Resident Research

The Department of Surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina is dedicated to providing high quality patient care and we firmly believe that this mission is advanced through scientific inquiry. For example, the annual Surgery Research Day is designed to recognize and reward the research accomplishments of all trainees in the Department and our research opportunities database on the Research Opportunities page helps residents easily find a mentor and / or research area they would like to pursue.  

In addition, our Surgeon-Scientist Pathway in the Future Surgical Leaders Program will help you specialize in developing a unique professional career path as a surgeon scientist. 

Recent Resident Awards, Presentations and Innovations: 

Presentations are an effective and important way for residents to discuss their findings at regional and national and international conferences. Here is a sampling of our residents awards and presentations, as well as other recognition:

2023

MACELYN BATTEN, D.O., PGY-3, NAMED TO CLASS OF VA QUALITY SCHOLARS

Macelyn Batten, D.O., PGY-3, was named to the Charleston VA Health Equity and Rural Outreach Innovation Center (HEROIC) 2023class of VA Quality Scholars. The Charleston VA Health Equity and Rural Outreach Innovation Center is one of 18 nationally funded VA Health Services Research & Development Centers of Innovation aimed at improving Veterans’ health and related healthcare needs through novel interventions.

SC ACS Meeting

GENERAL SURGERY SESSION

First Place Award (tie): Pay-to-Play: The Rising Cost of Subspecialty Conference Attendance for North and South Carolina Surgical Residents Over the Last Decade – Leah Evans, M.D., MS, PGY-2

First Place Award (tie): Bilateral Femoral Vessel Occlusion Increases Cardiac and Cerebral Perfusion After Cardiac Arrest in a Porcine Model – Benjamin Usry, Medical Student

Chest Radiographs Should Only be Obtained for Symptomatic Pediatric Patients After Fluoroscopic-guided Central Venous Catheter Placement – David Mann, D.O., MS, PGY-3

COMMISSION ON CANCER AND PAPER COMPETITION

Second Place Award: Defining the Rate of Pathologic Upstaging in Patients with Clinical T1b Esophageal Cancer: Should We Consider Neoadjuvant Therapy? – David Mann, D.O., MS, PGY-3

Racial Disparities in Breast Cancer Genetic Counseling After Referral– Julie Siegel, M.D., PGY-5

COMMITTEE ON TRAUMA SESSION

Third Place Award: Digital Subtraction Angiography Rarely Changes Management for Patients with Blunt Cerebral Vascular Injuries Seen on Computerized Tomography Angiography – John Lucas, M.D.,PGY-5

Atriocaval Shunt as Damage-Control Surgical Technique for Complex Pancreatico duodenal and Juxtahepatic Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) Injury – Sierra Patterson, BS, Medical Student

Gender Disparities Trends in Outcomes Among Adult Burn Survivors– Savannah Skidmore, BS, Medical Student

The Effect of Smoking Cessation at the Time of Admission Following Smoke Inhalation Injury on Pneumonia Risk – Alissa Mingo, BS,Medical Student

2022

• SC ACS Commission on Cancer and Paper Competition:
  • Second Place Award: Reprogramming T-Cell Metabolism with IL-12 to Improve Cancer Immunotherapy – Kristen Quinn, M.D.
  • The DR is In: Diastasis Recti (DR) is Associated with Incisional Hernia after Midline Abdominal Surgery – Alexander Booth, M.D.
  • Breast Cancer Multidisciplinary Clinics Provide High Patient Satisfaction and Disease Comprehension – Kristen Quinn, M.D. 
  • The Anti-Proliferative Effects of Oral Boswellia Serrata, a Frankincense Extract, in Patients with Breast Cancer – Julie Siegel, M.D.  
• SC ACS Committee on Trauma Session: 
  • Second Place Award: Redefining the Costal Margin: A Pilot Study Surgical Critical Care Fellow – Mujahed Lawsi, M.D. 
  • Third Place Award: Injury Characteristics Associated with Combined Fractures of the Forequarter – Richard Slay, M.D
• SC ACS General Surgery Session: 
  • Second Place Award: The General Surgery Residency Applicant Perspective on Virtual Interviews Pre and Post Vaccine Availability – Louis Runge, MS
  • Third Place Award:  Comparison of Minimally Invasive Skin Grafting to Conventional Methods in the Treatment of 2nd and 3rd Degree Burns on Donor Site Area and Hospital Length of Stay – Narayan Raghava, MS
  • Influence of Primary Language and Race on the Management of Pediatric Appendicitis – Allison Frederick, M.D.
  • Extremity Tourniquets Raise Blood Pressure and Maintain Heart Rate – Samuel Seigler, MS
• Denise Garcia, M.D. PGY-4 and Nancy Klauber-DeMore, M.D. paper "Overcoming PD-1 Inhibitor Resistance with a Monoclonal Antibody to SecretedFrizzled-Related Protein 2 in Metastatic Osteosarcoma" was a Top 10 Cited Paper in 2021 in the Section “Pediatric Oncology” of Cancers.
• David Mann, DO PGY- Research won second place for his presentation "Bridging the gap: How to get osteopathic residents into fellowships" at the General SurgeryResident Paper Competition during the 2022 Annual Clinical Assembly of the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons
• Jennie Kwon, M.D. was a Philip Caves Award finalist at ISHLT and presented a plenary talk at AATS on DCD heart transplantation. Dr. Kilic served as mentor and senior author for both papers.  
• Jennie H. Kwon (first author) in a study published in Circulation: Heart Failure, co-authored by cardiothoracic resident Jennie Kwon, M.D. and colleagues showed patients with heart transplants involving donation after circulatory death have no detectable difference in survival compared with those with hearts donated after brain death. Jennie H. Kwon (first author), Alexander D. Ghannam, Khaled Shorbaji, Brett Welch, Z.A. Hashmi, Ryan J. Tedford and Arman Kilic (senior author)
• Yarbrough Award for Research Excellence awarded to resident Dr. Kristen Quinn for her exceptional productivity in basic, translational and clinical research and her unique contribution to thedepartment as an innovator.
• Cardiovascular Lab Expansion: The CV lab added three surgical research residents (David Mann, D.O., Ryan Gedney, M.D., and Mario Figueroa, M.D.) as well as an MSTP student (Heather Holman, B.S.), expanding their efforts to identify unique mechanisms driving extracellular matrix remodeling and how it can be modified in response to elevated blood pressure and changes in inflammatory signaling. 
• Innovation & Entrepreneurship:  Through the MUSC Human-Centered Design program, Glow Ink Solutions (GIS) has amassed an interdisciplinary team of surgeons, residents, medical students, and financial analysts to commercialize Glow Dot. Patented  in the USA and Europe, Glow Dot is a novel endoscopic tattoo aimed at improving tumor detection beyond the current standard of care. GIS has received substantial interest and grant funding to pursue translational research aimed at assessing product viability in an animal model. 

2021

• Innovation & Entrepreneurship:  Heartbeat Technologies is a medical device start-up created by members of the HCD team that developed the innovative Safety Adjunct for Vascular Extremity Occlusion During Resuscitation (SAVER) device. Kristen Quinn, M.D., PGY-research, serves as CEO of Heartbeat Technologies. Other members of the HCD program that are a part of Heartbeat Technologies include Julie Siegel, M.D. PGY-3, Leah Plumblee, M.D. PGY-3, medical student Heather Holman, and Joshua Kim, M.S. HCD Design Director. Pediatric cardiac surgeon T. Konrad Rajab, M.D. serves as mentor and PI of the research that generated the development of the device.

2020

• Lex Booth, M.D. — postdoctoral fellowship through the VA Quality Scholars Program; concurrently completing the MUSC Masters of Science in Clinical Research Program. His research mentor is Thomas Curran, M.D., MPH
• Kristen Quinn, M.D. — T32 cardiovascular postdoctoral fellow at MUSC; her research mentors include Satish Nadig, M.D., Ph.D. and Carl Atkinson, Ph.D.
• Jennie Kwon, M.D. — T32 cardiovascular postdoctoral fellow at MUSC; her research mentor is Satish Nadig, M.D., Ph.D.
• Haley Zlomke, M.D. — T32 postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University with Dr. Christopher Wolfgang.
• Kunal Patel, M.D., Ph.D. was a finalist for the American Heart Association Vivien Thomas Young Investigator Award, a national competition focused on emerging cardiovascular research from early career investigators.
• Ryan King, M.D. received the Dabney Yarbrough Resident Research Award. Dr. King is the first member of an integrated residency program to win this award and it is notable that his research accomplishments were achieved concurrent to his clinical training.

2019

• Jerec Ricci, M.D. PGY 3 Research received a T-32 Postdoctoral Fellowship from the NIH. His research is Mitigating Ischemia Reperfusion Injury and Vascular Thrombosis in Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation and it will be conducted in the laboratory of Drs. Carl Atkinson and Dr. Satish Nadig.
• Resident Research Proposal Awardees: Julie Siegel, M.D. PGY-2: Mentor Nancy DeMore, M.D. SFRP2 antibody as an inhibitor of tumor angiogenesis and Leah Plumblee, M.D. PGY-2: Mentor Satsh Nadig, M.D., Ph.D. IRI exacerbates immunogenicity in ECs during organ transplant
• Daniel Crane, M.D. PGY 7 Plastic Surgery received the Best Presentation Award in the Reconstruction/Burn/Microsurgery Session at the ASPS Resident Abstracts Session for Venous Thromboembolism Incidence and Risk Factors Associated with Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery: A NSQIP Analysis

• Catherine Chung, M.D., PG-Y 3 awarded first place in the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) Poster Abstract Award. The abstract was entitled: The impact of perioperative music therapy on patients undergoing dialysis access with moderate sedation. Dr. Vinayak Rohan is the senior author.

• Lloyd “Mac” Felmly, M.D., PGY 4 CT Surgery Integrated presented Hybrid Double-Valve Replacement: Robot-Assisted Valve-in-MAC and Transfemoral TAVR at the American Association for Thoracic Surgery annual meeting. Dr. Marc Katz is the senior author.

• Ryan King, M.D. PG Y 2 Vascular Surgery Integrated gave a rapid-pace presentation Occlusion of the Celiac Artery During Endovascular Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair is Associated with Increased Perioperative Morbidity and Mortality at this year's Vascular Annual Meeting. Mathew Wooster, M.D. is the senior author

• Avi Bunnell, M.D. PGY 5 Vascular Surgery Integrated presented Elevated cardiopulmonary complications after revascularization in patients with severe mental health disorders at the Association of VA Surgeons

• Joseph Anderson, M.D. PGY 3 Vascular Surgery Integrated presented Discharge To A Facility Is Not Protective Against Wound Events Following Emergent Femoral Artery Repair at the VESS 2019 annual meeting

• Ryan King, M.D. PGY 2 Vascular Surgery Integrated awarded 2nd place of resident presentations at 13th Annual Introduction to Academic Vascular Surgery conference. Abstract entitled: Outcomes for peripheral vascular intervention and lower extremity bypass in kidney transplant recipients are superior to outcomes of patients remaining on dialysis. Podium presentation. Dr. Thomas Brothers was senior author.  

• Ryan King, M.D. PGY 2 Vascular Surgery Integrated presented Temporal Trends in Mortality and Morbidity after Open and Endovascular Interventions for Treatment of Aortoiliac Occlusive Disease at the Interactive Poster Session during the Vascular Surgery Annual Meeting. Thomas Brothers, M.D. is the senior author.

• Sami Tarabishy, M.D. PGY 2 Plastic Surgery Integrated  presented Thrombocytosis Is Associated with Complications after Microvascular Free Flap Surgery: A Review of NSQIP  at the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery Annual Meeting Fernando Herrera, M.D. is the senior  author

2018

• Denise Garcia, M.D., PGY-2 presented at the American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Garcia is co-author of the paper “The Value of Second Opinion in Breast Cancer Patients Referred to an NCI-Designated Cancer Center with a Multi-disciplinary Breast Tumor Board.”
• Gabe Chedister, M.D., PGY-4 was selected to give two podium presentations at the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons 2018 Annual Scientific Meeting in Nashville, TN. Dr. Chedister presented two video presentations: “Robotic Assisted APR with Robotic Harvest of Rectus Abdominin Muscular Flap for Vaginal Reconstruction” and “Transanal Minimally Invasive Surgery for Rectal Stricture.”
• Ashley Hink, M.D. PG-Y 5, Resident Winner for the 2017 Oriens Essay Award for Careers in Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, gave an oral presentation of her award-winning essay at the 2017 EAST Oriens Award Session held during the 30th EAST Annual Scientific Assembly, in Hollywood, Florida.
• Kunal Patel, M.D., PGY-3, gave an oral presentation on his abstract “Complement inhibition in brain dead donors mitigates post-lung transplantation inflammation and injury in a murine model” at the 10th Aegean Complement Therapeutics Conference held in Crete, Greece.
• Tahlia Weis, M.D., who graduated in May, 2017 from the integrated vascular surgery residency program, presented her paper “The Current Risk-Benefit Outlook for Endovascular vs. Open Surgical Bifurcated Aortoiliac Arterial Reconstruction Therapy for Aortoiliac Occlusive Disease” at the 2017 Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Society Annual Meeting in Steamboat Springs, CO.
• Daniel Crane, M.D. PGY-7 received the Best Presentation Award in the Reconstruction/Burn/Microsurgery Session 3 for his paper Venous Thromboembolism Incidence and Risk Factors Associated with Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery: A NSQIP Analysis, presented at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Resident Abstracts Session in Chicago, IL. 

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Residents and Integrated Residents who presented their research during Plastic Surgery – The Meeting, the annual meeting for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons held September 28 – October 1, 2018 in Chicago. The annual meeting is the premier educational and networking event for plastic and reconstructive surgeons. 

• Craig Moores, M.D. -- Significantly Decreasing Narcotic Prescriptions in A Residency Training Program Did Not Affect Overall Provider Rating Scores Of Attendings.
•  Zachary Young, M.D. -- A Reduction Mammoplasty NSQIP Analysis of 12198 Patients, Identifying Risk Factors Associated with Complications in the Elderly Population. 
• Jon "Simon" Ivey, M.D. -- Patient Demographics and Factors Influencing Cosmetic Procedures at an Academic Medical Center. 
• Daniel Crane, M.D. -- Venous Thromboembolism Incidence and Risk Factors Associated with Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery: A NSQIP Analysis.
• Sami Tarabishy, M.D. -- The Epidemiology of Upper Extremity Nerve Injuries and Associated Cost in the United States Emergency Departments, 2014. 
• Yemi Ogunleye, M.D., surgical alumnus -- Collagen 1A1 gene expression levels in resected skin predict acute wound healing complications after skin reduction procedures. 

In 2017, Three plastic surgery residents presented their research during Plastic Surgery – The Meeting, the annual meeting for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), in Orlando, Florida.

• Craig Moores, M.D., PGY-7, Plastic Surgery Resident presented “Free Microvascular Transfer of the Proximal Fibular Epiphysis to Reconstruct the Lateral Malleolus in a Pediatric Patient: A Case Report and Review of the Literature”
• Adeyemi Ogunleye, M.D., PGY-8, 2018 Chief Plastic Surgery Resident, presented “Robotic-Assisted Deep Inferior Epigastric Artery Perforator (DIEP) Flap for Breast Reconstruction
• Kiandra Scott, M.D., PGY-2, Plastic Surgery Integrated Resident, presented “The Effects of Obesity on the Complication Rates after Breast Reduction.”