The interests of residents who spend academic time devoted to research vary widely, from basic science to education to social determinants of health affecting state and national policies. Residents pursue opportunities on campus as well as research collaborations at other institutions. Information about projects underway by current research residents can be found below. In addition, we invite you to learn about the many achievements of our research residents over the last few years.
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.
2023-2024 Academic Year
Andrea Alonso, MD - R1
Site: Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Mentor: Jeffrey Siracuse, MD, MBA
Area of Research: Dr. 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
Site: Boston Children’s Hospital
Research Mentor: Christopher Weldon, MD, PhD
Area of Research: 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 in 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.
Priyanka V. Chugh, MD, MS - R2
Site: Boston Children’s Hospital
Research Mentor: Tom Jaksic, MD, PhD and Biren Modi, MD, MPH
Area of Research: 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 Boston Medical Center and the 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.
Anna Kobzeva-Herzog, MD - R2
Site: Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Research Mentor: Aaron P. Richman, MD; Sabrina E. Sanchez, MD, MPH; Jeffrey J. Siracuse, MD, MBA; and Pamela Rosenkranz, RN, BSN, MEd
Area of Research: 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.
Maia Nofal, MD, MPH - R2
Site: Global Engagement at Stanford University
Research Mentor: Thomas Weiser, MD
Area of Research: Dr. Nofal serves as a researcher in the NIH Fogarty-funded Global Health Equity Scholars Program and is focusing on quality improvement initiatives to reduce surgical site infections in Ethiopia. In addition, as part of this work, she partners with Lifebox, a charitable organization that focuses on safe surgical and anesthesia care worldwide.
Sophie Smith, MD - R1
Site: Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Research Mentor: Sabrina E. Sanchez, MD, MPH
Area of Research: 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.