Resident Mentorship and Scholarly Activities

Our program is “just the right size” for broad academic exposure but close interaction with faculty. We recognize that both research and mentorship are vital in the development of the next generation of physicians. Therefore, we provide the opportunity for residents to select their own mentors (often more than one!) based on each resident’s preference for career counseling, personal guidance, research collaboration, etc. The program is also pleased to connect residents with researchers who are based entirely at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

We’re very proud of our residents’ many publications and presentations at regional and national meetings. Below is a list of their work from the 2019-2020 academic year.

Note: UPMC Mercy Internal Medicine resident authors are listed in bold.

Academic Year 2019 – 2020 Publications

Muaz Aijazi, Brendan Gill, Arjun Kalaria et al. “Splenic infarction in alcoholic hepatitis”. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2020 Jan 30;33(2):239-240 PMID: 32313472

Nameer Al-Yousif, Waqas Bhatti, Abdel Abo-Zed, Abasin Amanzai, Nazim Khan, Arjun Kalaria, Andrew Macaluso, Arbulu R. “Clostridium Difficile Septic Shock With A Negative Stool Toxin And No Symptoms of Colitis: A Case Report.” Society of Hospital Medicine Conference Spring 2020 (published in online journal due to conference cancellation)

Jeyaraman MM, Nameer Al-Yousif, Robson RC, Copstein L, Balijepalli C, Hofer K, Fazeli MS, Ansari MT, Tricco AC, Rabbani R, Abou-Setta AM. “Inter-rater reliability and validity of risk of bias instrument for non-randomized studies of exposures: a study protocol.” Syst Rev. 2020 Feb 12;9(1):32. doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01291-z. PMID: 32051035.

Jeyaraman MM, Nameer Al‐Yousif, Singh Mann A, Dolinsky VW, Rabbani R, Zarychanski R, Abou‐Setta AM. “Resveratrol for adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus.” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2020, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD011919. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD011919.pub2. PMID: 31978258

Jeyaraman MM, Rabbani R, Nameer Al-Yousif, Robson RC, Copstein L, Xia J, Pollock M, Mansour S, Ansari MT, Tricco AC, Abou-Setta AM. “Inter-rater reliability and concurrent validity of ROBINS-I: protocol for a cross-sectional study.” Syst Rev. 2020 Jan 13;9(1):12. DOI: 10.1186/s13643-020-1271-6. PMID: 31931871

Nishanie Jayawardena, Monty Oberoi, Selk K. (2020). “Postmenopausal Virilization: Rare Case of an Ovarian Tumor Not Easily Identified on Imaging.” Journal of Endocrine Society, Volume 4 (1). May 2020

Kevin Laltoo, FNU Abhishek. “A Shifting ST Elevation: A Rare Presentation of Wrap Around Left Anterior Descending Artery Occlusion.” Published online in Journal of Hospital Medicine Spring 2020

Andrew Macaluso, Azzam, J., Syed Hussain & Nameer Al-Yousif. (2020). “Millennial Marijuana: A Case of Vaporizer Associated Acute Lung Injury.”Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2020; 201:A1856.

Kathrin Tofil, Nishanie Jayawardena, Nazim Khan. “Improving screening for diabetic retinopathy in a resident based clinic.” Quality improvement project accepted for poster presentation at Endo 2020. Abstract published in Journal of the Endocrine Society, Volume 4, Issue Supplement_1, April-May 2020

Rosalie Traficante, MD;Nishanie Jayawardena, MD; Abasin Amanzai, MD; Jonathan Bishop, MD, MBA, FCCP Chief, Critical Care Medicine. “Do Not Miss a STEMI and Think Wraparound LAD.” Case Report Publication online in Journal of Hospital Medicine, May 2020.

Stuart B. Prenner, MD; Raj Pillutla, MD; Sowjanya Yenigalla, MD; Sowmya Gaddam, MD; Jonathan Lee; Mary Jo Obeid, MD, MPH; Armghan Haider Ans, MD; Qasim Jehangir, MD; Jessica Kim, BS; Payman Zamani, MD, MTR; Jeremy A. Mazurek, MD; Scott R. Akers, MD, PhD; Julio A. Chirinos, MD, PhD. “Serum Albumin is a Marker of Myocardial Fibrosis, Adverse Pulsatile Aortic Hemodynamics and Prognosis in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction.” Published in the Journal Of the American Heart Association. Volume 9, Issue 3, 4 February 2020, ( J Am Heart Assoc . 2020;9:e014716. DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.119.014716.)

Academic Year 2019 – 2020 Presentations

Muaz Aijazi, Singhi AD, Nalesnik MA et al. “A Systematic Evaluation of Cell Lineage Among Non-functional Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors (PanNETs) and Their Relationship to Genomic Alterations Associated with Metastatic Disease and Poor Patient Survival.” Digestive Disease Week, Chicago, IL May 2020

Muaz Aijazi, Waqas Bhatti, Jamil Masood, et al. “Trends of Sepsis Mortality in Patients with Colon Cancer.” UPMC DOM Research Day 2020, Pittsburgh, PA April 2020

Muaz Aijazi, Rip Joshi, Abdel Abozed, Waqas Bhatti. “Do Pre-existing Autoimmune Liver Conditions Predispose Patients to an Increased Risk of Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia?” ACP American College of Physicians Western Pennsylvania Region (PA-ACP) Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA October 2019

Muaz Aijazi, Noor AZ. “Brain Injury from Hepatic Encephalopathy in Acute on Chronic Liver Failure: A Case Report.” American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX October 2019

Muaz Aijazi, Brendan Gill, Arjun Kalaria et al. “Splenic Infarction in Alcoholic Hepatitis.” American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX October 2019

Muaz Aijazi, Ahuja AC, Williams GW. “Does Inflammatory Bowel Disease Predispose Patients to an Increased Risk of Heparin- Induced Thrombocytopenia?” American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX October 2019

Nameer Al-Yousif, Sullivan D, Bain W, Dunlap D, Evankovich J, Zhang Y, Kitsios GD, Alder J, McVerry BJ, Shah FA. “Growth differentiation factor-15 is increased with systemic inflammation in critically ill patients with acute respiratory failure.” (June 6-9, 2020). 43rd Shock Society Annual Conference. Toronto, ON, Canada. (Conference canceled due to COVID-19 Pandemic).

Jeyaraman MM, Rabbani R, Robson R, Copstein L, Nameer Al-Yousif, Xia J, Pollock M, Hofer K, Balijepalli C, Mansour S, Bond K, Fazeli M, Ansari M, Tricco A, Abou-Setta AM. “Inter-rater Reliability, Inter-consensus Reliability and Evaluator burden of ROBINS-E, & ROBINS-I: A Cross-sectional Study.” Cochrane Colloquium 2019 (long oral presentation - presented by Dr. Maya Jeyaraman), ‪October 22-25, Santiago, Chile. ID: OS15.4.

Abou-Setta A, Nameer Al-Yousif, Lam O, Racovitan F, Copstein L, Jeyaraman M, Okoli G, Rabbani R, Tricco A. “How ‘similar’ are studies included in Cochrane Reviews?” Cochrane Colloquium 2019 (long oral presentation - presented by Dr. Ahmed Abou-Setta), ‪October 22-25, Santiago, Chile. ID: OS41.4

Amitha Avasarala, Brian Brownell, Rahul Bollam, Miguel Mamauag, Hiran Patel. “Granulomatosis With Polyangiitis: Sometimes It Is Not As Simple As Sinusitis”- Accepted ATS Case Report May 2020

Amitha Avasarala, Rahul Bollam. “Too High, Too Long” - Accepted Case Report SGIM 2020

Waqas Bhatti, Noor, A., Jamil Masood. “A Puzzling Case: Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension vs Scleroderma-Associated Pulmonary Hypertension.” CHEST, New Orleans, LA 10/21/2020

Waqas Bhatti, S. Strock, R. H. Zou, S. Nouraie, J. Chiarchiaro, K. L. Veraldi, K. F. Gibson, Y. Zhang, D. J. Kass. “Differential Expression Of Amino Acid Metabolites In The Plasma Of Patients With Pulmonary Sarcoidosis Is Associated With Clinical Behavior.” ATS, Philadelphia, PA 5/18/2020

Waqas Bhatti, Noorien Mamoor, Susanne Kushnerick, Jessica Bon, MD, MS, Xiaoping Chen, MS, Kevin Gibson, MD, Daniel Kass, MD, Kathleen Lindell, PhD, RN, Frank Sciurba, MD, Seyed Mehdi Nouraie, MD, PhD. “Baseline Exertional Oxygen Needs in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Patients at a Specialty Referral Center.” 18th Annual Department of Medicine Research Day, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA - 4/27/2020

Waqas Bhatti, Arjun Kalaria, Jamil Masood, Muaz Aijazi, Nameer Al-Yousif, Sana Virani. “Thyrotoxic Psychosis: An atypical presentation of acute psychosis - A case report.” Society of Hospital Medicine - National Conference, San Diego, CA - 4/17/2020

Rahul Bollam, Sowji Yenigalla. “Coronary Artery Embolism, American Thoracic Society International Conference, Philadelphia, 2020

Rahul Bollam, Amitha Avasarala. “Carphologia or Floccilations.” Society of General Internal Medicine National Conference, Birmingham. 2020

Brian Brownell, Sowjanya Yenigalla, Parth Shah, Evan B. Kudron, Abasin Amanzai, Miguel Mamauag, Rahul Bollam, Mehrshid Kiazand, Fnu Abhishek.“Does overuse of telemetry impede cost effective patient care.” Original research accepted to the American Heart Association QCOR Annual Conference.

Brian Brownell, Anna Lewis, LCSW., Phyllis L. Grasser, MA, BCC., Karl B. Bezak, MD. "Sorry, He Can't Come to the Phone Right Now: Addressing Communication Challenges When a Surrogate Decision-Maker is in Prison." Case Report accepted to theAnnual Assembly of Hospice and Palliative Care National Conference.

Brian Brownell, Anna Lewis, LCSW., Phyllis L. Grasser, MA, BCC., Karl B. Bezak, MD. “Wish You Were Here: Overcoming the Ethical and Legal Challenges of Surrogate Decision-Making from Prison." Case Report accepted to theAnnual Assembly of Hospice and Palliative Care National Conference.

Brian Brownell, A. Sezer, S. Jain, F. Thoma, K. Kancharla, A. Bhonsale, S. Saba, S. Mulukutla. “Trends and predictors of NOAC versus Warfarin use for stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation.” Original research accepted to the American College of Cardiology’s 69th Annual Scientific Session together with the World Congress of Cardiology.

Brian Brownell, A. Sezer, S. Jain, F. Thoma, K. Kancharla, A. Bhonsale, S. Saba, S. Mulukutla. "Trends and Predictors of NOAC versus Warfarin Use in Patients with Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation: Opportunities for Improving Care." Original research accepted to the American Heart Association QCOR Annual Conference.

Marvi Bukhari, Bibhu Koirala, Rao Afzal, Syed Arsalan Zaidi, MD. “PURRRR >> A Rare Case of Bartonella Henselae Associated Mediastinal Lymphadenitis.” Poster presentation of this abstract at SHM local (Jan 15, 2020).

Melissa Chrites; Syed Hussain; Syed Zaidi. “An unusual complication of double red blood donation; Is it acute lung injury from self plasma infusion?” Poster presentation at SHM Pittsburgh Chapter 2020.

Brendan Gill, Ramaswamy S, Salik Aleem. “An Interesting Case of Cryptococcal Pneumonia” Presented at CHEST National Conference October 2019, New Orleans, LA. https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(19)32185-3/abstract

Brendan Gill, Kevin Laltoo. “Syncope as Presentation of Ruptured Aortic Pseudoaneurysm.” Presented at CHEST National Conference, October 2019, New Orleans, LA. https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(19)32747-3/abstract

Ramaswamy S, Brendan Gill, Salik Aleem, Mahwish Hussain, Yassin M. “A Massive Lesion: Culture Negative MRSA Endocarditis in an IV Drug User” Presented at CHEST National Conference, October 2019, New Orleans, LA. https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(19)32105-1/pdf

Kyle Holden and Mahwish Hussain. “Persistence pays off: Atypical presentation of chronic myelogenous leukemia.” SGIM Pittsburgh poster presentation, September 2019.

Kyle Holden, Joe Tholany, Ramaswamy, S. “Altered Mental Status in HIV: A Case Report of Early Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy.” Presented at SHM 2020 Conference (Regional); Pittsburgh, PA. 01/2020.

Kyle Holden, Mahwish Hussain, Brian Brownell. “Pus in the Pericardium: A Case Of MRSA Pericarditis.” Presented at ATS Conference 2020; Philadelphia, PA. 05/15/2020.

Mahwish Hussain, Syed Ibrar Hussain. “Domino effect- Digoxin toxicity leading to metformin associated lactic acidosis (MALA).” SGIM Poster Presentation. 2019

Mahwish Hussain, Karan Panchal. “When the Wind Blows.” SHM poster presentation. January 2020

Syed Zaidi; Syed Hussain; Urvishkumar Pasrija; Bibhu Koirala; Fnu Abhishek. “The use of Modified Early Warning Score to predict condition Cs and need of transfer to higher level of care.” Abstract presented at CHEST 2019.

Nishanie Jayawardena, Monty Oberoi, Selk K. (April 2020). “Postmenopausal Virilization: Rare Case of an Ovarian Tumor Not Easily Identified on Imaging.” Endocrine Society Poster Presentation. San Francisco, CA, United States.

Nishanie Jayawardena, Monty Oberoi. (2020, January 29). “Consequences of broad spectrum overuse in the ICU.” SHM Pittsburgh Chapter poster competition. Pittsburgh, PA, United States.

Nishanie Jayawardena, Monty Oberoi, Karan Pancha. (April 2020). “Repeat testing for Clostridium Difficile infection within short intervals can change outcomes in select cases.” Poster presentation. Society for Hospital Medicine, San Diego, CA, United States.

Arjun Kalaria, Waqas Bhatti, Jamil Masood, Muaz Aijazi, Nameer Al-Yousif, Sana Virani. “Cerebral T Waves and the Underlying Concern They Infer.” Society of Hospital Medicine - Pittsburgh Chapter - 1/15/2020

Bibhu Koirala, Marvi Bukhari, Syed Arsalan Zaidi. “Painful Palpable Purpura with Small Necrotic Craters: A Severe Case of Leucosytoclastic Vasculitis.” Sent to SHM Hospital Medicine 2020 and accepted for presentation.

Andrew Macaluso, Azzam, J., Syed Hussain, & Nameer Al-Yousif. (2020). “Millennial Marijuana: A Case of Vaporizer Associated Acute Lung Injury.”Poster presentation at CHEST 2019.

Monty Oberoi, Karan Panchal. (2019, November 15). “How to Lose a Colon in Ten Days.” SGIM Mid-Atlantic Regional Poster Presentation. Pittsburgh, PA, United States.

Karan Panchal. “The Case of a Disguised Pneumothorax.” Poster Presentation at CHEST 2019.

Kathrin Tofil, Kevin Laltoo. “A Strangled Heart.” Poster presentation given at American Thyroid Association meeting, Chicago, Nov 2019.

Rosalie Traficante, Nishanie Jayawardena, Abasin Amanzai, Jonathan Bishop, MD, MBA, FCCP Chief, Critical Care Medicine. “Do Not Miss a STEMI and Think Wraparound LAD.” Poster presentation at the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Society for Hospital Medicine – first place winner. Also was to be presented at SHM National Conference in San Diego.

Sowji Yenigalla, Navneet Kaur, & Abhishek FNU. (October, 2019). “Tell-Tale T Waves In Acute Pulmonary Embolism” presented at CHEST Annual Meeting; New Orleans, LA, USA.

Navneet Kaur, Sowji Yenigalla, & Kylee Dawson.(October, 2019). “Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis Presenting as Bilateral Diffuse Alveolar Hemorrhage” presented at: CHEST Annual Meeting; New Orleans, LA, USA.

Sowji Yenigalla, Evan Kudro., Navneet Kaur, Huda Mehdi., Kiazand M., Ghobrial I.,& Tuft M.. (October, 2019). “Role of Glycemic Control on Ischemic Stroke in Afib” presented at: CHEST Annual Meeting; New Orleans, LA, USA.

Sowji Yenigalla, Parth Shah, & Mahwish Hussain. (October,2019). “Steak Slowed Down her Heart.” Poster presented at: CHEST Annual Meeting;New Orleans, LA, USA.

Lee J., Bhuva R.; Bilal Ansari B., Obeid M.J., Sowji Yenigalla, Ans A.H., Oldland G., Hashmath Z., Hussain A., Singh G., Jehangir Q.,Satija V., Witschey W., Scott Akers S., & Chirinos J.A.. Aortic “Stiffness is Associated with a Reduced Coronary Flow Reserve” presented at American Heart Association Scientific Sessions November 2019, Philadelphia

Obeid M.J., Jain S., Lee J., Sowji Yenigalla, Ans A.H., Oldland G., Koshinski J., Hashmath Z., Singh G., Satija V., Akers S., & Chirinos J.A.. “Impact of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction.” AHA Scientific Sessions November 2019, Philadelphia

Maryam Zia; Nishanie Jayawardena, Mehrshid Kiazand. “Role of Diabetes Educators in Improving Diabetes Care.” Accepted to Society of Hospitalist Medicine 2020; RESEARCH & INNOVATIONS poster session 2020.

Maryam Zia; Mahwish Hussain. “Persistent Headache in a Patient with Thrombophilia: A Missed Case of Cerebral Venous Thrombosis." Accepted to Society of Hospitalist Medicine 2020; CLINICAL VIGNETTES poster session.

Maryam Zia; Salik Aleem. “Reversible Cerebral Vasoconstriction Syndrome in Acute Catecholamine Crisis.” Accepted to Society of Hospitalist Medicine 2020; CLINICAL VIGNETTES poster session.