Current Fellows
Egide Abahuje
MD
Senior Research Fellow
2020-2023
Interests: Non-technical skills for surgeons
Dr. Abahuje’s research focuses on Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons (NOTSS), Patient Safety and Global Surgery. As a research fellow at Northwestern University he will focus on exploring factors affecting wellness of healthcare providers, context and needs assessment for NOTSS program, and exploring effective strategies for training surgical care teams Low and Middle-Income-Countries. Dr Abahuje completed his General Surgery training at the University of Rwanda in 2016. He thereafter completed a research fellowship in Simulation Medical Education at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and master's degree in Health Professions Education at MGH Institute of Health Professions.
Brooke Golisch
MD
Research Fellow
2022-2024
Interests: Surgical oncology, Surgical education
Mentor: Dr. Stey
Dr. Golisch's research interests include surgical quality improvement with an emphasis on looking at trends and outcomes in hepatobiliary and oncologic surgery. A second focus will be surgical education projects as Dr. Golisch aspires to be a general surgery program director. Dr. Golisch moved from Buffalo Grove, IL to Phoenix, Arizona at age 13. She then completed both undergrad and medical school at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Coming to do general surgery residency at Northwestern was a nice homecoming. She is currently pursuing a two-year research fellowship with SOQIC. During her fellowship, Dr. Golisch is obtaining a master’s degree in Health Services and Outcomes Research from Northwestern University's Institute for Public Health and Medicine.
Ryan Jacobs
MD
Research Fellow
2024-2026
Interests: Thoracic oncology outcomes and quality improvement
Mentor: David Odell
Dr. Jacobs' research focuses on assessment of outcomes and variation of quality standards in thoracic surgery. He completed his bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis and his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. He is taking dedicated time away from his general surgery residency at Northwestern University as an R38 postdoctoral fellow at the Northwestern Quality Improvement, Research, and Education in Surgery (NQUIRES) program. He is pursuing a Master of Science in Health Services and Outcomes Research from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine's Institute for Public Health and Medicine.
Lauren Janczewski
MD
Research Fellow
2022-2024
Interests: Surgical oncology outcomes and quality improvement
Mentors: Ryan Merkow
Dr. Janczewski's research focus is primarily in surgical oncology quality improvement and healthcare outcomes, particularly in gastrointestinal malignancies as it relates to hospital variations in outcomes and adherence to cancer guidelines. She is also interested in palliative care as well as bioethics informed health services to understand the drivers of variability in delivery of end-of-life care for terminally ill patients. Dr. Janczewski grew up in Upstate New York and then went on to obtain her bachelor's degree in biology from the Saint Joseph's University and medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. She is currently taking time away from her general surgery residency at Northwestern University to work as a T32-postdoctoral fellow at SOQIC while also pursuing a master's in Health Services and Outcomes Research from Northwestern University's Institute for Public Health and Medicine. Additionally, she will serve as a Commission on Cancer Scholar with the American College of Surgeons.
Shelbie Kirkendoll
DO, MS
Firearm Injury Prevention Scholar
2022-2024
Mentors: Anne Stey, Brendan Campbell, Avery Nathans
Interests: Firearm injury prevention, health disparities, health policy and advocacy
Dr. Kirkendoll will be spending two years with the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma to conduct research related to firearm injury prevention. During her dedicated research time, she will obtain a Master’s in Health Services and Outcomes Research through Northwestern University. She grew up in a rural town outside of Kansas City, Missouri and attended Missouri Western State University where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Biology. She then went on to receive both a Master of Biomedical Science and Doctorate in Osteopathic Medicine from Kansas City University. She completed her surgical internship at Baystate Medical Center and is currently taking two years off from her surgical residency at the Valley Health System in Las Vegas, NV to pursue her research fellowship.
Alison Lehane
MD
Research Fellow
2024-2026
Mentors: Dr. Mehul Raval, Dr. Jennifer Dunn
Interests: Pediatric surgical outcomes and quality improvement, OR sustainability
Dr. Lehane's research interests include surgical quality improvement with an emphasis on looking at trends and outcomes in OR sustainability and pediatric surgery. She was born and raised in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., before making her way down south to Clemson University for undergraduate studies in Bioengineering. After completely her time at Clemson, she went on to the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville for medical school. She then completed my first 3 years of surgery residency at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina prior to starting the research fellowship here in Chicago. During her fellowship, Dr. Lehane is obtaining a master’s degree in Health Services and Outcomes Research from Northwestern University's Institute for Public Health and Medicine.
Joy Obayemi
MD
Research Fellow
2024-2026
Mentors: Dr. Daniela Ladner, Dr. Dinee Simpson
Interests: Equity in transplant surgery access and outcomes, global surgery
Dr. Obayemi is a general surgery resident at the University of Michigan and is a T32 fellow in the Transplant Surgery Scientist Training Program (TSSTP) at Northwestern University, focusing on outcomes and equity research. Prior to arriving at Northwestern, she obtained a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Stanford University, was a US Fulbright scholar in France studying social sciences, and earned a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. She developed an interest in abdominal transplant surgery over the course of her training. Her TSSTP research is focused on transplant equity and disparities in transplant outcomes for both kidney and liver transplant recipients. She will be working closely with the African American Transplant Access Program to study the impact that it has on patients, the community, the transplant listing process, and the transplant experience overall. She will be building on her foundations in qualitative sociology research by earning a Master's degree in Health Services and Outcomes Research and diversifying her skillset through collaborations in the NUTORC network.
Xane Peters
MD
Research Fellow; ACS Clinical Scholar
2022-2024
Interests: GI Oncology, Geriatric and Palliative Surgery, Health Policy, Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement
Mentors: Clifford Ko, Ronnie Rosenthal, Marcia Russell
Dr. Peters is an American College of Surgeons Clinical Scholar in Residence, with his research centering on evidence based quality, outcomes review, and standards of perioperative care in Geriatric Surgical patients. Dr. Peters Received his Bachelor's degree in Biology from Illinois Wesleyan University and his Medical Degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago. He has dedicated this time away from his General Surgery residency at Loyola University Medical Center to complete his research fellowship at the American College of Surgeons and a Master's Degree in Health Services and Outcomes Research at Northwestern University Institute for Public Health and Medicine.
Ray Ramirez, Jr
MD, MS
Research Fellow
2024-2026
Interests: Colorectal surgery, surgical education, healthcare disparities and inequities
Mentors: Dr. Yue-Yung Hu, Dr. Amy Halverson
Dr. Ramirez’s research focuses on surgical outcomes and quality improvement with interests in colorectal surgery, health disparities and surgical education. Dr. Ramirez holds his bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Virginia and his medical degree and master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from Eastern Virginia Medical School. He is currently taking dedicated time from his general surgery residency program at Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson to focus on his research interests as a NQUIRES fellow while obtaining another master’s degree in Health Services and Outcomes Research at the Northwestern University.
Maggie Reilly
MD
Research Fellow
2024-2026
Interests: Vascular Surgery, specifically peripheral artery disease
Mentors: Karen Ho, MD, Julie Johnson, MSPH, PhD, Mark Eskandari, MD
Dr. Reilly's research is focused on evaluation of patient knowledge and education about peripheral artery disease. Specifically, she is working with Dr. Karen Ho in the STEPUP trial, investigating the use of novel patient education techniques to improve patient knowledge, activation, and outcomes. She is also working on the Vascular Surgery arm of the SECOND Trial, evaluating resident well-being and burnout. She grew up in Toledo, Ohio and obtained her undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University prior to attending medical school at the University of Toledo. She is obtaining a Master's degree in Health Services and Outcomes Research from Northwestern University's Graduate School and is a T32 postdoctoral fellow in the Vascular Surgery Scientist Training Program.
Charesa Smith
MD
Research Fellow
2022-2024
Interests: Pediatric surgical outcomes and quality improvement, Healthcare disparities and inequities
Mentor: Mehul Raval
Dr. Smith’s research interests lie in pediatric surgical outcomes and quality improvement with a particular interest in healthcare disparities and inequities and finding community-based solutions to bridge those differences. Dr. Smith received her Bachelor of Arts in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard College. She took a two-year research sabbatical between college and medical school working as a research trainee in basic and translational science in organ scaffold research at the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM). Dr. Smith received her medical degree from the Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons. She is currently taking time away from her clinical training in General Surgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago program as a T37 post-doctoral fellow in the Northwestern University Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Training Program (NU-MHRT) and as a research scholar for the SOQIC group and Lurie Division of Pediatric Surgery. During this time, she will also be obtaining a Masters in Health Services and Outcomes Research from Northwestern University.
Joanna "Asia" Swinarska
MD
Research Fellow
2022-2024
Interests: Surgical oncology outcomes and quality improvement, surgical education
Mentor: Ryan Merkow, Yue-Yung Hu
Dr. Swinarska is an NRSA Research Fellow in Surgical Oncology. Her research focuses on surgical quality improvement and outcomes, healthcare access and disparities, and surgical education. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Biology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and obtained her medical degree from the Wake Forest School of Medicine. She is taking 2 years away from her clinical training in general surgery at the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center to work as a research scholar at SOQIC. During this time she will also obtain a Master of Science in Health Services and Outcomes Research from Northwestern University.
Catherine Valukas
MD
Research Fellow
2022-2024
Interests: GI Oncology, Health disparities/access to care, health policy, surgical outcomes and quality improvement
Mentor: David Odell, Ryan Merkow
Dr. Valukas’ research focus is on health disparities, surgical oncology, and health policy. She is specifically interested in how socioeconomic factors impact multiple aspects of cancer care including timing of diagnosis, adherence to cancer screening guidelines, workup, surgical care and post surgical cancer treatment. Dr. Valukas was born and raised in Evanston, Illinois. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in political science from University of Iowa and her medical degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is taking time away from her general surgery residency at Northwestern University to work as a T32 postdoctoral fellow and SOQIC and obtain a masters in Health Services and Outcomes Research from Northwestern University’s Institute for Public Health and Medicine.
Dominic Vitello
MD
Research Fellow
2024-2026
Interests: Surgical oncology, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, surgical outcomes, quality improvement
Mentors: Dr. David Bentrem, and Dr. Daniela Ladner
Dr. Vitello is a research fellow funded through the NIH SMART R38. His research focuses in multiple areas of health services and outcomes, particularly as they pertain to surgical oncology. He has additional interests in care disparities and medical education. Dr. Vitello was raised in Naperville, Illinois and obtained a bachelor's degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Purdue University. He subsequently earned a medical degree at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He has completed 3 years of clinical general surgery training at Northwestern. During his research time, he will also obtain a masters in health services and outcomes research.
Samantha Warwar
MD
Research Fellow
2022-2024
Interests: Surgical education, surgical oncology outcomes and quality improvement
Mentors: Yue-yung Hu
Dr. Warwar’s research focuses on surgical outcomes and quality improvement with particular interest in surgical oncology, health disparities, and resident education in surgical training. Dr. Warwar holds both her bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and her medical degree from the Ohio State University. She is currently taking dedicated time from general surgery residency at Northwestern to focus on her research interests as a SOQIC Fellow while obtaining a master’s degree in Health Services and Outcomes Research at the Northwestern University Institute for Public Health and Medicine.