Anna Kobzeva-Herzog, MD

 

Site: Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Research Mentors: Aaron Richman, MD, Jeffrey Siracuse, MD, Pamela Rosenkranz, BSN MEd, and David McAneny, MD

Area of Research: Quality improvement (QI) with a focus on improving surgical patient outcomes in collaboration with the multidisciplinary Quality and Patient Safety Team at Boston Medical Center (BMC). Focus areas include decreasing the incidence of gastrostomy tube dislodgements and postoperative VTE.

Dr. Anna Kobzeva-Herzog is currently a General Surgery Resident at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and a Clinical Instructor at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine (BUCASM). During her academic development time, Dr. Kobzeva-Herzog served as the Quality Improvement Research Fellow in the Department of Surgery at the BUCASM, and she was also the recipient of the NIH T32GM86308 grant (Impact of Biological, Clinical, and Social Determinants on Trauma and Trauma Outcomes). She focused on improving the quality of surgical care through both research efforts and institution-wide quality improvement programs. In these roles, she led 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 populations. In addition, she evaluated socioeconomic disparities in diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as assessed time to removal of tunneled dialysis catheters and the effect of relative surgeon volume on stroke risk in carotid endarterectomy versus transcarotid artery revascularization patients.

In addition to her research pursuits, Dr. Kobzeva-Herzog was able to pursue her passion of mentorship as the resident lead for the Fourth Year Medical Student Longitudinal Mentorship Program, which provides mentorship to fourth year medical students planning to apply into general surgery. She also had the privilege of serving as a member of the Association of Women Surgeons #HeForShe Committee, which helps develop tools to teach best practices to all surgeons to be allies in pursuit of gender equity and mentoring women surgeons. She was additionally a resident leader for the Quality Improvement Housestaff Council at BMC as well as a resident member of several hospital committees at BMC, including the Trustee Quality and Patient Safety Committee, Resident Advisory Committee, and Graduate Medical Education Committee.

Regarding conference presentations, Dr. Kobzeva-Herzog gave oral presentations at several conferences, including the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress, the American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Conference, the New England Surgical Society Annual Conference, the Academic Surgical Congress Annual Conference, The American College of Surgeons Quality and Safety Conference, and the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma Annual Scientific Assembly. She was also invited to give oral presentations at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in October 2024 on the association between shame and burnout in general surgery residents and assessing a quality improvement initiative’s effect on adult inpatient gastrostomy tube dislodgements. Notably, Dr. Kobzeva-Herzog gave an oral presentation at The American College of Surgeons Quality and Safety Annual Conference in July 2024 on the sustained success of a postoperative venous thromboembolism prevention protocol over one decade, and she was awarded one of ten Best Abstract Awards for her presentation. From her academic development time, Dr. Kobzeva-Herzog is an author of nearly 20 publications, four as first author. Dr. Kobzeva-Herzog’s research has been published in several journals, including Annals of Surgical Oncology, Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, The American Journal of Surgery, and Annals of Vascular Surgery. As of June 2024, she has an additional eight manuscripts under review for publication.

Top Three publications:

  • Kobzeva-Herzog A, Ravundar A, Wilson A, Rosenkranz P, Talutis S, Macht R, Cassidy M, Siracuse JJ, McAneny D. Sustained Success of a Postoperative Venous Thromboembolism Prevention Protocol Over One Decade. The American Journal of Surgery. In press.
  • Kobzeva-Herzog A, O’Shea T, Young S, Kenzik K, Slanetz P, Phillips J, Merrill A, Cassidy M. Breast Cancer Screening and BI-RADS Assessment Category Trends in a Safety Net Population Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Annals of Surgical Oncology. Published online January 4, 2024. doi:10.1245/s10434-023-14787-4
  • Kobzeva-Herzog A, Smith SM, Counihan DR, Kain MS, Richman AP, Scantling D, Saillant NN, Sanchez SE, Torres CM. Timing of Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis Initiation and Complications in Polytrauma Patients with High-Risk Bleeding Orthopedic Interventions: A Nationwide Analysis. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. Published online March 29, 2024. doi:10.1097/TA.0000000000004331

Awards/Grants:

    • Best Abstracts Award                                                                                         July 2024
      American College of Surgeons Quality and Safety Conference
      Selected as a winner of the Best Abstracts Award at the Annual Quality and Safety Conference for project titled “Sustained Success of a Caprini Postoperative Venous Thromboembolism Prevention Protocol Over One Decade.”
    • Brief Report Award                                                                                            October 2023
      New England Surgical Society Annual Conference
      Awarded as the top brief report presentation at the Annual New England Surgical Society Meeting for project titled “Sustained Success of a Caprini Postoperative Venous Thromboembolism Prevention Protocol Over One Decade.”
    • Significant Impact on High Volume of Patients Award                        October 2023
      Boston Medical Center Quality and Patient Safety Week
      Awarded to the team with a quality improvement initiative that had the greatest impact on patients at our institution for the project titled “Improving Provider Compliance with Completion of Caprini Risk Assessment upon Discharge.”
    • Quality and Patient Safety Grant                                                                October 2022-September 2023   
      Title: “Creating Standardized Educational Videos for Routine Care and Assessment of Gastrostomy Tubes for Nurses”
      Granting Agency: Boston Medical Center
      Awarded $3,000 to create an educational video regarding care and assessment of gastrostomy tubes for nurses at Boston Medical Center.
    • NIH T32 Grant Recipient—Impact of Biological, Clinical, and Social Determinants on Trauma and Trauma Outcomes     July 2022-June 2024 
      T32GM086308-11, Boston Medical Center
      Examine how social determinants of health impact victims of violence and translate this information to develop and implement institutional initiatives.

Additional Education/Certification:

Applied Biostatistics: Core Curriculum and Advanced Topics Professional Certificate             September 2022-July 2023
Harvard Catalyst Postgraduate Education Program, Cambridge, MA

 

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