{"id":2709,"date":"2023-02-24T13:12:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T19:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iimsprod.wpengine.com\/education\/?page_id=2709"},"modified":"2023-03-29T10:56:24","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T15:56:24","slug":"past-scholars","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iims.uthscsa.edu\/education\/education\/k12\/past-scholars\/","title":{"rendered":"Past Scholars"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]\"\"Eduardo Marques Zilli<\/strong>, MD, assistant professor and neurologist with the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer\u2019s and Neurodegenerative Diseases. Dr. Zilli completed his MD from the Universidade de Brazilia and his neurology residency at the University of Iowa, Then he subsequently pursued a behavioral neurology fellowship at the University of Florida, under the guidance of the world-renowned neurologist and former president of the International Neuropsychological Society Kenneth Heilman. He was involved in research of visuospatial neglect, a frequent and disabling complication of stroke and dementia, and contributed to better characterize challenging presentations of Alzheimer disease (posterior cortical atrophy and logopenic progressive aphasia). This training enabled me to acquire intimate knowledge of brain-behavioral relationships and their clinical, neuropsychological, imaging and laboratory assessment. Dr. Zilli has devoted himself to multiple topics in dementia research: the shortcomings of the concept of normal pressure hydrocephalus, and whether more accurate ways of diagnosing it and predicting the clinical outcomes of shunting surgery could be devised; the interactions between lifelong indolent neuroinfections and risk of Alzheimers\u00a0and, more recently, the limitations in the diagnostic criteria for Dementia with Lewy Bodies, and how those could be addressed by new electrophysiologic and laboratory assays. His KL2 Project is called\u00a0Spinal Fluid and EEG for the Diagnosis of Dementia with Lewy Bodies.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mio Kitano<\/strong>, MD, MS, FACS is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology & Endocrine Surgery at UT Health, San Antonio.\u00a0 She completed her General Surgery Residency at Montefiore Medical Center\/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York.\u00a0 During her surgical training, she completed a 3-year clinical research fellowship at National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.\u00a0 Dr. Kitano joined the Division of Surgical Oncology & Endocrine Surgery in 2016 after completing a 2-year clinical fellowship in General Complex Surgical Oncology at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.\u00a0 Dr. Kitano is a general surgical oncologist and treats a wide range of malignancies including gastrointestinal, pancreas, and endocrine cancers as well as sarcoma and melanoma. Her research interest is in understanding the racial disparities in the presentation cancer and her KL2 research will focus on the identification of molecular and epidemiological risk factors in the development of gastric cancer in high-risk predominantly Hispanic population in San Antonio, Texas.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jisook Ko<\/strong>, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor in School of Nursing, pursued her PhD in nursing and completed her postdoctoral training in self-management science at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Ko is a nurse scientist with a research focus on developing precise and personalized behavioral nutrition interventions to reduce – and ultimately eliminate – cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular health disparities in ethnic minority populations and underserved communities through a precision health research approach. She also has a special interest in using digital health technologies to increase adherence and participation in cardiovascular clinical trials. In her KL2 time, Dr. Ko will investigate the underlying mechanism that affects individual variability response to a sodium-restricted diet in hypertensive patients using metabolomics and genetics approaches.<\/p>\n

\"\"Roc\u00edo S. Norman<\/strong>, PhD is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the School of Health Professions at the\u00a0University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. She earned her undergraduate degree from Florida International University, her Masters\u2019 degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During her training, Dr. Norman was an American Speech-Hearing Association New Century Scholar and an NIH Predoctoral Fellow. In 2018, as a new faculty member at UT Health, she received both a School of Health Professions Pilot Grant and a Texas Society for Allied Health Professions Research Grant. Her research has been published in various peer-reviewed journals such as\u00a0Brain Injury<\/em>,\u00a0American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology<\/em>,\u00a0Military Medicine<\/em>,\u00a0Neuropsychologia<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. <\/em>Her research centers on improving the lives of individuals with concussion or mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). She primarily uses experimental methods to investigate cognitive-communication disorders after mTBI. During her KL2, Dr. Norman will use innovative methods such as discourse analysis and electroencephalogram (EEG) measures to richly characterize language output and shed light on the underlying cognitive mechanisms of language performance after mTBI. Dr. Norman aims to standardize assessment for mTBI-related communication disorders and use precise measurement to develop appropriate behavioral interventions to improve life participation for the mTBI population.<\/p>\n

\"\"Adewole (Ade) Adamson<\/strong>, M.D., MPP, is a board certified dermatologist and health services researcher. He is an assistant professor of Internal Medicine (Division of Dermatology) at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin where he studies skin cancer, evidence based medicine, and health policy. His primary clinical interest is in caring for patients at high risk for melanoma of the skin, such as those with many moles (particularly atypical moles) or a personal and\/or family history of melanoma. Adamson\u2019s research involves understanding patterns of health care utilization including overuse and underuse in dermatology. He is interested in how effectively and efficiently the health care system delivers care to patients with skin cancer, the most common type of cancer in the United States. He is passionate about health care disparities, access to specialty health care and health care costs.<\/p>\n

\"\"Yvonne Covin<\/strong>, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, in the Division of General and Hospital Medicine. Dr. Covin completed her residency in Internal Medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital – Columbia University Medical Center. During her General Internal Medicine research fellowship at UT Southwestern, she began a Master of Education in the Health Professions at Johns Hopkins University. During her CTSA supplement, Dr. Covin will study patient-physician communication during the diagnostic process in primary care Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) clinics. She is a recipient of a 2019 CTSA pilot grant award to create a patient-centered research agenda in diagnostic safety. Her long-term goal is to improve patient-physician communication through health information technology interventions, and patient education. Dr. Covin practices in the General Internal Medicine clinic at the Robert B. Green campus.<\/p>\n

\"\"Xueqiu Jian<\/strong>, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer\u2019s and Neurodegenerative Diseases, earned his PhD in Public Health and completed his postdoctoral training in genetic epidemiology of cerebrovascular diseases and brain aging, both at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. In collaboration with investigators from multiple human population studies worldwide, Dr. Jian\u2019s ongoing research involves the application of integrated genomic and other omics approaches to explore the genetic architecture of Alzheimer’s disease and related endophenotypes such as brain imaging markers and measures of neurocognitive function, which will improve our understanding of the etiology and molecular mechanisms of the disease, facilitate method development for disease risk prediction and early diagnosis, as well as inform potential targets for disease intervention and prevention. Building on his prior work, Dr. Jian\u2019s KL2 research is focused on detecting and characterizing rare copy number variation for Alzheimer\u2019s disease by leveraging the emerging next-generation sequencing technologies and novel analytical approaches in well-phenotyped large-scale population-based cohort studies within the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology consortium.<\/p>\n

\"\"Amita Shah,\u00a0<\/strong>MD PhD is an Assistant Professor and Associate Program Director for the Division of Plastic Surgery at UT Health San Antonio. She is a general plastic surgeon involved in breast reconstruction including breast microsurgery, oncologic and traumatic reconstruction, burn and complex wound reconstruction, and cosmetic breast surgery and body contouring. Her research interests are in the field of breast reconstruction outcomes, radiation injury, and tissue engineering and regenerative medicine with an emphasis in biomaterials.\u00a0 Dr. Shah completed her Doctor of Medicine and General Surgery Residency at UT Health San Antonio and obtained her Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at San Antonio in Biomedical Engineering. She completed her Plastic Surgery Residency at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

\"\"Alex Bokov,\u00a0<\/strong>PhD, in an Instructor\/Researcher in the Clinical Informatics Research Division (CIRD) within the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He completed his doctoral degree in Physiology, then subsequently\u00a0completed a Masters of Science in Statistics and a postdoctoral fellowship in biostatistics and data science. Dr. Bokov’s KL2 research\u00a0 focuses on using predictive analytics of electronic medical records and other large data sources to understand disparities in progression and possibly incidence of kidney cancer among Hispanic patients relative to non-Hispanic white patients, as well as identifying potential geographic hot-spots of kidney cancer. His analytical approaches can translate to a broad range of other problems in poulation health, health services research, and healthcare economics. He hopes to facilitate more effective use of informatics in translational science by disseminating his work as open source software that extends the functionality of i2b2 data warehouses and by extension, of SHRINE networks such as CTSA ACT. Dr. Bokov has four years of experience in every aspect of managing a research data warehouse and is proficient in RPython and various dialects of SQL.<\/p>\n

\"\"Joseph B. Cantey,\u00a0<\/strong>MD, is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics within the Divisions of Neonatology & Allergy, Immunology, and Infectious Diseases.\u00a0 Dr. Cantey completed his residency in pediatrics at John Hopkins before pursuing dual fellowship training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in pediatric infectious diseases and neonatology. While Dr. Cantey’s clinical interests include all aspects of neonatal infections (congential and perinatal infections, nursery infection control and prevention), his primary research focus is neonatal antibiotic stewardship. He has designed and evaluated the utility and\u00a0safety of single-center and system-wide neonatal antibiotic stewardship programs. He also studied the association\u00a0between prolonged or unnecessary antibiotic exposure and adverse outcomes in young infants. Dr. Cantey has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers, 20 book chapters, editorials, and invited reviews. He serves as editor for\u00a0Neonatal Infections<\/em>\u00a0as well as\u00a0Nelson’s Pediatric Antimicrobial Therapy<\/em>. Dr. Cantey is excited to continue his research into the creation and implementation of innovative strategies to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use in neonates and young infants.<\/p>\n

\"\"John Moring<\/strong>, PhD, is an Assistant Research Professor and a licensed clinical psychologist within the Department of Psychiatry. He completed his doctoral degree at the University of Wyoming in 2013. His\u00a0research focus includes psychosocial factors that facilitate health-related behaviors, as well as the genesis and maintenance of tinnitus. He completed his pre-doctoral internship at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and San Diego VA Healthcare System. He later graduated from the STONG STAR Multidisciplinary PTSD Research Consortium Trauma Fellowship. During this fellowship he obtained extensive training in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)\u00a0and the behavioral and emotional sequelae of traumatic brain injury related to blast exposure.\u00a0 During his KL2 time, Dr. Moring will investigate the relationship between tinnitus-related distress and PTSD\u00a0through cognitive-behavioral assessments and resting-state fMRI techniques. Additionally, he will examine changes\u00a0in functional covariance among resting-state networks as a function of receiving empirically supported therapy for PTSD.<\/p>\n

\"ScholarTyler Barreto<\/strong>, MD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and a Core Scholar of the Research to Advance Community Health (ReACH) Center. Dr. Barreto earned her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Grinnell College and completed medical school\/residency training at Michigan State University. She has a wide variety interests including, health policy, health care delivery, innovative health models, health disparities, and point of care ultrasound. Dr. Barreto completed a Health Policy Fellowship at Georgetown University while serving as an Assistant Professor. Her most recent work has been focused on obstetric workforce shortages, identifying key variables in successful innovative care models, addressing behavioral health in primary care, and understanding the overuse of unnecessary care. The focus of Dr. Barreto’s KL2 project is access to maternity care and maternal\/neonatal outcomes. She aims to identify community, hospital, and individual level characteristics leading to disparities in access to maternity care to determine if access disparities lead to maternal and neonatal mortality.<\/p>\n

\"ScholarJosephine Taverna<\/strong>, MD is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology\/Oncology. She received her medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine internship at Boston University Medical Center (BUMC). Dr. Taverna had the unique opportunity to enter into the Skin Oncology fellowship program\u00a0at BUMC which led to the FDA approval of a skin cancer drug\u00a0vorinostat. Subsequently, she has completed two Hematology-Oncology & Cancer Prevention fellowships, one at the University of Arizona and one at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. Dr. Taverna was among\u00a0one of the first recipents\u00a0of the Eli Lilly externships offered to NCATS KL2 scholars. She spent the first six\u00a0months of her award developing a\u00a0mathematical computer model to advance drug discovery at Eli Lilly. Her KL2 research is focusing on lung, head, and neck cancers studying the effects of an AXL inhibitor on\u00a0tumor cells.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″]