General Surgery Residency Research Opportunities
Research Opportunities for Surgery Residents
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center ranks among the top three recipients in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. With nearly $27 million per year in extramural (direct and indirect) research support, the Department of Surgery ranks among the top five academic surgical departments in NIH funding. With faculty appointments at Harvard and MIT, our surgical faculty are members of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering, the Harvard-MIT Broad Institute, the Harvard Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, and CIMIT.
Following the third clinical year, residents are required to pursue a two-year research elective in any number of available areas that include basic science or clinical outcomes. It is also possible for residents to seek advanced degrees in public health, business administration, or education. The Department of Surgery has agreed to support tuition for one individual annually to pursue a master's degree in any of the Harvard schools of graduate education. This is a competitive process that is awarded to the resident proposing the most meritorious project.
These opportunities are intended to teach residents the requisite skills to become leaders in academic surgery and make an impact early in their careers. BIDMC surgery residents have been very successful in obtaining high-quality research and clinical fellowships in Boston and nationwide.
Residents are candidates for support by one of three mechanisms:
- Four NIH-funded NRSA training grants (Surgical Critical Care, Gastroenterology, Vascular Surgery, and Transplantation)
- A principal investigator in Surgery may support the salary for two fellowship years
- A prospective fellow and principal investigator may apply for the NRSA fellowship grant from the NIH or apply for funding through many other mechanisms available to support fellowship research
Opportunities are also available for surgical housestaff during their clinical training to participate in clinical research conducted by members of the Department of Surgery.
Selected Research Programs
Center for Drug Discovery and Translational Research
Lijun Sun, PhD
Design of new therapeutic compounds in the fields of oncology, immunology, and innate immunity. Dr. Sun has taken four compounds to phase 3 clinical trials
Acute Care Surgery, Trauma, and Surgical Critical Care
Charles Cook, MD
Bacteria sepsis and reactivation of latent cytomegalovirus
Carl Hauser, MD
Regulation of innate immunity in trauma with an emphasis on translational biology
Wolfgang Junger, PhD
Inflammatory responses to trauma
Michael Yaffe, MD, PhD
DNA damage and trauma
Cardiac Surgery
Kamal Khabbaz, MD
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), mitral valve repair, predictive markers of postoperative adverse events, 3D printing for cardiac repair
Colon and Rectal Surgery
Vitaliy Poylin, MD
Neuropeptides in the pathophysiology of inflammatory bowel diseases
Gastrointestinal and Hepatopancreaticobiliary Surgery
Mark Callery, MD
Outcomes research in high-acuity pancreaticobiliary surgery
Susan Hagen, PhD
Cellular mechanisms in the development of gastric cancer
Tara Kent, MD, MS
Outcomes research in high-acuity pancreaticobiliary surgery
A. James Moser, MD
Multi-center research study of biomarker discovery for therapeutics in pancreatic cancer
Barbara Wegiel, PhD
Heme degradation pathway and the cytoprotective protein heme oxygenase-1 in the development and prevention of cancer
Michael Yaffe, MD, PhD
Cell signaling: approaches to targeted cancer therapy
Jin-Rong Zhou, PhD
Mechanisms of nutraceutical components on the prevention and treatment of cancer
Metabolism and Obesity
Daniel Jones, MD
Comparative effectiveness and outcomes of bariatric surgery; evaluation of new clinical interventions for the treatment obesity; simulation in surgical education
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Bernard Lee, MD, MBA, MPH, FACS
Near infrared imaging technologies for flap perfusion in face transplantation models; clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction in breast reconstruction surgery
Samuel Lin, MD
Microelectromechanical systems devices for peripheral nerve modulation; clinical outcomes in breast reconstruction and cosmetic surgery
Transplant Surgery
Amy Evenson, MD
Clinical outcomes in abdominal transplantation, hepatobiliary surgery, and dialysis access
Maria Koulmanda, PhD
Molecular and cellular basis of tolerance to islet allograft and xenograph rejection.
Leo Otterbein, PhD
Therapeutic strategies to limit maladaptive inflammatory responses that contribute to acute injury, chronic disease, and cancer
James Rodrigue, PhD
Behavioral health aspects of organ transplantation and organ donation
Vascular and Endovascular Surgery
Elliot Chaikof, MD, PhD
Thrombosis, atherosclerosis, biologically inspired materials and drugs, tissue engineering
Mauricio Contreras, MD
Developing novel biomaterial surfaces
Christiane Ferran, MD, PhD
Role of A20 in organ transplantation, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and hepatitis
Elzbieta Kaczmarek, PhD
Role of purinergic signaling in vascular biology
Frank LoGerfo, MD
Developing novel biomaterial surfaces; mechanisms of prosthetic arterial graft failure and prevention of intimal hyperplasia in vein grafts; role of neuropeptides in diabetic wound healing
Leena Pradhan-Nabzdyk, PhD
Mechanisms of prosthetic arterial graft failure and prevention of intimal hyperplasia in vein grafts; role of neuropeptides in diabetic wound healing
Marc Schermerhorn, MD
Re-engineering the delivery of care for patients with vascular disease; comparative effectiveness of surgery and endovascular therapy for treatment of vascular disease
Aristidis Veves, MD, DSc
Mechanisms of microvascular disease, wound healing, and peripheral neuropathy in diabetes