The outcomes of intraperitoneal versus preperitoneal mesh placement during open repair of primary ventral hernias
Name:
Dr. Mazen Al-Mansour
Email
mazen.al-mansour@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(505) 401-4879
Faculty Department/Division
Surgery
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
The abdominal core health quality collaborative (ACHQC) database will be queried for patients who underwent open repair of primary ventral hernias (umbilical and epigastric hernias) with mesh. These will be divided into groups based on mesh location (intraperitoneal versus preperitoneal). The outcomes of the two mesh locations will be compared
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
The outcomes of onlay versus sublay mesh position in patient undergoing open incisional hernia repair with panniculectomy
Name:
Dr. Mazen Al-Mansour
Email
mazen.al-mansour@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(505) 401-4879
Faculty Department/Division
general surgery
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
The Abdominal Core Health Quality Collaborative (ACHQC) database will be queried for patients who underwent open incisional hernia repair with mesh and panniculectomy. These will be divided into two groups based on mesh location (onlay versus sublay). The outcomes of the two groups will be compared.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Performance Improvement in the Department of Surgery
Name:
Dr. Benjamin Jacobs
Email
benjamin.jacobs@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(734) 657-9037
Faculty Department/Division
Surgery
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
Student will have the opportunity to participate in a performance improvement project within the Department of Surgery. Thisproject will involve direct experience with the clinical enterprise at UFHealth. Student will learn about surgical quality, PDSACycles, and quality metrics including Vizient, VQI, and NSQIP. We expect this work to result in a published manuscript.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Health Services and Quality Research in Peripheral Arterial Disease
Faculty Information
Name:
Dr. Benjamin Jacobs
Email
benjamin.jacobs@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(734) 657-9037
Faculty Department/Division
Surgery
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
We have a robust health services research program, utilizing local, regional, and national databases. We are dedicated to improving the care of patients with peripheral arterial disease and venous disease – specifically patients at risk for limb loss. Opportunities exist to execute a project from conception to publication. Alternately, quality improvement projects leading to publication are an option if the student has that particular interest.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Incorporating Patient Values in Proxy Decision Support
Name:
Dr. Tyler Loftus
Email
tyler.loftus@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 273-5670
Faculty Department/Division
Surgery
This project is primarily:
Translational
Research Project Description:
Our overall objective is to develop, validate, and share interoperable (i.e., OMOP (Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership)-compatible) software for generating patient-specific value assessments that attend to ELSI (Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues) and inform generative artificial intelligence-enabled proxy decision support. Our central hypothesis is that generative large language models (LLMs) can accurately incorporate patient values and computable phenotype triggers to generate ethical and patient-centered treatment recommendations for decision ally incapacitated patients. Our proof-of-concept LLM takes patient value profiles and clinical scenarios as inputs and generates scenario-specific recommendations. This model requires prospective, external validation with human subjects, pairing with automated computable phenotyping methods, attention to ELSI, human-centered design, and extension to electronic health record (EHR)-embedded, real-time decision support.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
The Role of Brain-Bone Marrow-Gut Interaction following Major Trauma
Faculty Information
Name:
Dr. Alicia Mohr
Email
alicia.mohr@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 273-5670
Faculty Department/Division
Surgery
This project is primarily:
Translational
Research Project Description:
Traumatic injury followed by critical illness provokes pathophysiologic changes in the bone marrow and the gut that contribute to persistent anemia and changes in the microbiome which significantly impact long-term recovery. This project will define the interactions between the stress, chronic inflammation, bone marrow dysfunction, and an altered microbiome which will provide a strong foundation for future clinical interventions to help improve outcomes following severe trauma.
The medical student will determine if we directly link changes in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPC) and erythroid progenitor cell fate and function with sympathetic stress-induced changes establishing brain-bone marrow communication following trauma. Targeted inhibition of specific inflammatory signaling pathways and their ability to restore homeostatic HSPC fate can be performed in our preclinical model of rodent polytrauma model followed by seven days of restraint stress. In addition to these basic science studies, analysis of human trauma samples can provide the framework for translation to the bedside. The medical student will begin an understanding of reviewing scientific literature and learn basic science laboratory techniques. They will perform cell cultures, ELISAs, as well as assist with qRT-PCR. The medical student will also perform statistics and report the results from the experiments. He/she will develop insight on how translational research can be applied in the clinical arena.
This work is funded by the NIH NIGMS R-35 GM152216 (PI Mohr)
Relevant publications
Loftus TJ, Mira JC, Kannan KB, Plazas JM, Delitto D, Stortz JA, Hagen JE, Parvataneni HK, Sadasivan KK, Brakenridge SC, Moore FA, Moldawer LL, Efron PA, Mohr AM. (2018). The post-injury inflammatory state and the bone marrow response to anemia. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 198, 629-638. PMID: 29768025
Munley JA, Kelly LS, Park G, Pons EE, Apple CG, Kannan KB, Bible LE, Efron PA, Nagpal R, Mohr AM. (2025). Non-selective beta blockade enhances gut microbiome diversity in a rodent model of trauma, hemorrhage, chronic stress. J Trauma & Acute Care Surg 98, 309-318. PMID: 39813154
Munley JA, Willis ML, Gillies GS, Kannan KB, Polcz VE, Balch JA, Barrios EL, Wallet SM, Bible LE, Efron PA, Maile R, Mohr AM. (2024). Exosomal miRNA following severe trauma: Role in bone marrow dysfunction. J Trauma & Acute Care Surg 96, 548-556. PMID: 38151766
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Exploring Barriers to Medical Students’ Active Participation in the Operating Room During Surgery Clerkship
Faculty Information
Name:
Dr. Janice Taylor
Email
janice.taylor@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 273-8825
Faculty Department/Division
Surgery
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
This is more accurately described as a medical education project, which was not a category above.
This project aims to explore the different barriers to medical students’ active participation in the operating room during their surgery clerkship. It will begin with structured interviews with medical students who have completed their surgery clerkship, as well as residents and faculty members who work with students on their surgery rotation. Interviews will then be analyzed using a thematic analysis approach to identify themes from different stakeholders involved in medical student education. Findings from this study will provide valuable insights for medical schools and surgery clerkships directors to enhance medical students’ participation in the OR. The expectation is that the student will complete this project to submit to a national meeting, and draft a manuscript to submit to a peer-reviewed journal.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
If your project has an international component please give details (where, when, data collection involved, etc.):
NA
Long term outcomes of burn patients who receive renal replacement therapy
Name:
Dr. Amalia Cochran
Email
amalia.cochran@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 273-5674
Faculty Department/Division
Surgery
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is not uncommon in patients with severe burn injury and often leads to high rates of mortality and morbidity. Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is the standard treatment for improving renal function in burn patients. This study investigates the timing of initiation and duration of CRRT while also investigating long-term outcomes of patients following discharge.
The medical student involved in this project will be responsible for data collection and organization, as well as collaboration on the analysis of the data. The goal will be to generate a publication-quality manuscript for submission.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Safety and efficacy of metformin in the management of hyperglycemia in acute burn patients
Name:
Dr. Amalia Cochran
Email
amalia.cochran@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 273-5674
Faculty Department/Division
Surgery
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
The goal of this study is to retrospectively examine the safety and efficacy of metformin use for hyperglycemia in acute burn patients.
The student will be responsible for acquisition and interpretation of data and collaboration on analysis. They can expect to be the 1st author on a publication-quality manuscript with the goal of submission at the end of the summer.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Wound outcomes in burn patients who receive ECMO support
Faculty Information
Name:
Dr. Andrea Munden
Email
andrea.munden@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 273-5675
Faculty Department/Division
Surgery
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
This project is retrospective and descriptive, and will provide a single-center snapshot of burn wound outcomes in patients who require ECMO.
The participating student will be responsible for data acquisition, as well as collaborating on analysis and interpretation. The goal will be to generate a publication quality manuscript for submission by the end of the summer.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Use of burn wound care videos to improve learner confidence
Name:
Dr. Andrea Munden
Email
andrea.munden@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 273-5675
Faculty Department/Division
Surgery
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
This project will measure changes in confidence for individuals learning wound care using video-supported instruction. We will assess confidence in performing burn wound care before and after participants watch a burn wound care teaching video.
The student will be responsible for administering the pre and post surveys and aggregating the data. Analysis and interpretation will be collaborative.
The goal will be to generate a publication-quality manuscript for peer review by the end of the summer.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Determinants of Pediatric Surgical Outcomes: A Data-Driven Analysis
Name:
Dr. Steven Raymond
Email
steven.raymond@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 273-8825
Faculty Department/Division
Surgery
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
This project will examine factors associated with pediatric surgical outcomes, with a focus on postoperative complications, readmissions, and quality metrics. Depending on student interest and feasibility, analyses may utilize large national datasets such as ACS NSQIP-Pediatric or institutional electronic medical record data. The student will participate in study design, data extraction, statistical analysis including multivariable modeling, and interpretation of findings. Emphasis will be placed on identifying modifiable patient- and system-level factors that influence outcomes and can inform quality improvement initiatives. The objective is to generate a scholarly abstract and manuscript suitable for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Immunologic mechanisms and therapeutics of lung transplant injury
Name:
Dr. Ashish Sharma
Email
ashish.sharma@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 294-8660
Faculty Department/Division
Surgery
This project is primarily:
Translational
Research Project Description:
Our research projects focus on defining the molecular and signal transduction mechanisms of acute lung injury (i.e. ischemia-reperfusion injury or primary graft dysfunction) after lung transplantation in patient samples as well as pre-clinical experimental models. We aim to decipher the contribution of cell-specific signaling mechanisms of endothelial cell-mediated efferocytosis in resolution of lung transplant injury, as well as to implement Hippo- and Piezo1- signaling molecules as a therapeutic strategy to mitigate primary graft dysfunction after lung transplantation.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No