Surgical Resident Research Experience

Surgery residents and fellows conduct research, which has been translated into new knowledge and procedures that benefit all. Research conducted by Brigham and Women’s Hospital has been recognized by many honors, including the Nobel Prize.

Dr. Marko Boskovski
7/1/2015 - 6/30/2017
Dr. John E. Mayer, Jr. and Dr. Jane Newburger
Boston Children's Hospital
"Genetic predictors of postoperative outcomes in patients with congenital heart disease."

Dr. Karan R. Chhabra
7/1/2018 - 6/30/2020
Dr. Justin Dimick, Dr. Rodney Hayward, Dr. Hari Nathan and Dr. Dana Telem
National Clinician Scholars Program at the University of Michigan
"Impact of policy changes on quality and costs of surgical care."
"Influence of insurance design on utilization of surgical care."
"Improving access to and quality of bariatric surgery."

Dr. Sameer Hirji
7/1/2017 - 6/30/2020
Dr. Tsuyoshi Kaneko
Brigham and Women's Hospital
"Comparative effectiveness of transcatheter aortic valve replacement for symptomatic aortic stenosis."
Additionally, transcatheter mitral valve replacement, MitraClip and complex proximal aortic surgery.

Dr. David (Sasha) Mahvi
7/1/2017 - 6/30/2019
Dr. Yolanda Colson and Dr. Chandrajit Raut
Brigham and Women's Hospital
"Efficacy of chemotherapy eluting polymer films in preventing locoregional recurrence of sarcoma."

Dr. Alessandra L. Moore
7/1/2016 - 6/30/2018
Dr. Michael T. Longaker
Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Surgery
"Understanding the epigenetic mechanism of scarless wound healing, engineering skin cells for augmented or scarless wound healing."

Dr. Rebecca Scully
7/1/2015 - 6/30/2017
Dr. Louis Nguyen and Dr. Douglas Smink
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Dr. Kristin Sonderman
7/1/2016 - 6/30/2018
Dr. Robert Riviello
Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Rwanda
"Evaluating the use of mobile health technology to identify and refer patients with SSI in Rwanda."

Dr. Kevin Chang
7/1/2015 - 6/30/2017
Dr. Sam Yoon
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
"Role of hypoxia in tumor angiogenesis; cancer stem-like cells in soft tissue sarcomas and gastric adenocarcinoma."

Dr. George Li
7/1/2016 - 6/30/2018
Dr. Samuel Singer
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
"Elucidating common signaling pathways in myxofibrosarcoma to discover novel therapeutic targets."

Dr. Russell Witt
7/1/2016 - 6/30/2018
Dr. Tippi MacKenzie
University of California, San Francisco
"Conducting in utero hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to treat congenital hematopoietic disorders such as alpha-thalassemia."

Dr. Laura Ostapenko
7/1/2016 - 6/30/2018
Dr. Douglas Smink and Dr. Stanley Ashley
Brigham and Women's Hospital/John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
"Costs and outcomes of graduate medical education."

Dr. Lindsey Wolf
7/1/2015 - 6/30/2017
Dr. Adil Haider
Brigham and Women’s Hospital/CSPH
"Improving access to surgical care in vulnerable populations: A pilot proposal using mixed methods."

Dr. Melissa Anne Mallory
7/1/2015 - 6/30/2016
Dr. Mehra Golshan, Dr. Ferenc Jolesz and Dr. Clare Tempany
Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard University
Multiple projects centered around breast surgical oncology. Research focus on image guided surgical advancements, including intraoperative/supine MRI and mass spectrometry for improving breast surgical outcomes and focusing primarily on innovation as it relates to breast surgery.

Dr. Mario Aycart
7/1/2014 - 6/30/2016
Dr. Bohdan Pomahac
Brigham and Women's Hospital
"Development of a decellularized branched nerve allograft and its role in complex nerve regeneration."
"Clinical outcomes in vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA)."

Dr. Alexi Matousek
7/1/2012 - 6/30/2015
Dr. Robert Riviello
Brigham and Women's Hospital/Haiti
"Investigating methods to measure and improve access and quality of surgical care in rural Haiti at Hôpital Albert Schweitzer."

Dr. Bethany Strong
7/1/2014 - 6/30/2016
Dr. Sania Amr
University of Maryland, Baltimore
"Preventive medicine resident obtaining a Master of Science in epidemiology and focusing on injury and violence prevention research."

Dr. Peter Najjar
7/1/2013 - 6/30/2016
Dr. Stan Ashley, Dr. Allen Kachalia and Dr. Joel Weissman
Brigham and Women's Hospital/CSPH/Harvard Business School
"Harvard Medical School Fellow in Patient Safety and Quality, Arthur Tracy Cabot Research Fellow at CSPH and Harvard Business School MBA candidate performing research around surgical costs and quality at the CSPH, while operationalizing clinical quality improvement initiatives through collaboration between the Brigham Department of Quality and Safety and the Department of Surgery."

Dr. Gaurav Sharma
7/1/2014 - 6/30/2016
Dr. Monica Bertagnolli
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Surgical oncology research.

Dr. John Scott
7/1/2013 - 6/30/2014
Dr. Robert Riviello
Brigham and Women's Hospital/CSPH/Harvard Medical School/Rwanda
One-year MPH program; trauma and acute care surgery outcomes research in Kigali, Rwanda; surgical education in Rwanda.

Dr. JaBaris D. Swain
7/1/2012 - 6/30/2014
Dr. R. Morton Bolman, III, Dr. Samuel Finlayson and Dr. Marc Schermerhorn
Brigham and Women's Hospital/Rwanda
"Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of cardiovascular interventions in resource-limited settings."

Dr. Thomas Tsai
7/1/2012 - 7/30/2014
Dr. Ashish Jha, Dr. Atul Gawande and Dr. Samuel Finlayson
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health/CSPH/Ariadne Labs
"Variations in surgical readmission rates and relationship to hospital quality."
"Variations in hospital quality and cost: Implications for the Medicare Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative." (Jha)
"Impact of hospital board performance and managerial quality on hospital quality of care." (Gawande)
"Delivery of patient-centered and value-based care through surgical acute care integration." (Finlayson)

Dr. Gifty Kwakye
7/1/2012 - 6/30/2014
Dr. Atul Gawande
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Global health.

Dr. Ann Smith
7/1/2012 - 6/30/2014
Dr. Louis Nguyen
Brigham and Women's Hospital
"Computational modeling of treatments for peripheral vascular disease."