Graduating Students Showcase Their Research Projects at Research Day

Congratulations to the CCLCM Class of 2023 for their outstanding research projects, showcased during the 13th Annual CCLCM Research Day, held on March 10.

Caitlin Hicks, MD (‘12), MS, delivered the keynote address, presenting on “Value-Based Care in Vascular Surgery – From Academics to Implementation.” Dr. Hicks is an Associate Professor of Surgery, Associate Fellowship Program Director of Vascular Surgery, and Director of the Center for Outcomes Research at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Hicks has a busy clinical practice with a focus on carotid disease, aortic disease and peripheral artery disease. Her research interests include clinical outcomes, diabetic lower-extremity disease, high-value care and implementation science.

The students’ names, titles of their research work and names of their research mentors are listed below.

Class of 2023 oral research presentations

Aiman Faruqi
The impact of race, ethnicity, and obesity on CAR T-cell therapy outcomes in children and young adults with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL)
Mentor: Nirali Shah, MD

Joshua (Josh) Gallop
TSG-6 and TSP-1 exhibit altered expression in the skin of diabetic patients
Mentor: Edward Maytin, MD, PhD

Matthew (Matt) Nagy
Predicting response to PARP inhibitors in pediatric cancer patients via synthetic lethality
Mentor: Eytan Ruppin, MD, PhD

Lubika (Jeremiah) Nkashama
Regulation of cardiac CaMKII (Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II) in living heart cells by oxidation and Ca2+/calmodulin during electrical field stimulation
Mentor: Mark E. Anderson, MD, PhD

Srinidhi (Nidhi) Singuri
TIMP3 mutations associated with sorsby fundus dystrophy (SFD) lead to altered extracellular matrix (ECM) in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells
Mentor: Bela Anand-Apte, MD, PhD

Surabhi Tewari
Gut microbial tryptophan metabolites are potential suppressors of epithelial ovarian cancer growth and chemoresistance
Mentor: Ofer Reizes, PhD

Class of 2023 mini presentations, abstracts

Aditya Banerjee
Side effects and complications of procedural sedation in the emergency department
Mentor: Sharon Mace, MD

Alissa Becerril
Racial, ethnic and neighborhood socioeconomic differences in incidence of dementia: A regional retrospective cohort study
Mentor: Jarrod Dalton, PhD

Mario Belfiglio
Prevalence of self-reported voice and swallowing complaints in a population of older adults
Mentor: Paul C. Bryson, MD, MBA

Joshua Cockrum
Convolutional neural networks using cardiac magnetic resonance for early diagnosis and risk stratification of cardiac amyloidosis
Mentor: Deborah Kwon, MD

Dena Crozier
Robust collateral responses in vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (VISA) informs optimal antibiotic treatment in endocarditis
Mentor: Jacob G. Scott, MD, DPhil

Sarah DeCou
Analysis of immunophenotype in neurofibromatosis type 1: Associations with sex and clinical severity
Mentor: Neha Patel, MD

Jacob Enders
Development of a novel quantitative transmission ultrasound device for prostate cancer imaging and targeted biopsy
Mentor: Peter Pinto, MD

Daniel Grits
A comparative and correlative evaluation of early to late stage osteoarthritis in human knee cartilage utilizing clinical and preclinical MRI imaging (3T & 7T) with histopathology as the standard
Mentor: Nicolas Piuzzi, MD

Lauren Heusinkveld
Characterization of the immune microenvironment of basal cell carcinoma by multispectral immunofluorescence and gene expression profiling
Mentor: Allison Vidimos, MD, RPh

Carrie M. Johnson
A systematic review and natural history study of circulating progenitor and endothelial cells and their relationship to disease severity and clinical outcomes in pulmonary arterial hypertension
Mentors: Jason M. Elinoff, MD, and Michael A. Solomon, MD, MBA

Emese Kanyo
Comparative performance of a fully automated optical coherence tomography-based deep learning algorithm versus expert human readers for clinical trial analysis
Mentor: Justis Ehlers, MD

Priscilla Kim
Derivation and external validation of a prediction model for pneumococcal urinary antigen test positivity in patients with community-acquired pneumonia
Mentor: Abhishek Deshpande, MD, PhD

Lisa Kojima
Developing a model to predict perioperative blood loss in non-cardiac surgical patients using machine learning
Mentor: Michael Rothberg, MD, MPH

Diana Lopez
Multi-spectral immunofluorescence evaluation of the myeloid, T cell, and natural killer cell tumor immune microenvironment in chordoma may guide immunotherapeutic strategies
Mentor: Nyall London, MD, PhD

Joseph Mauch
External validation of diuretic efficiency risk prediction tool
Mentor: Wilson Tang, MD

Stephanie Njemanze
Mechanisms behind CD55-mediated fibrosis in endometriosis
Mentor: Elliott G. Richards, MD, PhD

Anthony U. Onuzuruike
Racial disparities in antihyperglycemic treatment patterns and health outcomes for patients with type 2 diabetes in a large integrated health system
Mentor: Anita Misra-Hebert, MD

Matthew Russell
Retinal metabolic imaging using flavoprotein fluorescence for monitoring progress of age related macular degeneration and retinal dystrophies.
Mentor: Rishi Singh, MD

Paras Shah
Changes in patellar morphology in adult recurrent patellar dislocation
Mentor: Frances Gavelli, PhD

Alexandra (Sasha) White
Characterizing sex differences in cellular and behavioral aspects of cortical ischemia secondary to photothrombosis in a rodent model
Mentors: Andre Machado, MD, PhD, and Ken Baker, PhD

Bernie Wu
Cooled and traditional thermal radiofrequency ablation of genicular nerves in patients with chronic knee pain: A comparative outcomes analysis
Mentor: Robert Bolash, MD

Shannon Wu
Exploring the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in anaplastic thyroid cancer: implications for antiangiogenic therapy and immune checkpoint inhibition
Mentor: Timothy Chan, MD, PhD

Congratulations to all the students and their mentors for the considerable time, effort and energy they invested in their research projects over the past year.

Photo credit: Shawn Green