Surgeon Scientist Training Program Profiles 2023-2024
An alphabetical list of all students enrolled in the Surgeon Scientist Training Program.
Kennedy Ayoo
Degree working towards: MSc (IMS)
Division: Vascular Surgery
Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisors: Drs. Thomas Lindsay, Jonathan Irish, Antoine Eskander
Research Focus: Investigating the risk of carotid atherosclerotic disease following radiation therapy for head and neck malignancy.
Asha Behdinan
Degree working towards: PhD (IHPME)
Division: Vascular Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisors: Drs. Prabhat Jha and Ahmed Kayssi
Research Focus: Evaluation of surgically-avertable vascular mortality in low- and middle- income countries.
Adom Bondzi-Simpson
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: General Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Julie Hallet
Research Focus: Examining social disparities in surgical outcomes for gastrointestinal malignancies.
Karanbir Brar
Degree working towards: MSc (IMS)
Division: General Surgery
Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisor: Dr. Jonathan Yeung
Research Focus: Using computational analysis of RNA sequencing data to delineate intra-tumor heterogeneity in esophageal adenocarcinoma, with the goal of identifying targets for new therapeutic intervention.
Caroline Cristofaro
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: Orthopaedics
Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisors: Drs. Michael Zywiel and Raja Rampersaud
Research Focus: Ongoing postoperative neuropathic pain may have significant impact on patient reported and clinical outcomes after undergoing total knee arthroplasty. By utilizing the LEAP-OA Database, we aim to determine whether a patient's PainDETECT score preoperatively can predict likelihood of positive response to surgery.
Julian Daza
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: General Surgery
Unity Health, SMH
Supervisors: Drs. Duminda Wijeysundera and Nancy Baxter
Research Focus: Preoperative assessment and risk prediction in older patients undergoing major surgery.
Adriana Dekirmendjian
Degree working towards: MSc (IMS)
Division: General Surgery
The Hospital for Sick Children
Supervisor: Dr. Zani Augusto
Research Focus: Pediatric Surgery, specifically Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.
Mimi Deng
Degree working towards: PhD (IMS)
Division: Cardiac Surgery
The Hospital for Sick Children
Supervisor: Dr. Osami Honjo
Research Focus: Ex-vivo heart perfusion in porcine models for optimization of pediatric cardiac transplant. Specifically, exploring methods to improve preservation of donor hearts.
Malak Elbatarny
Degree working towards: PhD (Physiol)
Division: Cardiac Surgery
Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisors: Drs. Anthony Gramolini and Maral Ouzounian
Research Focus: Multiomic and biomechanic characterization of thoracic aortic aneurysm: Towards personalized prognostication and surgical thresholds.
Yosef Ellenbogen
Degree working towards: PhD (IMS)
Division: Neurosurgery
Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisor: Dr. Gelareh Zadeh
Research Focus: Investigating the molecular heterogeneity of glioma.
Chloe Gui
Division: Neurosurgery
Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisor: Dr. Gelareh Zadeh
Research Focus: We plan to perform CRISPR-Cas9-based high-throughput genetic screens to understand mechanisms of existing therapies, mechanisms of resistance to treatment, and identify novel exploitable target genes in GBM. This method may potentially enable the development of patient-specific therapies.
Research Focus: Ex-vivo heart perfusion in porcine models for optimization of pediatric cardiac transplant. Specifically, exploring methods to improve preservation of donor hearts.
Laureen Hachem
Degree working towards: PhD (IMS)
Division: Neurosurgery
Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisors: Drs. Michael G. Fehlings and Charles H. Tator
Research Interests: Spinal cord injury, glutamate signaling, neural stem cells, regeneration
Jethro Kwong
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: Urology
PMH - UHN
Supervisors: Drs. Girish Kulkarni and Alistair Johnson
Research Focus: Machine learning operations in urologic oncology
Alexander Landry
Degree working towards: PhD (IMS)
Division: Neurosurgery
Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisor: Dr. Gelareh Zadeh
Research Focus: Computational tools use to better understand the molecular landscape of brain tumours, with a particular focus on meningioma.
Angela Young Ju Lee
Degree working towards: PhD(IMS)
Division: Vascular Surgery
TGH-UHN
Supervisors: Dr. Thomas Lindsay & Dr. Maral Ouzounian
Research Focus: Spinal cord ischemia
Ben Li
Degree working towards: PhD (IMS)
Division: Vascular Surgery
SMH, Unity Health
Supervisors: Drs. Mohammed Al-Omran and Charles de Mestral
Research Focus: Using machine learning to predict outcomes following major vascular surgery
Darby Little
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisors: Drs. Stephanie Mason and Barbara Haas
Research Focus: Long-term outcomes in burn injury patients.
Armaan Malhotra
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: Neurosurgery
SMH, Unity Health
Supervisors: Drs. Jefferson Wilson and Avery Nathens
Research Focus: An integrated approach to improved neurotrauma prognostication using machine learning methods applied to clinical and radiographic data
Ann Mansur
Degree working towards: PhD (IMS)
Division: Neurosurgery
Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisor: Dr. Ivan Radovanovic
Research Focus: Understanding the safety and efficacy of targeted MEK inhibitors on the angioarchitecture, molecular biology and clinical progression of arteriovenous malformations through clinical trials. This is within a larger focus of exploring molecular and genetic alterations in neurovascular conditions.
Karim Mithani
Degree working towards: PhD (IMS)
Division: Neurosurgery
The Hospital for Sick Children and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisors: Drs. George Ibrahim and Nir Lipsman
Research Focus: The identification and validation of neuroimaging and electrophysiologic biomarkers to predict response to, and elucidate mechanisms of, neurosurgery for psychiatric disorders and epilepsy.
Whitney Quong
Degree working towards: PhD (IMS)
Division: Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
The Hospital for Sick Children
Supervisor: Dr. Joel Fish
Research Focus: Outcomes of multimodal therapy for keloids and hypertrophic scarring
Sneha Raju
Degree working towards: PhD (IMS)
Division: Vascular Surgery
Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisors: Drs. Jason Fish and Kathryn Howe
Research Focus: Determining the role of endothelial activation on microRNA communication within atherosclerotic plaque: Towards the identification of a novel therapeutic target in carotid disease
Matthew Raleigh
Degree working towards: MSc (IMS)
Division: Orthopaedics
SMH, Unity Health
Supervisor(s): Dr. Aaron Nauth
Research Focus: The role of endothelial stem cells in bone healing
Tiago Ribeiro
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: General Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Julie Hallet
Research Focus: Developing a predictive model for patient centred outcomes in GI cancers
Tayler Declan Ross
Degree working towards: MSc (IMS)
Division: Orthopaedics
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Cari Whyne
Research Focus: Musculoskeletal health, specifically osteosarcopenia. Osteosarcopenia is the combination of decreased bone and muscle mass. This combination has significant impacts on patient outcomes and assessing frailty, but to date it is still poorly understood. I hope to evaluate how osteosarcopenia can be used to predict treatment response in the spine malignancy cohort.
Husain Shakil
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: Neurosurgery
SMH, Unity Health
Supervisor: Dr. Jefferson Wilson
Research Focus: Impact of clinical frailty on outcomes in neurosurgery
Hrishikesh Suresh
Degree working towards: PhD (BME)
Division & Institution: Neurosurgery
The Hospital for Sick Children
Supervisors: Drs. George Ibrahim and James Drake
Research Focus: The application of focused ultrasound for the treatment of epilepsy
Shervin Taslimi
Degree working towards: Postdoctoral Fellow (IMS)
Division: Neurosurgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Victor Yang
Research Focus: Development of navigation based human and robotic drilling for skull-base approaches
Teagan Telesnicki
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: General Surgery
SMH, Unity Health
Supervisors: Drs. Charles de Mestral and David Gomez
Research Focus: Characterizing the elective surgical backlog in Ontario generated by the COVID pandemic and providing evidence-based recommendations to guide clearance of the backlog
Chantal Valiquette
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Supervisors: Drs. Daniel Grace and Mitchell Brown
Research Focus: Improving equitable access for gender affirming surgical care
Justin Wang
Degree working towards: PhD (IMS)
Division: Neurosurgery
TMDT, University Health Network
Supervisor: Dr. Gelareh Zadeh
Research Focus: Genomics of clinically aggressive meningiomas. We will be using novel molecular biology techniques to predict the clinical behaviour of meningiomas and developing non-invasive methods of diagnosing brain tumours
Chloe Wong
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisors: Drs. Heather Baltzer and David Urbach
Research Focus: Establishing a predictive model for repeated hand trauma
Elliott Yee
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: General Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Barbara Haas
Research Focus: The impact of marginalization and access to primary care on long-term health outcomes following severe traumatic injury.
Nicholas J.-S. Yee
Degree working towards: MASc (BME)
Division: Orthopaedics
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisors: Drs. Cari Whyne and Mansur Halai
Research Focus: Developing algorithms that can characterize clinically important long bone fracture patterns using software-augmented ultrasound imaging.
Alice Zhu
Degree working towards: MSc (IHPME)
Division: General Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Natalie Coburn
Research Focus: Evaluating & improving patient-centered outcomes for gastrointestinal cancer care.