2025

Meet the former students of the Summer Medical Student Respiratory Research Fellowship (SMURRF) and learn about their projects.

Elizabeth Avera
Medical School: Marian University Wood College of Osteopathic Medicine
Mentors: Mfon Udoko, MD & Michael Seid, PhD
Project Title: "The Impact of Coordinated Care Programs in Pediatric Asthma Patients with High Health-Related Social Needs."

Akhila Boda
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Courtney Sump, MD
Project Title: “Asthma at a Distance: Does Where You Live Impact RPM Engagement?”

Margaret Byars
Medical School: Northeast Ohio Medical University
Mentors: Thomas Dye, MD & John Hogenesch, PhD
Project Title: "Actigraphy analysis in a patient with non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder and in vitro variant studies."

Sandy Chan
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Gurjit Hershey, MD, PhD
Project Title: “Exploring the Concordance between FEV1 Reversibility and Asthma in Children with Atopic Dermatitis (AD)”

Clare Forbes
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Don Hayes, MD
Project Title: "Survival Outcomes by ECMO Exposure Pattern in Pediatric Lung Transplant”

Demetrios Georgiades
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Jason Woods, PhD
Project Title: “A Novel CT Scoring System for Quantification of Disease Severity in Cystic Fibrosis”

Mary Kozlowski
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Mfon Udoko, MD
Project Title: “A Descriptive Study of System Barriers Identified for High-Risk Pediatric Asthma Patients.”

Collier Maruska
Medical School: Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences
Mentor: Nathan Pajor, MD
Project Title: “Impact of Home Nursing on LTMV”

Calvin Ramirez
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Gurjit Hershey, MD, PhD
Project Title: "Determination of S. aureus Endotypes in Atopic Dermatitis and Implications of Skin Characteristics for Asthma Comorbidity"

Sahaana Shanker
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Kristin Hudock, MD
Project Title: "Mechanisms of NET-driven inflammation in the Cystic Fibrosis Lung"

Lisa Victor
Medical School: Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine
Mentor: William Zacharias, MD, PhD
Project Title: “Defining markers in murine AT2 stressed/transitional cell states”

Ruby Wilson
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Anne-Karina Perl, MS, PhD
Project Title: "The role of Meox2 in pulmonary fibroblast differentiation in hyperoxia injury"

2024

Devon Baird
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Kristin Hudock, MD
Project Title: "NET Driven Human Bronchial Epithelial Inflammation"

Laura Bender
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Paul Kingma, MD, PhD
Project Title: "Predictive factors for NAVA ventilation as a life-saving measure in infants with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD)"

Grace Bieghler
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Don Hayes, MD
Project Title: "Differential expression of fibroblasts in acute cellular rejection in pediatric lung transplants"

Samuel Carter
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Nathan Pajor, MD
Project Title: "Charted vital signs compared to every-1-minute data in children with chronic ventilator dependence"

Randall Combs
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Gurjit Hershey, MD, PhD
Project Title: "Molecular Characterization of Nocturnal Asthma Exacerbations"

Alexa DeRegnaucourt
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Gurjit Hershey, MD, PhD
Project Title: "The role of skin dysbiosis in the progression of pediatric atopic dermatitis to asthma"

William Durbin
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: William Hardie, MD
Project Title: "Unexplained Dyspnea on Exertion: CPET AS A Diagnostic Tool"

Thanvi Gullapalli
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Raouf Amin, MD
Project Title: "Effect of Adenotonsillectomy on Circadian BP Dysregulation in Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients"

Deja Miller
Medical School: University of Kentucky College of Medicine – Northern Kentucky Campus
Mentor: Paul Kingma, MD, PhD
Project Title: "Hypothermia models for reducing tissue injury"

Megha Mohanakrishnan
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Jason Woods, MD, PhD
Project Title: "The Use of MRI to Evaluate Tracheomalacia Changes in Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia."

Angelica Nowack
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Theresa Guilbert, MD
Project Title: "Impact of Social Determinants of Health on Medication Adherence and Outcomes in Moderate to Severe Asthma in Adolescents"

Lillian Swanz
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Nehal Parikh, DO, MS
Project Title: "Brain Diffusion MRI Biomarkers for Predicting Neurodevelopmental Disorders in High-Risk Preterm Infants"

2023

Jackson Alexander
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: David Smith, MD, PhD
Project Title: "Quantitative Profiling of Fecal Microbes in Mice"

Cassandra Almasri
Medical School: University of Kentucky Medical School
Mentor: Amanda Schondelmeyer, MD
Project Title: “Insurance-based differences in discharge practices of acute respiratory infections for children with neurologic impairment”

Elliot Brown
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: William Hardie, MD
Project Title: “Comparison of exercise protocols for diagnosing dyspnea on exertion”

Shivatej Dubbaka
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Jason Woods, PhD
Project Title: "Using Hyperpolarized Xe MRI to Compare Lung Defects in Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Patients of Varying Ages"

Aneesha Gala
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Paul Kingma, MD, PhD
Project Title: "Investigating the impact of anhydroamnios due to renal anomalies on fetal lung development using DW-MRI"

Heather Gamble
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Joanna Thomson, MD
Project Title: "Hospitalization Outcomes Associated with Evidence-Based Recommendations for the Management of Pneumonia in Children with High-Intensity Neurologic Impairment"

Cassidy Kershner
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Adam Powell, MD
Project Title: "Effects of Cardiac Rehabilitation on Pulmonary Function in Patients with Cardiac Disease"

Harsimran Makkad
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Cole Brokamp, PhD
Project Title: "Assessing individual- and community-level proxies of SES to improve racial fairness of pediatric asthma prediction algorithms"

Svitlana Shyrobokova
Medical School: Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
Mentor: Hitesh Deshmukh, MD, and Shelby Steinmeyer, MD, PhD
Project Title: "Using SCENIC to identify gene regulatory network involved in fetal bone marrow inflammation"

Anoosha Sri
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Nehal Parikh, DO, MS
Project Title: "Associations between Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia and Neural Structural Connectivity Abnormalities in Very Preterm Infants"

Kara Zehr
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Mentor: Jeffrey Whitsett, MD
Project Title: "Immunofluorescence Imaging of TBX4 Related Acinar/Alveolar Dysplasia"