Congratulations to the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Class of 2024 for their outstanding research projects, showcased during the 14th Annual CCLCM Research Day, held on March 22.
Kalil Abdullah, MD (‘12), MSc, delivered the keynote address, “Metabolic vulnerabilities in malignant brain tumors: From operating room to bench and back.” A neurosurgeon-scientist, Dr. Abdullah serves as an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of Translational Neuro-Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. His research focuses on glioma biology, and he created a novel model system to study low-grade gliomas to explore the role of metabolic drivers of gliomagenesis. His research interest also involves developing new drugs and treatment targets for brain cancers. He has served as the principal investigator for numerous glioma clinical trials and is actively involved in bringing brain tumor drugs from the laboratory to early-stage clinical trials.
The students’ names, titles of their research work and names of their research mentors are listed below.
Christie Campla
Hepatic HIF stabilization by novel carbonyl glycine derivatives protects against oxygen-induced retinopathy
Mentor: Jonathan Sears, MD
Magdalena Fay
Combined TGF-β/PD-L1 blockade enhances systemic antitumor immunity in head and neck cancer
Mentor: Clint T. Allen, MD
Adam Lauko
SerpinB3 drives cancer stem cell survival in glioblastoma
Mentor: Justin Lathia, PhD
Precious Oyem
Tissue perfusion and wound complications in soft tissue sarcoma surgery
Mentor: Lukas M. Nystrom, MD
Abdelrahman Rahmy
Genome-wide CRISPR gene knockout screen identifies enrichment of Ras pathway as potential resistance mechanism to tyrosine kinase inhibitors in RET-driven medullary thyroid carcinoma
Mentor: Javed Khan, MD
James Sullivan
Discontinuation of anti-TNFα therapy is associated with a gain-of-function TNFR2-R polymorphic variant, in patients with psoriatic arthritis
Mentor: M. Elaine Husni, MD, MPH
Emily Abramczyk
Association of intravenous neostigmine and anticholinergics or sugammadex with postoperative delirium: A retrospective cohort study
Mentor: Daniel Sessler, MD
Maleeha Ahmad
Novel histologic factors driving chronic hepatitis D progression
Mentor: Theo Heller, MD
Cydni Akesson
Cross-talk between the complement system and pro-inflammatory cytokines influences the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in the pathogenesis of endometriosis
Mentor: Elliott Richards, MD, PhD
Heeruk Bhatt
Comparing the resolution of skin and muscle disease in patients with dermatomyositis
Mentor: Anthony Fernandez, MD, PhD
Graham B. J. Buchan
Improved accuracy of a novel fluoroscopy-based robotic-assisted THA system compared to manual THA
Mentor: Atul F. Kamath, MD
Samyukta Dore
Racial and socioeconomic disparities in psychiatric readmission risk
Mentor: Brian Barnett, MD
Samuel Harwood
Automated UWFA analysis of diabetic retinopathy
Mentor: Justis Ehlers, MD
Pranay Hegde
Persistence of FLT3-TKD in blood prior to allogeneic transplant is associated with increased relapse and death in adults with AML in first remission
Mentor: Christopher Hourigan, MD, PhD
Suzie Kim
Characterization of FAT1 and Hippo signaling pathway proteins in human retinal pigment epithelium
Mentor: Brian P. Brooks, MD, PhD
Saloni Lad
Longitudinal analysis of social needs in a cohort of transfeminine and transmasculine individuals receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy
Mentor: Juan P. del Rincon, MD
Darren Liu
Cell-free DNA fragmentomics and second malignant neoplasm risk in patients with PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome
Mentor: Charis Eng, MD, PhD
Zaeem Lone
The bladder tumor microbiome may augment response to bacillus calmette guerin (BCG) in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer
Mentor: Aaron W. Miller, PhD
Katherine Lowe
Assessing the association between patient-reported social determinants of health and health outcomes
Mentor: Jarrod Dalton, PhD
Carlos Munoz-Lopez
Functional recovery after partial nephrectomy: Next generation analysis
Mentor: Steven Campbell, MD, PhD
Derrick Obiri-Yeboah
AQP-4 expression and peritumoral edema in secretory meningiomas: Insights from immunohistochemical analysis
Mentor: Varun Kshettry, MD
Maeve Pascoe
Evaluating sleep through sleep-related patient-reported outcomes & objective sleep measures using smart wearables in a primary brain tumor patient population
Mentor: Terri S. Armstrong, PhD
Gustavo Roversi
Investigating the role of androgen and glucocorticoid metabolism in estrogen-responsive malignancies: Breast cancer
Mentor: Nima Sharifi, MD
Michael Ryan
Comparison of Airmod© and capnography in patients having endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography with sedation
Mentor: Alparslan Turan, MD
Srinidhi Singuri
Characterization of Subjects with paramagnetic rim lesions, slowly expanding lesions and double positive lesions in a cohort of multiple sclerosis patients
Mentors: Daniel Ontaneda, MD, PhD
Abhilash Suresh
Enrichment of tandem repeat element variants near CHD genes identified by short- and long-read genome sequencing
Mentor: Christine Seidman, MD
Matthew A. Thompson, BS, BA
Age is superior to aortopathy phenotype as a predictor of aortic mechanics in patients with bicuspid valve
Mentor: Eric E. Roselli, MD
Samantha Jean Stallkamp Tidd
Factors associated with treatment changes in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome
Mentor: Robert Wilson, DO
Kiran Vaidya
Post-surgical myocardial ischemia in AAOCA adult patients undergoing cardiac valve surgery
Mentor: Tara Karamlou, MD
Sarita Walvekar
Radiological characterization of cortical lesions in progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
Mentor: Irene Cortese, MD
Philip Wang
Lipopolysaccharide-induced peripheral immune cell reactivity in depression
Mentor: Carlos Zarate, MD
Angela Wei
Radiologic imaging aids management of high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma
Mentor: Allison Vidimos, MD
Georgina Whelan
Association of surgery and radiotherapy with risk of thoracic soft tissue sarcoma among older breast cancer survivors
Mentor: Gretchen Gierach, MD
Nicole Winchester
Characteristics and outcomes of patients with community-associated Clostridioides difficile infection and risk factors for severe disease and recurrence
Mentor: Abhishek Deshpande, MD, PhD
Congratulations to all the students and their mentors for the tremendous time, effort and care they invested in their research projects over the past year.
Photo credit: Don Gerda
