings on the regulation of thrombotic factors have potential implications for clinical trials and regulatory review.
Joining the lab as an undergraduate with no prior lab experience, Arjun has grown significantly in knowledge and skills, supported by patient mentorship from Dr. Chitalia and guidance from fellow students. Initially unsure about nephrology, his experience has sparked a strong interest in internal medicine and the scientific investigation involved. The lab’s collaborative environment and variety of research roles have enriched his learning and development. His research is published in the Kidney360 journal, "Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Pathway Augments Peritoneal Fibrosis in a Murine CKD Model Exposed to Peritoneal."
Pranav Yadati, M1 (2026 LEADS/MSSRP scholar) graduated in 2020 and brings a diverse background including teaching high school math and clinical research. He completed his Medical Sciences Master's Program thesis in Dr. Chitalia’s lab, focusing on how kidney disease leads to muscle wasting, a common and debilitating issue for dialysis patients. He also contributed to research on calciphylaxis. Transitioning from rat-based studies and clinical research to more molecular bench work, Pranav appreciates the connection between patient care and laboratory investigation.
With a family history of kidney disease, his personal motivation drives his research interest in nephrology. Through his journey—overcoming initial setbacks in medical school applications—Pranav has developed perseverance and adaptability, learning to navigate the ups and downs of research. He values these skills as essential for both science and medicine.
DJ Wu Wong, M3, (2024 LEADS/MSSRP scholar) is another student in Dr. Chitalia's lab who recently presented at the ASN Conference. His project is on Intravascular Ultrasonography Demonstrates Accuracy over Angiography in Arteriovenous Hemodialysis Dysfunction." He an author on the article "Tryptophan metabolism reprogramming contributes to the prothrombotic milieu in mice and humans infected with SARS-CoV 2"was recently published. DJ's research investigates SARS-CoV-2 infection disturbs the coagulation balance in the blood, triggering thrombosis and contributing to organ failure.
Dr. Chitalia is recognized by his students as an exceptional mentor who consistently makes time for his students and is understanding of their schedules. He ensures that mentees contribute meaningfully to projects, fostering a positive and engaging research environment. His enthusiasm for involving medical students is genuine and evident. His students state Dr. Chitalia approaches setbacks with a constructive and optimistic mindset, viewing challenges as opportunities to pivot, learn, and grow. He actively involves students in collaborative discussions and networking, making the research experience feel dynamic and fast-paced. Beyond research, he invests deeply in his mentees’ personal and professional development, offering guidance on long-term goals like residency planning. His dedication and supportive attitude make him a highly valued role model.
One of Dr. Chitalia’s defining qualities is his positive and resilient approach to research challenges. Rather than viewing setbacks as failures, he encourages seeing them as opportunities to learn, adapt, and find new directions. He actively connects students with experts and collaborators, inviting them to participate in meetings and discussions that broaden their scientific understanding and networks. This inclusive approach makes the research process feel dynamic and fast-paced, counteracting the typical frustrations of slow progress, especially for busy medical students.
Importantly, Dr. Chitalia invests in the holistic development of his mentees beyond the lab. He offers personalized guidance on career planning, including early preparation for residency applications, and supports students regardless of whether their future lies within nephrology. His commitment to nurturing each person’s individual journey and interests, combined with his incredible work ethic and visionary planning, establishes him as not only a mentor but also a dedicated role model. Students deeply appreciate his unwavering support, positivity, and genuine care, which empower them to thrive both as researchers and future clinicians.
Student Spotlight: Isabelle Joy ‘ 28 – 2025 DoM Evans Days 1st Place Basic Science Poster Winner
We want to congratulate Isabelle Joy, the 2025 Boston University Department of Medicine Research Symposium 1st Place Basic Science Poster Winner! Isabelle was a 2025 MSSRP student mentored by Dr. Thomas Clarke and received support from The Grunebaum Cancer Research Foundation.What Isabelle and Samuel have learned through this research experience:
Isabelle: I gained a great appreciation for the field of molecular biology through this research. The meticulous dedication that is required to confirm a hypothesis is far beyond what I imagined, and I learned that I love the experience of taking a deep dive into a question and disproving all of my own counterarguments until I have a theory that is backed by solid evidence and foolproof logic. The satisfaction from that aspect of the work was certainly a pleasant surprise. This was my first experience presenting my research in a formal setting, and I had an absolute blast doing it. I also grew more confident in public speaking, fueled by my sheer excitement in the research findings.
Student Spotlight: Kylie Tang ‘ 28 – 2025 DoM Evans Days 3rd Place Basic Science Poster Winner
Congratulations to Kylie Tang, a current M2 student, the 2025 Boston University Department of Medicine Research Symposium 3rd place Basic Science Poster Winner! Under the mentorship of Dr. Daniel Roh, MD/PhD, Kylie presented her research project, "The Effects of Dasatinib + Quercetin on Open Wound repair in Aged and Youn Skin." This research project looked at senescence-related cutaneous wound healing and the influence of senolytics on it. They found that senolytics didn’t delay wound healing in young mice, and it significantly accelerated wound healing in aged mice to a comparable rate as young mice. Noting the varying gene expression of different senescence markers at the wound site indicate that there is more to be explored.
Kylie's inspiration and initial interest in the aging process was sparked by her undergrad research in neurotransmitter dynamics in Parkinson's. Over time, her interests shifted from studying diseases in neural degeneration to more of an interest in the entire body, such as the skin and regeneration abilities. She was excited and felt privileged to pursue this interest with the Roh lab, where they looked at senescence and its impact on tissue repair. She was also mentored by Dr. Maria Shvedova, MD/PhD and Dr. Qioaling Wang, PhD.
When asked about the importance and timeliness of her project, Kylie states "Today, our older population is larger than ever due to our advances in healthcare and technology. With this rapidly growing population comes increasing demands in age-related care and how we can tailor healthcare to older patients, which may differ from younger populations. Therefore, a better understanding of the impact of senescence on wound healing is crucial."
Through this experience, Kylie has gained valuable technical skills, enhanced critical thinking, and learned the importance of collaboration in scientific research. Through many trials and errors with the guidance and patience of her mentors, Kylie developed not only a greater array of skills but also the ability to think more critically, saying "I’m lucky to be part of a collaborative environment, and so I learned just how important it is to work together as a team."
We are so proud of Kylie for her ongoing accomplishments and the efforts of her mentor Dr. Roh, his lab and all those involved!
Mentor Spotlight: Thomas Clarke, PhD
Dr. Thomas Clarke, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Dr. Clarke is originally from London, England, and studied medical science at the University of Exeter with a twelve-month research internship at Harvard Medical School before starting his Ph.D. at the University of Birmingham. He undertook his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Clarke joined the faculty at Boston University School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in January 2024, funded by a National Institutes of Health K99/R00 career development award.
Dr. Clarke's Lab's Research:
Mammalian cells are continually exposed to environmental and endogenous DNA damage that threatens their genomic integrity. Efficient repair of DNA damage is essential for the maintenance of genome stability and preventing diseases associated with compromised genomic integrity, such as cancer and neurodegenerative disease.
Damaged DNA is repaired through a series of coordinated and complex steps involving DNA damage recognition, cell cycle arrest and signaling-induced activation of DNA repair machinery – processes collectively referred to as the DNA damage response (DDR). In the last few years, several chromatin-based events have been shown to be critical mediators of an effective DDR. Whilst it is becoming clear that the chromatin environment is important for the accurate and efficient repair of DNA damage, the key mediators of these events remain poorly defined. The Clarke Lab aims to identify novel chromatin factors involved in DNA damage repair and determine the mechanisms by which these factors maintain genome integrity. Their research has the potential to identify important mechanistic drivers of a range of human diseases, including several diverse types of cancer, premature aging disorders, and human developmental syndromes. Ultimately, the goal is to leverage our understanding of DNA repair mechanisms to inform new therapeutic strategies for a range of diseases and conditions underpinned by genome instability.
Passionate About Training Junior Scientists:
As a faculty member at Boston University, I am deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of research scientists. In my lab, we foster an inclusive and collaborative environment where all members feel valued and supported as they explore the scientific process and contribute to new discoveries. A key part of our mission is providing hands-on research opportunities for undergraduate and medical students.
Many of our student researchers have secured funding for their projects through both Boston University and external organizations, including The Grunebaum Cancer Research Foundation. One of our medical students, Isabelle Joy, received support from the Grunebaum Foundation for her work investigating the biological role of a gene of unknown function in breast and endometrial cancer. Her dedication and findings were recently recognized with a Best Poster Award at the Boston University Department of Medicine Research Symposium—an exciting milestone that reflects the impact of student-driven research in our lab.
Mentor Spotlight: Neil Ganem, PhD and Katrina Traber, MD/PhD – the New Co-Directors of the MD/PhD Program
For October, we would like to spotlight the newly appointed co-directors of the MD/PhD Program: Neil Ganem, PhD and Katrina Traber, MD/PhD. Drs. Ganem and Traber also joined the medical student research advisory committee.
Dr. Ganem is an associate Professor of Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics, and Medicine. Dr. Ganem’s lab seeks to define the tumor suppression mechanisms that limit the proliferation of highly abnormal aneuploid cells, as well as to identify the common genetic adaptations made by cancer cells to overcome these growth barriers. Dr. Ganem received his PhD in biochemistry from Dartmouth Medical School in 2007 studying the mechanisms underlying mitosis (cell division). After receiving my PhD at Dartmouth, he moved to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where his postdoctoral work was focused on understanding the causes of consequences of aneuploidy. Aneuploidy describes cells that have an abnormal number of chromosomes, and it’s important to understand aneuploidy because nearly all cancer cells are aneuploid, and aneuploidy is actually known to fuel tumor development and growth. In 2011, Dr. Ganem was promoted to instructor at Harvard Medical School before joining Boston University Medical School in 2013.
Dr. Ganem's lab is highly focused on identifying “ploidy-specific lethal” proteins. These are proteins that are not essential for normal cells (which are not aneuploid and have a normal number of chromosomes) but are essential for aneuploid cancer cells (which have an abnormal number of chromosomes). They recently identified once such protein, called KIF18a. It is now known that drugs that inhibit KIF18A are able to kill aneuploid cancer cells while not harming normal, healthy cells. Phase I and II clinical trials for KIF18A inhibitors are now underway, and early data show tumor shrinkage with no harmful side effects to patients.
Dr. Ganem has graduated three MD/PhD students from his lab, all working on different cancer cell biology projects. All three are now in Physician Scientist Training Programs (Sanghee Lim at Mayo Clinic, Ryan Quinton at Stanford Medical School, and Marc Vittoria at Yale School of Medicine), as well as published fist-authors. He is currently mentoring another MD/PhD student, Rose Zhao, who is in her fourth year in the lab and who also wants to pursue a career in oncology.
Dr. Ganem on Mentorship: "Mentorship is the most important part of my job. I try to give my students the freedom to develop and pursue their own independent ideas and then support them in their endeavors as much as possible. The vast majority of experiments will end up giving unexpected data, or may fail to work altogether." His advice to his mentees and students "is to learn to accept that failed experiments and rejected hypotheses are a big part of science, and it is critical to stay motivated, not get discouraged, and constantly think of new ideas to explain the unexpected data."
Dr. Traber, MD, PhD, is a board-certified pulmonologist at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. After receiving her medical degree from New York University, Dr. Traber completed a pulmonary disease and critical care medicine fellowship at BMC.
The long-term goal of the Traber Lab is to identify and develop new strategies to treat severe neutrophil-based sequelae of pneumonia such as ARDS and sepsis. To achieve this goal, we use in vivo and in vitro models of pneumonia to investigate mechanisms of neutrophil dysfunction in acute lung infections. Currently, we have been using two broad approaches to understand neutrophil biology. First, we are examining modulation of the neutrophil transcriptome during neutrophil migration from circulation to the alveolar space. Second, we are investigating how Oncostatin M (OSM), an IL-6 family cytokine produced by neutrophils in many acute and chronic inflammatory settings, including pneumonia, ARDS and sepsis potentiate neutrophil migration to the alveoli during pneumonia.