Surgeon Scientist Training Program Profiles 2020-2021
An alphabetical list of all students enrolled in the Surgeon Scientist Training Program.
Please click for indiviual research interests and further information.
Monica Abdelmasih
Email: monica.abdelmasih@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Vascular Surgery
TGH-UHN
Supervisors: Drs. Thomas Forbes and Ahmed Kayssi
Research Focus: Quality improvement and patient safety. Study we are currently pursuing is improving sleep quality and satisfaction in post-operative patients
Muhammad Ali Akbar
Email: muhammad.akbar@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisor: Dr. Michael G. Fehlings
Research Focus: Investigate diagnostic and prognostic value of diffusion tensor imaging among other MRI techniques in traumatic/non-traumatic cervical spine myelopathy
Mona Al-Taha
Email: mona.altaha@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
The Hospital for Sick Children
Supervisor: Drs. Chris Forrest and James Drake
Research Focus: Utilizing mixed reality technology (augmented reality/virtual reality) in surgical education. Focus areas include pediatrics and craniofacial anatomy
Zubair Bayat
Email: zbayat@ucalgary.ca Division: General Surgery
Mount Sinai Hospital
Supervisors: Drs. Erin Kennedy and Anand Govindarajan
Research Focus: Health Services Research: Determinants of length of stay after common surgical procedures
Matthew Castelo
Degree working towards: PhD(IHPME)
Email: matthew.castelo@one-mail.on.ca
Division: General Surgery
Unity Health, SMH
Supervisors: Drs. Nancy Baxter and Adena Scheer
Research Focus: Wait times and surgical outcomes in young women with breast cancer.
Vivien K-Y Chan
Email: vivienka@ualberta.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
Toronto Western Hospital, UHN
Supervisor: Dr. Michael Fehlings
Research Focus: Health economics and degenerative lumbar pathologies
Douglas Cheung
Email: douglas.cheung@one-mail.on.ca
Division: Urology
Princess Margaret Cancer Care – University Health Network
Supervisors: Drs. Antonio Finelli & Murray Krahn
Research Focus: Decreasing the burden of prostate cancer management through novel methods of early detection
Woo Jin Choi
Email: mcho890@gmail.com
Division: General Surgery
Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisors: Drs. Bettina Hansen, Gonzalo Sapisochin and Steven Gallinger
Research Focus: The rising incidence of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and their surgical outcomes
William Chu Kwan
Email: william.chukwan@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Orthopaedic Surgery
The Hospital for Sick Kids
Supervisor: Dr. James Drake
Research Focus: Magnetic resonance-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (MR-HIFU) and its various clinical and surgical applications
Karen Chung
Email: ky.chung@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
The Hospital for Sick Children
Supervisors: Drs. Christopher Forrest and Beate Sander
Research Focus: Economic Evaluation of Cleft Lip and/or Palate in Ethiopia
David Cyr
Email: david.cyr@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: General Surgery
Mount Sinai Hospital
Supervisor: Dr. Carol Swallow
Research Focus: Molecular predictors of outcomes following resection of advanced pelvic GI malignancies
Benjamin A. Davidson
Email: benjaminandrewdavidson@gmail.com
Division: Neurosurgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Drs. Nir Lipsman and Clement Hamani
Research Focus: Novel indications for Deep Brain Stimulation
Julian Daza
Email: julian.dazavargas@medportal.ca
Division: General Surgery
Unity Health, SMH
Supervisor: Drs. Duminda Wijeysundera and Nancy Baxter
Research Focus: Frailty in older adults who undergo major non-cardiac surgery
Lauren Gordon
Email: lauren.gordon@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Vascular Surgery
Unity Health, SMH
Supervisors: Drs. Teodor Grantcharov and Mark Wheatcroft
Research Focus: Anticipating Surgical Risk: Predicting complex cases and intraoperative events using machine learning techniques
Alexander Gregor
Email: agregor@qmed.ca
Division: General Surgery
Latner Thoracic Surgery Research Lab - MaRS TMDT
Supervisor: Dr. Kazuhiro Yasufuku
Research Focus: Image-guided Surgery, specifically using nanoparticles to intraoperatively identify tumors, lymph nodes, etc. via various imaging modalities (near-infrared, cone-beam CT, etc)
Keegan Guidolin
Email: keegan.guidolin@gmail.com
Division: General Surgery
Princess Margaret Hospital, UHN
Supervisor: Drs. Gang Zheng and Fayez Quereshy
Research Focus: Nanomedicine development for applications in image-guided surgery for colorectal cancer
Matthew P. Guttman
Email: mattguttman@gmail.com
Division: General Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Drs. Barbara Haas & Avery Nathens
Research Focus: Long term outcomes and healthcare utilization after emergency general surgery in the elderly
Laureen Hachem
Email: laureen.hachem@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
Toronto Western Hospital, UHN
Supervisor: Drs. Michael G. Fehlings and Charles H. Tator
Research Interests: Glutamate signalling after spinal cord injury
Doulia Hamad
Email: doulia.hamad@one-mail.on.ca; doulia.hamad@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: General Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Drs. Barbara Haas and Avery Nathens
Research Focus: The identification of optimal performance improvement structures and processes to limit the potential for preventable, or modifiable harm
Graeme Hoit
Email: graeme.hoit@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Orthopaedics
Women's College Hospital
Supervisors: Drs. Jas Chahal and Aileen Davis
Research Focus: Improving treatment options and patient selection in those with young adult hip disorders
Jean Jacob-Brassard
Email: jean.jacob.brassard@outlook.com
Division: Vascular Surgery
Unity Health, SMH
Supervisor: Drs. Mohammed Al-Omran and Charles de Mestral
Research Focus: Contemporary management of peripheral arterial disease in the province of Ontario
Kyle Juraschka
Email: kylejuraschka@gmail.com; kyle.juraschka@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
The Hospital for Sick Children
Supervisor: Dr. Michael D. Taylor
Research Focus: Investigation of the genetic events in medulloblastoma that drive leptomeningeal metastasis and tumour cell growth and survival within the leptomeningeal niche using bioinformatics and functional genomic tools
Jerry Ku
Email: jerry.ku@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Victor Yang
Research Focus: Device development for the endovascular treatment of intracerebral aneurysms
Shelly Luu
Degree working towards: PhD (IMS)
Email: shelly.luu@utoronto.ca
Division: General Surgery
Mount Sinai Hospital
Supervisor: Dr. Carol Swallow
Research Focus: Identifying predictive molecular markers for peritoneal
recurrence after curative gastric cancer
Wanda Marini
Email: wanda.marini@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: General Surgery
Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisor: Drs. Michael Reedijk and Carol Swallow
Research Focus: The role of hedgehog signaling in basal-like breast cancer and the tumor microenvironment
Amine Mazine
Email: amazine@gmail.com
Division: Cardiovascular Surgery
TMDT
Supervisors: Drs. Gordon Keller and Michael Laflamme
Research Focus: Cellular therapy using iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes for the treatment of single ventricle malformations
David L. Mealiea
Email: d.mealiea@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: General Surgery
Mount Sinai Hospital
Supervisor: Dr. Andrea McCart
Research Focus: “A window into oncolytic virotherapy: Characterizing the innate immune processes driving viral infection, spread, and anti-tumor effect”. Research on the oncolytic vaccinia virus and its impact on tumor microenvironment. Will be using animal models (zebrafish/mouse) with fluorescent labelled vasculature and immune cells to investigate the effect that these viruses have on tumor inflammation and angiogenesis
Xin (Bill) Y. Mei
Email: xmei@qmed.ca
Division: Orthopaedics
Mount Sinai Hospital
Supervisor: Drs. Paul Kuzyk and Michael Glogauer
Research Focus: Targeted delivery of Fetuin using Titania nanotubes for prevention and treatment of heterotopic ossification
Ying Meng
Degree working towards: PhD (IMS)
Email: ying.meng@medportal.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
The Hospital for Sick Children
Supervisor: Drs. Nir Lipsman and Clement Hamani
Research Focus: Imaging neuronal dysfunction in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease
Ali Moghaddamjou
Email: ali.moghaddamjou@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
Toronto Western Hospital - University Health Network
Supervisor: Dr. Michael G. Fehlings
Research Focus: To study the epidemiology of spinal cord injury and identify influential factors present in improved clinical outcomes. Findings could be used to create quality improvement strategies that would standardize care and allow for improved delivery of time sensitive therapies.
Hala Muaddi
Email: hala.muaddi@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: General Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Paul Karanicolas
Research Focus: Evaluation of robotic surgery in Ontario
Farshad Nassiri
Email: farshad.nassiri@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
TMDT, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisor: Dr. Gelareh Zadeh
Research Focus: Establishing the oncogenomic landscape of aggressive meningiomas
Rashmi Nedadur
Email: medadur@gmail.com
Division: Cardiovascular Surgery
PMCCRT, TMDT
Supervisor: Dr. Bo Wang
Research Focus: Using artificial intelligence for the automated measurement and interpretation of cardiac structure and function parameters from echocardiograms for patients with aortic valvular disease to increase speed and accuracy in measurement
Christopher W. Noel
Email: christopher.noel@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Otolaryngology
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Natalie Coburn
Research Focus: Symptom Burden as a Predictor of Emergency Room Visits and Unplanned Hospitalizations in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer
Christopher R. Pasarikovski
Email: chris.pasarikovski@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Victor Yang
Research Focus: The use of novel endovascular micro catheters for the treatment of cerebrovascular diseases
Whitney L. Quong
Email: whitney.quong@mail.utoronto.ca
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
Email: sneha.raju@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Vascular Surgery
Toronto General Hospital, UHN
Supervisor: 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
Khaled T. Ramadan
Email: Khaled.ramadan@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: General Surgery
TMDT, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisor: Dr. Marcelo Cypel
Research Focus: Photodynamic therapy during In Vivo Lung Perfusion for treatment of lung metastases
Moaath Saggaf
Email: moaath.saggaf@gmail.com
Division: Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network
Supervisors: Drs. Larry Robinson and Dimitri Anastakis
Research Focus: Assessing cold sensitivity in Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). We aim to identify clinical and neurophysiological factors that predict cold sensitivity in CTS and to assess the impact of carpal tunnel release surgery on cold sensitivity
Colin Sue-Shue-Lam
Email: Colinjscl@gmail.com
Division: General Surgery
Unity Health, SMH
Supervisor: Dr. Nancy Baxter
Research Focus: Addressing deep sedation for routine in-hospital colonoscopy in Ontario
Michael S. Taccone
Email: michael.taccone@sickkids.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
PGCRL - The Hospital for Sick Children
Supervisor: Drs. James T. Rutka and Howard Lesiuk, UO
Research Focus: Reprogramming glioblastoma metabolism as a novel therapeutic strategy
Mathew Voisin
Email: mvoisin@qmed.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
Toronto Western Hospital, UHN
Supervisor: Dr. Gelareh Zadeh
Research Focus: Proteogenomics of matched primary to recurrent GBMs to facilitate molecular classification and identify novel therapeutic targets
Justin Z. Wang
Email: justinz.wang@mail.utoronto.ca
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
Nebras Warsi
Email: nebras.warsi@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
The Hospital for Sick Children
Supervisor: Dr. George Ibrahim
Research Focus: Adaptive intracranial neurostimulation to rescue attention deficits in children with epilepsy
Phillip J. Williams
Email: phillipjames.williams@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: General Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Drs. Barbara Haas and Andrew Beckett
Research Focus: Functional outcomes of geriatric patients following traumatic injury
Michael Sifeng Xu
Email: michaelmx.xu@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: General Surgery, TMDT-UHN
Supervisor: Drs. Tom Waddell and Siba Haykal
Research Focus: Revascularization of Composite Tracheal Allografts with Novel Tissue Engineering Techniques
Han Yan
Email: hhan.yan@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: Neurosurgery, SickKids, PGCRL
Supervisor: Drs. George Ibrahim and Abhaya Kulkarni
Research Focus: Clinical trials in functional pediatric neurosurgery
Nirmeen Zagzoog
Email: nirmeenzagzoog@hotmail.com
Division: Neurosurgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Victor Yang
Research Focus: Intraoperative imaging and surgical navigation in skull base. Engineering of a high-speed drill with frameless stereotactic navigation, and integration of the drill to the current state-of-the-art navigation system. Further integration will be conducted with systems which allow for mapping of the brain function and vasculature to add an element of safety to drill operations in skull base.
Jeffrey Zuccato
Email: Jeffrey.zuccato@one-mail.on.ca
Division: Neurosurgery
Princes Margaret Cancer Care Research Institute, University Health Network
Supervisor: Dr. Gelareh Zadeh
Research Focus: Elucidating the biomolecular profiles of intracranial neoplasms and correlating clinical outcomes to identify novel therapeutic targets.
Jesse Zuckerman
Email: jesse.zuckerman@mail.utoronto.ca
Division: General Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Natalie Coburn
Research Focus: Blood transfusions in GI surgery patients