Grad Students, Residents, Fellows and Post-Doc News
Internal Medicine
A number of residents were recently elected to the Louisiana Beta Chapter of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. AOA members vote to elect new members based on academic achievement, professionalism, research, service, and a commitment to scholarly excellence and medical education. The department congratulates Dr. David Beyer (IM Resident), Dr. Alissa Ice (Internal Medicine, Baton Rouge), Dr. David Montgomery (IM Resident), and Dr. Ryan Wolfe (PM&R).
Dr. Alpha Anders and Dr. Zachariah Weilenman (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residents) were recently awarded a Health Professions Trainees Award by the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System for exemplary service.
Dr. Fernanda Correa was recognized at the recent American College of Physicians Resident and Student meeting for her oral presentation for session 2 with her abstract, BRASH Syndrome: A "BRASH" with Death?
Dr. Ashley Misky also came in 2nd place for her abstract, Utility of Fructosamine to Assess Glycemic Control.
The department was well represented by residents from the Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine/Emergency Medicine, and Internal Medicine/Pediatrics programs and medical students at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (SSCI). Dr. David Beyer (IM Resident) and Lauren Gawey (4th year medical student) received Cardiovascular Case Report Awards.
Residents from medicine, emergency medicine, and anesthesia recently published a case study in Chest. Dr. Matt Lammi served as senior author (Pulmonary/ Critical Care). The paper includes some great videos. https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012- 3692(22)01240-5/fulltext
Dr. Jordan Vaughn (EM Resident) was recently elected to the Louisiana Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Board of Directors.
Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology
MIP Graduate Student Ashley Winters was selected for an oral presentation of her work at the International Papillomavirus Society meeting held in Washington, DC in April, 2023.
MIP Graduate Student Jonothan Rosario Colon was selected to participate in the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Learner's Summit leadership workshop to be held in Washington, DC in June, 2023.
Ophthalmology
Drs. Chalwa, Redrick, Pannell, and Thomson presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting held in New Orleans in April:
- Dr. H. Chawla (PG3), Dr. HJ Redrick(PGY2), Dr. JT Pannell (PGY2), Mazzulla DA, Benevento JD, Puri S. Incidence of Total Blindness After Central Retinal Artery Occlusion with Ocular Neovascularization (Poster).
- Dr. John Thompson (PGY3) presented the poster The Posterior Auricular Muscle Complex Graft as an Orbital Implant Wrap: Long-term Follow-Up
Prevalence of Glaucomatous Appearing Discs in Patients Undergoing Artificial Intelligence Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy (Poster) by Chawla H, Hicks CP, Dr. LH Assi (PGY2), Epling JP, Al Dujaili LJ, Dr. Jayne Weiss will be presented at the European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE) Congress in Prague, Czech Republic later this month.
Subretinal Abscess Complicated by Post-Infectious Retinal Vasculitis Following Strabismus Surgery (Oral) by Chawla H, Dr. J.N. Pahng (Residency Alumnus), Benevento JD, Mazzulla DA, Puri S, Eustis HS will also be presented to the European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE) Congress.
Dr. Chris Lasecki, PGY4, was honored for his surgery service by the VA Southeast Louisiana Health Care
System Hospital administration and by the local branch of the American College of
Osteopathic Surgeons at the annual Health Professions Trainee Awards Ceremony. He
was presented the award by the Chief and Associate Chief of Staff and the Designated
Education Officer in March.
Dr. Armin Avdic, Dr. Harsh Chawla, and Dr. Sam Homra were announced as the 23-24 Co-Chief Residents.
Dr. John Thompson, PGY3, was invited and presented to 1st Year Pharmacy Students at the University
of Texas in March.
Orthopaedics
The department announced 2024 Fellowship Matches:
- Matthew Darlow: Florida Orthopaedic Institute
- Charles Hansen: University of Wisconsin-Madision, School of Medicine and Public Health
- Marc Schatz: Campbell Clinic-Orthopaedics
- Jestin Williams: University of Texas, MD Anderson
The department announced incoming 2023 orthopaedic surgery residents:
Jonathan Abraham - Texas Tech University HSC
- Rebecca Blair - East Tennessee State University J.H. Quillen College of Medicine
- Katelynn Donnelly - LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans
- Irfan Khan - Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Pathology
Residents Wenjing Qiu, MD and Jack Harbert, MD, both had publications this quarter:
- Wenjing Qiu, Liz Yang, Jihuan Chen, Sharon Fox. Augmented Web-Based Pathology Education: Gaze Path Visualization as a Tool for Pathology Training. USCAP 2023.
- Jack Harbert, MD, Hina Samad, MD, Rachna Jetly, MD, MPH. Follicular Lymphoma Patient with Incidental Concomitant Plasma Cell Myeloma on a Staging Bone Marrow Biopsy. Southern Regional Meeting 2023.
Pediatrics
Dr. Jantzen Collette was nominated for the for the Aesculapian Society’s L3 Resident/Fellow Award.
The department congratulates Pediatrics, Medicine/Pediatrics, and Pediatrics/ Emergency Medicine Residency Programs for successfully matching last week for the 2023-2024 academic year:
- William Arnold, LSU Health New Orleans
- Ushma Bhandary, LSU Health New Orleans
- Chandler Cissel, University of Louisville School of Medicine
- Andraya Dickens (Child Neuro), University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine
- Alexandra Glaser, Northeast Ohio Medical University
- Meredith Kovach, Tulane University
- Casey Landreneau Baggett, LSU Health New Orleans
- Aaliyah Saafir, Howard University College of Medicine
- Danielle Sketchler, LSU Health New Orleans
- Leah Smith, West Virginia School of Medicine
- Sarah Stobbs, LSU Health New Orleans
- Courtney Suiter, East Tennessee State University, Quillen College of Medicine
- Caroline Trammell, LSU Health New Orleans
- Darrius Williams, University of Mississippi School of Medicine
- Zaria Williams, Howard University College of Medicine
Physiology
Drs. Jonquil Poret, Anna Whitehead, and Jessica Cucinello-Ragland successfully defended their PhD dissertations.
- Dr. Poret: Chronic Binge Alcohol in SIV: Impact of Adipose Tissue Stiffness on Metabolic Dysfunction.
- Dr. Whitehead: Impact of Chronic Nicotine Inhalation on Cardiopulmonary Functions and Associated Mechanisms.
- Dr. Cucinello-Ragland: Antinociceptive Efficacy of Alcohol and Sex Specific Contributions of Endocannabinoid Signaling.
Dr. Cucinello-Ragland accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis in the lab of Jose Moron-Concepcion, where they will be researching the neurobiology underlying the intersection of alcohol use, opioid dependence, and pain. Dr. Ragland applied for their first postdoctoral award through the W.M. Keck Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biomedical Science, investigating mesocorticolimbic regulation of alcohol-facilitated reinstatement of opioid-seeking. This will provide the basis of their future NRSA F32 application.
Taylor Fitzpatrick-Schmidt was awarded the 2023 APS Central Nervous System Section Research Recognition Award. Taylor secured a 2023 William Galey Professional Skills Training Scholarship Award from the Center for Physiology Education.
Fitzpatrick-Schmidt also gave talks at the 2023 Gordon Research Seminar and Gordon Research Conference on Alcohol-Induced End Organ Disease.
Eden Gallegos was elected 2025 GRS Alcohol-Induced End Organ Diseases Co-Chair. Eden is also a junior editor for the Journal of Clinical and Translational Sciences.
Gallegos also presented Alcohol and Nutrient Stress Produce Differential Lipid Droplet Accumulation in Rat Primary Hepatocyte Spheroids: Implications in Alcohol-Mediated Liver Injury at the Gordon Research Conference and Seminar Alcohol-Induced End Organ Diseases. Ventura, CA.
Dr. Marcus Weera accepted a tenure-track faculty position at Tufts University. Dr. Weera will begin the position as the Evans Family Assistant Professor of Neuroscience in January 2024.
Taylor Fitzpatrick-Schmidt, Jessi Cucinello-Ragland, and T32 trainee Tamara Morris
represented ADACE at the annual PALS Resource Fair.
Surgery
Dr. Christopher Brown received the Aesculapian Society Excellence in Teaching Resident/Fellow Award.
Dr. Tuan Tran was invited to join the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.
The department announced Match results:
General Surgery Categoricals
- Brandon Davila
- Andrew Fuglestad
- Tyler Dean
- Gregor Dierks
- Yumiko Gely
- Cassidy Wheeler
- Hannah Theriot
- Briana Sylvester
- Athena Hoppe
- Aaron Hong
- Megan Glennon
General Surgery Prelims
- Jake Gaspard
- Ikenna Harold Ifearulundu
- Guivens Joseph
- Elizabeth Faricy Schneider
- Emily Hebert
- Michael McMahon
- Marc Moroux
- Jeanette Zavala
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
- Rebecca Brantley
- Marin Guidry
Vascular Surgery
- Cuepil “Kevin” Choi
- Elizabeth Williams