Grad Students, Residents, Fellows, and Postdocs Updates
Dr. Charlie Woodall was recently announced as the Gold Humanism Honor Society Resident of the Fall 2023 semester. Dr. Woodall was recognized for his integrity, service, respect, and empathy to his peers.
Internal Medicine
Dr. Elyse Stephens (Community & Population Medicine) was recently quoted in an NPR article about opioid
settlement fund distribution. You can read the article here.
Internal Medicine residents Dr. Tammy Do, Dr. Ashley Van, and Dr. Arash Ataei recently published this review of microvascular dysfunction in Current Hypertension Reports with Dr. Rajesh Mohandas (Nephrology).
Dr. Benjamin Pickard (3rd year LSU Lafayette IM resident) with faculty member Dr. David Aguilar (Cardiology)
presented their poster “Aortic Stiffness among Mexican Americans with Diabetes and Prediabetes: Evidence of
Accelerated Vascular Aging and Increased Cardiac Biomarkers” at the recent American Heart Association Scientific Session in Philadelphia.
Dr. Oluwafemi Ajibola (Pulmonary Fellow) and Dr. Kyle Happel (Pulmonary/ Critical Care) recently co-authored a case report published in Cureus. The case involved treatment with an early, short course of intrapleural tissue plasminogen activator and dornase alfa therapy for a complex, loculated pleural effusion due to MTb. The patient responded rapidly and completely to this innovative treatment. Authors noted early fibrinolytic therapy for loculated MTb effusion speeds the resolution of pleural disease, facilitates rapid symptom improvement, and decreases the need for subsequent pleural intervention.
The LSU Nephrology and Hypertension Section was well represented at the American Society of Nephrology national meeting. The section had five poster presentations which included two renal fellows (Drs. Khalil Mohamed and Norman Wall) and two medicine residents (Drs. Tammy Do and Ian Denys). Ashlyn Anderson, an MD/PHD student who works in the laboratory of Dr. Dan Kapusta in pharmacology, had an oral presentation on diuretic resistance and the role of kappa opioid agonist.
Dr. Nabil Essajee (4th year medical student) and Dr. Hope Oddo-Moise (ID Fellow) recently published in AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses in a special issue on Mpox and HIV with faculty Dr. Michael Hagensee, Dr. Rebecca Lillis, Dr. Joanne Maffei, and Dr. Meredith Clement.
Hannah Doran (4th year MD/MPH student) presented on the PROUD Study (Promoting Resilience among
Medicaid Members with Opioid Use Disorder) at the American Public Health Association
Meeting in Atlanta, GA. She is mentored by Section of Community and Population Medicine
faculty Dr. Ben Springgate, PI; as well as Drs. Gala True and Elyse Stevens (Co-PIs).
Ophthalmology
PGY4 John P. Thompson, MD recently published The posterior auricular muscle complex graft as a porous orbital implant wrap: long-term
follow-up over a 31-year period in Orbit. PGY4 Drs. Claire and Charles Reeder illustrated.
Four additional PGY4’s matched to fellowship programs:
Harshvardhan Chawla, MD - Retina Specialists of Alabama (UAB), Birmingham, AL
John “Jack” Friend, MD - UT Southwestern, Dallas, TX- Cornea
Sam Homra, MD - Your Eye Specialists, Plantation, FL-Cornea
Charles Reeder, MD - Devers Eye Institute, Portland, OR – Cornea
Lama Assi, MD, PGY3, was selected to attend the 2024 Heed’s Society’s 18th Resident Retreat. The Heed Foundation was founded in 1945 to help train young residents in the ophthalmic specialty transition from trainees to academicians. Only 30-35 residents are selected from a national pool to attend.
Thamolwan Surakiatchanukul, MD, Sr. Retina Fellow, presented a Retina Film at the annual Telluride Retina Film
Festival in Telluride, CO held from January 31-February 3, 2024.
Pediatrics
The department congratulated residents who have matched into fellowships:
Peyton Bennett – Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Vanderbilt University
Riley Jay – Pediatric Infectious Disease, Tulane University
Nataliya Khimitch – Pediatric Gastroenterology, Cornell New York Presbyterian
Adam Prevot – Allergy/Immunology, Medical College of Georgia
Paige Prevot – Neonatology, Medical College of Georgia
Emily Riley – Pediatric Cardiology, Washington University in St. Louis
Judston Robinson – Neonatology, Children's National, Washington, DC
The department also congratulated the fellowship programs who matched:
Allergy/Immunology:
Meaghan Bank, LSUHSC-NO Medicine/Pediatrics Residency
David Van, LSUHSC-NO Internal Medicine Residency
Pediatric Cardiology:
Christine Rizkalla, St. Joseph's University Medical Center Pediatrics Residency
Saloni Triveda, St. Joseph's University Medical Center Pediatrics Residency
Pediatric Emergency Medicine:
Akram Al-Husaini, New York Medical College/Metropolitan Hospital Center Pediatrics Residency
Ayesha Liaqat, Marshall University Pediatrics Residency
Pediatric Endocrinology:
Patrick Quebedeaux, Medical College of Georgia- Augusta University Pediatrics Residency
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology:
Mariah Humphrey, LSUHSC-NO Pediatrics Residency
Anna Simon, LSUHSC-NO Pediatrics Residency
Pediatric Hospital Medicine:
Jantzen Collette, LSUHSC-NO Pediatrics Residency
Joseph Sansone, LSUHSC-NO Pediatrics Residency
Pediatric Nephrology:
Corinna Victor, LSUHSC-NO Pediatrics Residency
Neonatology:
Victoria Aguilar, Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Pediatrics Residency
Amanda Barkemeyer, LSUHSC-NO Pediatrics Residency
Kanya Singhapakdi, DO (Pediatric Cardiology Fellow) and Christen Nieves Rivera, MD (Hematology/ Oncology Fellow) have been selected to participate in the American Pediatric Society (APS) and Society for Pediatric Research (SPR) program Journeys & Frontiers in Pediatric Research. The APS SPR Program is designed to encourage and support promising early career investigators in pediatrics by offering inspiring career journey stories, career development mentoring, feedback on research and networking with experienced peers in academic medicine.
Physiology
Nicholas Harris has been awarded a predoctoral fellowship award for his work on TRAF3IP as a proinflammatory
mediator of alcohol-related cardiomyopathy by the American Heart Association.
Orthopaedic Surgery
Patrik Suwak, DO was awarded the Jack Winter’s Award, given to the graduating resident with the
best research.
Scott A. Barnett, MD received the Orthopaedics In-Training Award, given to the graduating resident who has the highest In-Training Score averaged over four years (PGY2-5 year of training).
Graduating PGY5 Stuart P. Schexnayder, MD received the King Award, a teaching award given to resident and named after Dr. Andrew King (Emeritus Professor & Past Chairman of the department).
Dr. Schexnayder also had the opportunity to assist and care for the LSU Baseball Team in the dugout as an LSUO resident during their remarkable victory in the College World Series over the summer.
The department recently announced 2024 Fellowship Matches:
Jestin Williams - Specialty: Oncology: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Marc Schatz - Specialty: Sports Medicine: Campbell Clinic Orthopaedics
Charles Hansen - Specialty: Adult Reconstruction: School of Medicine and Public Health University
of Wisconsin-Madison
Matthew Darlow - Specialty: Spine Florida: Orthopaedic Institute
The department also announced:
Scott Barnett, MD to Joseph H. Boyes Hand Fellowship - University Southern California, Keck School
of Medicine
Rocio Crabb, MD Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy Fellowship - Hoag Orthopedic Institute: Orange
County, CA
Stuart Schexnayder, MD Houston Sports Medicine and Shoulder Fellowship - University of Texas Health
Science Center; Houston, TX
Patrik Suwak, MD Twin Cities Spine Center John H. Moe Spine Fellowship - Abbott Northwestern Hospital,
Minneapolis, MN
The department welcomed new 2023 residents:
Jonathan Abraham from Texas Tech University HSC School of Medicine
Rebecca Blair from Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University
Katelynn Donnelly from LSU School of Medicine, New Orleans
Irfan Khan from FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.
Pathology
PGY2 Resident Dr. Julia Rivera and Program Director Dr. Ritu Bhalla were published in Pathology Outlines on the topic Sertoli Cell Nodule.
Pharmacology
Sarah Melton (below, left) and Tamara Morris (below, right) have been selected as two of only 10 2024 ASPET Washington Fellows, a highly prestigious
honor. As Washington Fellows, Morris and Melton will participate in policy training
webinars focusing on an introduction to government and science policy; receive a comprehensive
overview of ASPET’s policy interests, including drug policy and animal research; gain
advocacy experience during Hill Day by attending meetings with legislative officials
and/or staff on Capitol Hill in May 2024; and attend a writing workshop with an opportunity
to publish a policy brief. Dr. Peter Winsauer is the graduate mentor for both Morris
and Melton.
Physiology
Keishla Rodriguez Graciani presented a talk “Alcohol increases oxidative stress and mitochondrial content in
myoblasts from SIV-infected female macaques” at the 18th Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center
of Excellence Scientific Retreat. She received a $100 award.
Stephanie Lee presented a talk “Proteomic Analysis of Central Amygdala Systems Regulated by Mifepristone in the Context of Alcohol Dependence” at the 18th Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center of Excellence Scientific Retreat. She was awarded $100.
Taylor Fitzpatrick-Schmidt was awarded a scholarship to attend the Center for Sex Education's National Sex Ed Conference in Atlantic City, NJ, December 2023.
Fitzpatrick-Schmidt won second place and a $500 travel award in the oral presentation category at the School of Graduate Studies Research Day for her talk, “Analgesic Efficacy of Alcohol in Reducing HIV- Associated Neuropathic Pain in Preclinical and Clinical Settings.”
Fitzpatrick-Schmidt, Lee, and Eden Gallegos presented their work at the Southeastern Medical Scientist Symposium in Atlanta, GA in November.
Gallegos won first place in the three-minute talk category at the School of Graduate Studies Research Day for her talk, “Fats, sugars, and alcohol oh my: what leads your liver down the wrong yellow brick road?”
Meagan Donovan joined Dr. Janos Paloczi lab as a graduate student. Donovan’s project will be on the cardiovascular and cardiometabolic aspects of chronic alcohol misuse. She is preparing to write an NIH F31 application. Donovan is joined by Sarah Cohen, a senior nursing student in the CARE Accelerated BSN Program. Cohen is a MUSES Honors BSN Program student. She will perform cardiovascular and alcohol use research, focusing on the impacts of binge drinking on the heart-gut axis.
Psychiatry
Monica Daniels (psychology intern) and colleagues published Using Participatory Research Methods to Foster an Anti-Racist Graduate Learning Environment in the Journal of Participatory Research Methods.
Surgery
The General Surgery Residents gathered for a fun-filled wellness day in November.
They enjoyed a competitive field day followed by an afternoon at Rock ‘n’ Bowl and
ended the day with a Meet and Greet Dinner with the General Surgery Residency Candidates.
James Charles, MD, gave the poster presentation, Prehospital Ketamine Administration for Trauma Patients Results in More Emergency Department Intubations, at the EMS Expo.
Anna Garbuzov, MD won first place as “Best Overall Resident/Fellow Podium Presentation” at the Southern Region Burn Conference for The Burden of Burns: An Analysis of Public Health Measures.
Alex Mikhail, MD, gave the abstract presentation, Robot Hernia Repair: The Resident Drag Factor, at the The American Hernia Society.
Rebecca Moreci, MD presented Geographicand demographic trends with the initiation of virtual interviews in general surgery: A multi-institutional study at the American College of Surgeons
Sophia Trinh, MD won the basic science abstract competition for the Louisiana Committee on Trauma.
Dr. Trinh also won the Region 6 COT Basic Science Resident Paper Competition for her presentation Discovery-Based Analysis of Post-Burn Inflammation in Geriatric Patients.