Duke Surgery Holds Second Annual Research Day

The Duke Department of Surgery held its Second Annual Research Day earlier this month, featuring presentations in basic and clinical science by faculty and trainees. The department holds this event annually to advance its mission of improving patient care through research and training the next generation of surgeon-scientists.

“Nationally, the role of surgeons in research continues to diminish. I am exceptionally proud of the great accomplishments made by our faculty and staff, bucking this national trend with perhaps unique precision. Duke Surgery’s Annual Research Day is one of the best examples of how Duke holds a special place in the world of discovery.”

-Allan D. Kirk, MD, PhD, Chair of Surgery

Mark Evers, MD, FACS, Professor of Surgery at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine served as a guest judge and speaker. Julie Ann Sosa, MD, Chief of Endocrine Surgery, gave the keynote address.

The faculty judges selected abstracts by Larisa M. Gearhart-Serna, PhD candidate, and Michael Mulvihill, MD, general surgery resident, as the winners in the Basic Science category. Additionally, medical student Ronnie L. Shammas was the winner in the Clinical Science category.

Congratulations to the winners and the presenters with posters of distinction!

See Photo Gallery

Dr. Allan Kirk and Surgery Research Day winners
Photo: (From left) Dr. Ranjan Sudan, Vice Chair of Education; Larisa M. Gearhart-Serna, PhD candidate; Dr. Allan D. Kirk, Chair of Surgery; Dr. Mark Evers, University of Kentucky College of Medicine; and Dr. Michael Mulvihill, general surgery resident

Basic Science Winners

  • Low-dose Exposure to a Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Mixture Promotes Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation: A Model Using Creosote-Contaminated Sediment from a Superfund Site
    Larisa M. Gearhart-Serna, John B. Davis, Scott J. Sauer, Nishad Jayasundara, Richard Di Giulio, and Gayathri R. Devi
  • Lymphoid Isolation as an Adjuvant Maneuver for Belatacept - Based Immunotherapy
    Michael Mulvihill, Kannan Samy, Robert Patrick Davis, Francis Leopardi, Brad Collins, and Allan D. Kirk

Clinical Science Winner

  • The Impact of Targeted HER-2 Therapy on Breast Reconstruction Outcomes: A Propensity-Matched Analysis
    Ronnie L. Shammas,  Eugenia H. Cho, Adam D. Glener, Luke P. Poveromo, Lily R. Mundy, Rachel A. Greenup, Kimberly L. Blackwell, and Scott T. Hollenbeck

Posters of Distinction

Basic Sciences-Board A

  • Rapamycin Directly Alters Human Endothelial Cell Alloimmunogenicity
    Victoria Bendersky, He Xu, and Allan Kirk
  • Synergistic Immuno-Photothermic Nanotherapy (Symphony): A Novel Treatment for Localized and Metastatic Bladder Cancer
    Steven C. Brousell, Yang Liu, Paolo F. Maccarini, Gregory M. Palmer, Wiguins Etienne, Yulin Zhao, Chen-Ting Lee, Xiumei Ma, Tuan Vo-Dinh, and Brant A. Inman
  • Rapid Detection of Acute Vascular Occlusion Using Oxygen Monitoring in a Rat Myocutaneous Flap Model
    Mohamed Ibrahim, Jennifer S. Chien, Mahmoud M. Mohammed, and Bruce Klitzman
  • Inflammasome Activation Early in the Development of Diabetic Bladder Dysfunction
    Brian M. Inouye, Francis M. Hughes, Robin Lutolf, Clay Rouse, Wen-Chi Foo, and Todd Purves
  • Development of an Antidote-Controlled RNA Probe for Molecular Thrombi Imaging
    Bethany Powell Gray, Kady-Ann Steen-Burrell, and Bruce A. Sullenger

Clinical Science-Board B

  • A Learning Healthcare System for Quality Improvement and Research in Cleft Care
    Peter G. Bittar, Alexander C. Allori, and Jeffrey R. Marcus
  • Evaluating Post-Operative Complications and Readmissions in Pediatric Urology: A Comparison of Comorbidity Indices
    Ruiyang Jiang, Steven Wolf, Muhammad H. Alkazemi, Todd Purves, John S. Wiener, Jonathan C. Routh
  • Proteomic Analysis of Changes Induced by Infant Cardiopulmonary Bypass
    Uttara P. Nag, James C. Otto, Christopher C. McCoy, Harold J. Leraas, Jina Kim, Chris Brady, Joseph W. Turek, Jeffrey H. Lawson, Elisabeth T. Tracy
  • Putting a Price on Pediatric Perforated Appendicitis: Cost Comparison of Immediate Appendectomy, Percutaneous Drainage, and Antibiotic Therapy Christopher R. Reed, Jina Kim, Zhifei Sun, Mohamed A. Adam, Megan C. Turner, Elisabeth T. Tracy, Obinna O. Adibe, Na-thaniel H. Greene, and Henry E. Rice
  • Black Race and Lack of Insurance Are Associated with In-creased Risk of Urgent Resection for Colon Cancer
    Megan C. Turner, Zhifei Sun, Mohamed A. Adam, Brian F. Gilmore, Christopher Mantyh, John Migaly

Basic Science-Board C

  • Evaluation of damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and TLR activation during EVLP vs Cold Storage
    Robert Patrick Davis
  • Ectopic overexpression of MAVS as a novel immunomodulatory strategy to stimulate intrinsic and extrinsic type I IFN signaling in the tumor microenvironment to effect systemic anti-tumor immune responses
    Gabriel De Leon, Tao Wang, Cong-Xiao Liu, Xiao-Yi Yang, Pankaj Agarwal, Takuya Osada, Mike Morse, H. Kim Lyerly, and Zachary Hartman
  • Qualified Biolayer interferometry (BLI) avidity assay for studying antibody interactions with Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein constructs
    S. Moses Dennison, Matthew Reichartz, Kelly Seaton, Sheetij Dutta, Ulrike Wille-Reece, Adrian Hill, Katie Ewer, Marcella Sarzotti-Kelsoe, Dan Ozaki, S. Munir Alam and Georgia D Tomaras
  • Perceptions of drinking and drink driving: a mixed method study assessing risky behavior among injury patients and the factors influencing drink driving in Moshi, Tanzania
    Deena El-Gabri, Joao Ricardo Vissoci, Charles Gerardo, and Catherine Staton
  • Distribution of healthcare utilization intensity for acute coronary syndrome in the Brazilian Healthcare system
    Fu Y, Staton C, J Hertz, Vissoci J, Carvalho J, and Limkakeng A.
  • Porcine islet xenotransplantation – evaluation of a clinically available immunosuppression regime in a NHP model—portal vein vs. subscapular approach Qimeng Gao, Robert Patrick Davis, Michael S. Mulvihill, Tam How, Renzhi Zhan, MacKenzie A. McRae, Bradley H. Collins, Gayathri Devi, and Allan D. Kirk

Basic Science- Board D

  • Creating a Low Profile Anchor to Eliminate High Profile Suture Knots in Soft Tissue
    Jason L. Green, Mario Padelli Chee, Fangqi Gu, Jeremy Martinez, Ken Gall, and Howard Levinson
  • Phosphorescence Lifetime Biosensors Show Tissue Reactive Hyperoxia Following Occlusion
    Jennifer S. Chien, Mahmoud Mohammed, Hysem Eldik, Mohamed M. Ibrahim, Scott Nichols, Natalie Wisniewski, and Bruce Klitzman
  • Cardiomyocyte-Specific Ablation of Nuclear Respiratory Factor 1 in the Mouse Leads to Dysregulation of Mitochondrial Biogenesis, Apoptosis, and Heart Failure
    Jeffrey E. Keenan, Hagir B. Suliman, Hanghang Wang, Allison M. Ulrich, and Claude A. Piantadosi
  • An Ecological Analysis of Predictors of Hospitalizations for Primary Care Sensitive Conditions under Brazil’s Family Health Strategy
    Adriana Lein, João R. Vissoci, Catherine A. Staton, Thiago A. Hernandes Rocha
  • Development of a Neonatal Swine Model for Pediatric Femoral Arterial Thrombosis After Cardiac Catheterization
    Harold Leraas, Jina Kim, Uttara Nag, Ehsan Benrashid, Jeffrey Lawson, James Otto, Elisabeth Tracy

Basic Science-Board E

  • Conductive Heat-targeted Drug Deliver for Bladder Cancer
    Thomas A. Longo, Steven Brousell, Joseph J. Fantonya, Ajay Gopalakrishna, Paolo F. Maccarini, and Brant A. Inman
  • Perceptions of alcohol use in Moshi, Tanzania
    Brian Meier, Deena El-Gabri, Joao Vissoci, and Catherine Staton
  • The Presence of Anti-PEG Antibodies Interfere With Aptamer Function
    Angelo Moreno, Nancy Ganson, Michael S. Hershfield, and Bruce A. Sullenger
  • Cationic Polymer Inhibits Pancreatic Cancer Invasion in vitro and Metastasis in vivo
    Ibtehaj Naqvi, Ruwan Gunaratne, Jessica McDade, Douglas Rouse, Jen Jen Yeh, David Pisetsky, Jaewoo Lee, Rebekah White and Bruce Sullenger
  • Identification of a critical inflammatory network that mediates survival and metastasis in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
    Casey W. Shuptrine, Jun-Ping Wei, Gang-Jun Lei, Xiao-Yi Yang, H. Kim Lyerly, and Zachary C. Hartman
  • An Evaluation of Laser Settings and Location in the Efficiency of the Popcorn Effect
    Daniel A Wollin, Ruiyang Zhang, Westin Tom, Daniela Radvak, W. Neil Simmons, Glenn M. Preminger, Michael E. Lipkin

Clinical Science-F

  • Good Day sunshine: Continued Surveillance of Industry Payments to General Surgeons
    Rizwan Ahmed, Kate Buretta, Roger Cason, Dorry Segev, and Scott Hollenbeck
  • Clostridium difficile Infection Mimicking Acute Appendicitis: a Case Report and Review of the Literature
    Cathleen Bury, and Joshua Broder
  • The Epidemiology of Metaplastic Breast Cancer: a Review of 2,500 Cases from the National Cancer Database
    Campbell BM, Thomas SM, Ong CT, Greenup RA, Plichta JK, Rosenberger LH, Force J, Hyslop T, Hwang ES,  and Fayanju OM
  • Use of an “Extended Type and Screen” Protocol to Improve Blood Transfusion Safety in Pediatric Cranial Vault Reconstruction
    Anna Carlson
  • Cuff Downsizing has Good Outcomes in the Management of Urethral Subcuff Atrophy
    Doreen Chang, Stephanie J. Sexton, Andrew C. Peterson, and Ramiro J. Madden-Fuentes
  • Quality Improvement for Urologists: Curricular Keys for Educating Residents (QUICKER)
    Cone EB, Bergman J, Moin T, Wietsma AC, Fink A, Kerfoot BP, and Scales CD
  • The Role of Extent of Surgical Resection and Lymph Node Assessment for Clinical Stage I Pulmonary Lepidic Adenocarcinoma
    Morgan L Cox, Chi-Fu Jeffrey Yang, Paul J Speicher, Kevin L Anderson, Zachary W Fitch, Lin Gu, Robert Patrick Davis, Xiaofei Wang, Thomas A D’Amico, Matthew G Hartwig, David H. Harpole Jr., and Mark F Berry
  • Evaluating Access to Prehospital Resources for Traumatic Brain Injury Patients in Tanzania
    Sophie Galson, Claire Rotich, Erica Thomaz, Joao Ricardo Vissoci, and Catherine Staton

Clinical Science-G

  • Palpable Prostate Nodules at Presentation of Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer Predicts Adverse Pathological Outcomes After Radical Prostatectomy
    Ghalib Jibara, Tracy Han, Ilhan Gokhan, Robert Qi, and Judd Moul
  • The Use of Contrast in the Artificial Urinary Sphincter Does Not Increase Mechanical Failure Rate and Allows for Clinic Troubleshooting of a Malfunctioning Device Johnson OK, Sexton SJ, Madden-Fuentes RJ, Selph JP, and Peterson AC
  • The Role of Sinus Cultures in Children with Blood or Bone Marrow Transplants Anatoli F Karas, Vaib Ramprasad, Marisa A Ryan, Clifford S Brown, Rose J Eapen, and Eileen M Raynor
  • Patient Age and Tumor Subtype Predict Extent of Axillary Surgery among Breast Cancer Patients Eligible for ACOSOG Z0011 Cecilia T Ong, Samantha M Thomas, Brittany M Campbell, Rachel A Greenup, Jennifer K Plichta, Laura H Rosenberger, Jeremy M Force, Terry Hyslop, E Shelley Hwang, and Oluwadamilola M Fayanju
  • Are Surgical Site Infections Reduced with Minimally Invasive Approaches to Pancreaticoduodenectomy?  A Nationwide Perspective from the Procedure-Targeted NSQIP Database
    Emily McCracken, Leila Mureebe, and Dan Blazer III
  • Predictors of Mortality after TAVR in a "Real World" Setting
    Alice Wang, Hanghang Wang, Ehsan Benrashid, David Ranney, Tunde Yerokun, Matthew W. Sherwood, Jeffrey G. Gaca, Todd L. Keifer, Andrew Wang, J. Kevin Harrison, and G. Chad Hughes
  • Factors Associated with Adjuvant Radiotherapy for Stage III Melanoma: A National Study of 15361 Patients
    L.N. Pontius, S.M. Thomas, R.P. Scheri, S.A. Roman, J.A. Sosa, and L.N. Pontius
  • Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation and Interfacility Transfer: A Regional Referral Center Experience
    David N. Ranney, Nawar Al-Rawas, Desiree Bonadonna, Michael Weykamp, Rathnayaka M. Gunasingha, Raquel R. Bartz, John C. Haney, and Mani A. Daneshmand

Clinical Science-Board H

  • Time-Spatial Analysis for Hospitalization and Emergency Department Visits Due to Complications Related to Pregnancy in North Carolina
    Sung Han Rhew, Julia Kravchenko, and H. Kim Lyerly
  • An Analysis of Bleeding Complications in Plastic Surgery
    Analise Thomas, Ronnie Shammas, Adam Glener, Eugenia Cho, and Scott Hollenback
  • Built Environment Analysis for Road Traffic Hotspot Locations in Kigali Rwanda
    Daphne Wang, Joao Ricardo Vissoci, and Catherine Staton
  • Effect of Increased Fluid Intake on Urinary pH in Stone Formers
    Westin R Tom, Daniel A Wollin, Leah G Davis, Eugene Cone, Michael E Lipkin, and Glenn M Preminger
  • Epidemiology of Intimate Partner Violence against Women in Brazil
    Jinny Ye, Tendai Kwaramba, Joao Ricardo Nickenig Vissoci, Joseph Lunyera, Catherine A. Staton
  • The Prevalence of Advanced Gleason Score (≥ 8) after Radical Prostatectomy in Older Patents with Prostate Cancer: Implications for the USPSTF Recommendation for Discontinuation of Screening in Men Over 70 Years of Age
    Ilhan Gokhan, Robert Qi, Tracy Han, Ghalib Jibara, and Judd Moul
  • Predictive Value of History, Physical Exam, Laboratory Values, and Ultrasound for Ovarian Torsion: A Systematic Review of the Literature
    Elias J. Jaffa, Dustin Morrow, and Joshua S. Broder
  • 3D Ultrasound
    Rebecca G. Theophanous, Elias J. Jaffa, Joshua S. Broder, Matthew Morgan, Carl Herickhoff, and Jeremy Dahl

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