Biography
After starting my clinical career in Chicago, I transferred my efforts to the west coast and joined Dr. Hobart Harris' Immunity, Infection, and Injury lab as a NIH Post-Doctoral Fellow to further my research experience. After three productive years primarily working on an innovative approach to prevent incisional hernias as well as improving wound care, I re-entered the clinical setting and spent the next two years as a surgical resident at UCSF. My research interests then drew me back to the lab to continue on the same project, of which is still ongoing currently.
Education
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, B.A., Human Biology, 2000.
University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, IL,
Medical Doctorate, 2008.
University of California, San Francisco, 6/2013
NIH Post-Doctoral Scholar, 2010-2013
Clinical Interests
Hernia Prevention
Wound healing
Critical Care
Research Narrative
There are 4-5 million abdominal incisions performed annually in the United States with hernias resulting after 11-23% of these procedures. Importantly, incisional hernias result in severe morbidity beyond the cosmetic deformity of a visible bulge in the anterior abdominal wall, including intestinal obstruction, bowel ischemia, enterocutaneous fistula and significant limitations on a patient?s physical activity and gainful employment. We set out to investigate a novel method of preventing incisional hernias by employing a bioactive microparticles and fibrin composite using an established animal hernia model with rats.
PubMed