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Clinical Research Opportunities for Residents

PGY1 – PGY2 Pilot Program
The Department has instituted a pilot program this year to introduce PGY1 and PGY2 residents to clinical research. Interns are given a four-week period of time free of clinical responsibilities to initiate a clinical research project under the guidance of a surgeon mentor. The idea is that the intern will initiate (not finish) a clinical research project that they can then work on over the next few months to a year. The project should be designed such that the resident can contribute to significantly to the success of a project or take on the project under the guidance of the faculty mentor.

Amit Patel, MD patelan@upmc.edu Cardiac Surgery	The Cardiac Stem Cell lab focuses on the identification of novel mechanisms to explain the clinical benefits of adult cell therapy for cardiovascular disease. Currently, we work with eight adult cells types to identify the optimal cell for disease specific cell therapy. Patel/Kormos
Chris Bartels, MD bartelscj@upmc.edu General Surgery
Anita Courcoulas, MD courcoulasap@upmc.edu General Surgery	Longitudinal outcomes research assessments in bariatric surgery. This includes the long-term evaluation of clinical efficacy, economic and health care utilization, the effect of various factors on quality (including the effect of provider volume on outcome), and the evaluation of new technology including endoluminal approaches to surgery.
George Eid, MD eidgm@upmc.edu General Surgery	My research focuses on the clinical outcomes of minimally invasive surgery procedures and new emerging technologies such as robotic-assisted and endoluminal surgeries. In addition to the effect of bariatric surgery on different co-morbidities associated with obesity.
Raquel Forsythe, MD forsytherm@upmc.edu General Surgery
Andrew Peitzman, MD peitzmanab@upmc.edu General Surgery
Ramesh Ramanathan, MD ramanathanrc@upmc.edu General Surgery
Matthew Rosengart, MD rosengartmr@upmc.edu General Surgery	The current research interests of our laboratory emphasize translational molecular biology with a range of individual project focuses spanning from mechanistic molecular biology to clinical outcomes research. We currently are investigating the appropriateness of calcium supplementation in critical illness, which entails in vitro and vivo (murine) experimentation, retrospective longitudinal (times-series) database analyses, and the expectation of a prospective human trial incorporation the observations of prior investigations. In addition, we are conducting a study to validate a set of filters to audit prehospital trauma care that were identified through a national Delphi questionnaire of trauma system experts.
Richard Simmons, MD simmonsrl@upmc.edu General Surgery
Mazen Zenati, PhD zenatims@upmc.edu General Surgery	Hypovolemic shock Hypothermia in shock Obesity in trauma and surgery Recidivism in trauma Organ failure and trauma Injury prevention
Brian Zuckerbraun, MD zuckerbraunbs@upmc.edu General Surgery
Stephen Badylak, MD, PhD badylaks@upmc.edu MIRM	Primary research involves constructive remodeling of tissues/organs with the focus upon the role of naturally occurring biologic scaffold materials.
Alan Russell, PhD russellaj@upmc.edu MIRM
Barbara Gaines, MD Barbara.Gaines@chp.edu Pediatric Surgery
David Hackam, MD David.Hackam@chp.edu Pediatric Surgery	A prospective trial examining the effect of hyperglycemia on outcome in critically ill surgical neonates What are the effects of mid-gestation counseling on parental expectations in the setting of a prenatally diagnosed fetal anomaly.
J. Peter Rubin, MD rubinjp@upmc.edu Plastic Surgery	Study on outcomes in post-bariatric plastic surgery. This is an exciting new subspecialty within plastic surgery and the University of Pittsburgh has the leading clinical program in the country.
Sally E. Carty, MD cartyse@upmc.edu Surgical Oncology	Clinical Research Interests for the Section of Endocrine Surgery: Hyperparathyroidism: Techniques in minimally invasive surgery for HPTH Etiologies of primary HPTH Substernal goiter in patients with sleep apnea Treatment issues in well differentiated thyroid cancer (several topics)
Pawel Kalinski, MD, PhD kalinskip@upmc.edu Surgical Oncology	The research group of Pawel Kalinski, MD, PhD aims to develop improved immunotherapeutic strategies in cancer focusing on the use of dendritic cells (DC) as carriers of cancer vaccines. In this last respect, Kalinski’s group has demonstrated that so-called type-1 polarization of DC can enhance the ability of DCs to induce desirable Th1 and CTL responses against cancer by 40 fold. The above findings led to the design of five, currently funded clinical trials that will test the therapeutic efficacy of the cytokine-induced DC1 (aDC1) and NK cell-induced DC1 (DC1NK) in 92 patients with advanced melanoma and colorectal cancer (funded by 3 current grants from NIH/NCI and the Pittsburgh Foundation). Current laboratory efforts aim at the development of additional DC1-based vaccines targeting prostate, pancreatic, and cervical cancer, and hematologic malignancies (CLL, AML, and MM)
Michael T. Lotze, MD lotzemt@upmc.edu Surgical Oncology	Melanoma - We have developed protocols for cell therapy of patients with melanoma using direct injection of NK cells and DCs; a protocol is being developed for the application of IL-2 and oxaliplatin and temozolamide for patients with melanoma [with John Kirkwood and Charles Brown]. We have plans to initiate clinical trial of neoadjuvant therapy of rectal cancer with direct injection of DCs and NK and are beginning the preclinical studies in patients with pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer to study the role of HMGB1 neutralization in cancer treatment [with Herb Zeh]. Established protocols in patients with Hepatitis B and C and transplantation to evaluate the tumor microenvironment associated with tumor development in patients with evolving hepatoma [with Obaid Shakil and Michael deVera].
Matthew Schuchert, MD schuchertmj@upmc.edu Thoracic Surgery	The primary focus of our lab is the study of T-cell and Dendritic cell subsets, and their roles in donor-specific transplantation tolerance and anti-tumor immunity. Active projects are evaluating how select T-cell and dendritic cell subsets can promote the engraftment of hematopoietic stem cells across wide MHC disparities, providing critical information for the use of stem cell therapy in a variety of settings. We're also studying how T-cell and Dendritic cell subsets are modulated in the setting of lung cancer, with the specific aims of understanding how immune status influences outcomes in lung cancer, and how immunomodulation can be achieved to augment host responses to tumor.
James Luketich, MD luketichjd@upmc.edu Thoracic Surgery	The detection and clinical relevance of micrometastases identified by quantitative RT-PCR in both esophageal and lung cancer. It is apparent that up to 40 percent of histologically node negative patients with either esophageal or lung cancer ultimately die of their cancer. Our lab has identified several markers in these histologically benign modes that correlate with tumor recurrence. A number of studies are ongoing to dully define this phenomenon at the basic science level and implement this into our ongoing clinical trials. DNA patterns identified using microarrays appear to be a powerful tool in identifying tumors that have different biological characteristics and may allow us to predict which patients would benefit from surgical resection and those that might benefit from neoadjuvant and adjuvant strategies. Preliminary data from our lab and others indicate microarrays have the potential to direct clinical therapy but a number of basic and clinical studies are needed to better understand this and hopefully lead to clinical trials in the area of lung and esophageal cancer. Stem cells may play an integral role in chemo-resistance in a number of cancers, including lung and esophageal. We have several grants to investigate the identification and clinical significance of tumor stem cells. Our current focus is on the identification and isolation of tumorigenic stem cells form primary and metastatic tumors. We hypothesize that chemotherapeutic agents miss the most critical target of therapy, the resting tumor stem cell, a cell cable of giving rise to recurrent disease and metastases. Our laboratory’s goal is to demonstrate that the cancer stem cell has preexisting resistance to a battery of commonly used therapeutic agents. If correct, these studies will explain why many cancer therapies fail, and suggest that effectively targeting the cancer stem cell will lead to cures in epithelial cancers.
Michael deVera, MD deverame@upmc.edu Transplant Surgery
David Geller, MD gellerda@upmc.edu Transplant Surgery	Laparoscopic liver resection techniques Multimodality treatment strategies for HCC Gene Therapy for liver cancer
Ronald Shapiro, MD shapiror@upmc.edu Transplant Surgery	Dr. Shapiro's research interests have to do with the development and optimization of immunosuppressive protocols in kidney and pancreas transplantation, with the goal of achieving minimization/partial tolerance, and in the study and eradication of infectious complications.
Jennifer Steel, PhD steeljl@upmc.edu Transplant Surgery
Henkie Tan, MD tanhp@upmc.edu Transplant Surgery	Publications resulting from data analysis (immunosuppression, survival, and rejection) of living donor kidney and liver transplantation.
Ellen Dillavou, MD dillavoued@upmc.edu Vascular Surgery	Dr. Dillavou's clinical research centers on the gender differences in aortic aneurysms and other peripheral vascular diseases. Additionally she has done work with the national Medicare databases and anticipate expanding this work to include national trends in dialysis access use, peripheral stenting and AAA procedures after endografting.
Luke Marone, MD maronelk@upmc.edu Vascular Surgery