CTC Summer Student Immersion Program

The Comprehensive Transplant Center (CTC) offers an unpaid summer immersion program to students (undergraduates, M1s and M2s) who are interested in transplant research. During this experience students will:

Develop and complete a research project with their mentor
Gain basic understanding of transplantation through lectures, meetings and research
Learn to use PubMed and Endnote
Present summer research project at the Poster Session

This is an eight-week program and every student is given a succinct project and assigned a mentor for the summer. The first week, all students will learn to navigate PubMed searches, EndNote and will receive a basic overview of abdominal organ transplantation. Then students will start focusing on the topic of their research project through reading and face-to-face teaching with their mentor.

Students and mentors create project schedules and will check in at least once a week. There will be three to four lectures weekly from transplant clinicians on topics relevant to transplantation. Students may have the opportunity to observe a surgery, pending hospital policy at the time of the program.

How to Apply

Program Dates will be June 17 - August 15, 2025. In person attendance for lectures and at the Poster Session on August 15 is a requirement of the program.

Applications will be accepted November - February. The application is now open for the summer 2025 program and can be found here. Applications will be reviewed and a select group will be asked to have a 20 minute phone interview with the program coordinator. The selection process and mentor pairing will occur in March. Students will be asked to confirm participation if selected and begin the onboarding process shortly after. Medical records and background checks are required for onboarding.

This program requires in-person participation at our offices on the Chicago campus. Students should be prepared to come to our office 20 hours per week for lectures and mentor meetings. This is an unpaid internship and does not offer travel reimbursement or housing. Please direct any questions to Ana Virgen-Garcia at ctc@northwestern.edu.

We encourage college and medical school students from different institutions to apply.

Previous Students

2024 Summer Students

2024-CTCSSIP

Student	Education	Mentor(s)	Research Title
Anna Fonda	Undergrad	M. Javeed Ansari, MD	TruGraf ® Long-Term Clinical Outcomes Study (TRULO)
Maimoona Mahek	Medical Student	Zheng Jenny Zhang, MD, MSc	Modeling Ischemic/Reperfusion Injury-mediated cell stress response in Human and Mouse Endothelial Cells in vitro
Jack Byrne	Medical Student	Zachary Dietch, MD, MBA	Patient Reported Improvements in Quality of Life After Liver Transplant: Preliminary Results
Simren Mahajan	Medical Student	Sook Hyeon Park, MD	Validating Urinary CXCL9 and CXCL10 As Markers of Transplant Rejection
Jill Patel	Medical Student	Amanda Cheung, MD	Exploring the Degradome of Patients with Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease to Identify a Novel Biomarker for Earlier Detection of Progression Risk to Clinically Significant Fibrosis
Mark Delos Reyes	Medical Student	Richard Green, MD	Effects of Cholic Acid Feeding on P-IRE1⍺ in LS-XBP1(-/-) and XBP1(f/f) Mice
Justin Xu	Undergrad	Vinayak Rohan, MD	ERAS Implementation in Renal Transplantation: A Scoping Review
Lily Notes	Undergrad	John Friedewald, MD	Torque Teno Virus (TTV) kinetics in Liver and Kidney Transplant Patients
Christina Ukkan	Undergrad	James Mathew, PhD	Immunosuppressive activity of ex-vivo mice regulatory T cells expanded with IL-2 & TGF-β
Elle Spear	Undergrad	John Friedewald, MD	Long-Term Patient and Graft Survival Following Renal Transplantation: A Comparative Study of 2, 5 and 10-Year Outcomes in a Cohort Monitored for Subacute Transplant Rejection
Ronan Barron	Undergrad	John Friedewald, MD	Evaluating diagnostic rejection biomarkers and their prediction of long-term patient and kidney graft survival
Jonah Xu	Undergrad	Zachary Dietch, MD, MBA	The Use of Patient Reported Outcome Measures to Predict Postoperative Complications: a Scoping Review
Sofia Caicedo	High School	James Mathew, MD	Immunosuppressive activity of mice Tregs cultured with IL-2 and IL-33
Rasil Hassan	High School	Amna Daud, MD	Importance of Regulatory Compliance in Clinical Trials
Hashim Hassan	High School	Amna Daud, MD	Importance of Regulatory Compliance in Clinical Trials

2023 Summer Students


Student	Education	Mentor(s)	Research Title
Nadia Ahmed	Medical Student	John Friedewald, MD & Amishi Desai, MD	Association of under immunosuppression as defined by Torque Teno Virus viral load and clinical outcomes in kidney transplant recipients
Ismail Ansari	High School	Vinayak Rohan, MD	Long-Term outcomes of Kidney Transplantation in Recipients With Pre-Transplant Diabetes Compared to Post Transplant Diabetes
Osamah Baig	Medical Student	Vinayak Rohan, MD	Outcomes and management strategies for kidney transplant recipients with pre-existing diabetes versus those who develop post-transplantation diabetes
Maaz Haji	Medical Student	Amanda Cheung, MD	Identifying Predictors of Outcomes in Early Liver Transplantation for Alcohol Associated Hepatitis
Maxine Hurst	High School	Satish Nadig, MD PhD	The Role of Connexin 43 in Maintaining Endothelial Barrier Integrity during Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in Organ Transplantation
Tara Janas	Undergrad	Zachary Dietch, MD	Techniques to Assess Warm Ischemia Time in Kidney Donation after Circulatory Death: A Scoping Review
Anjaly Kappen	Undergrad	James Matthew, PhD & Shareni Jeyamogan, PhD	Immunosuppressive activity of ex-vivo expanded autologous mice T regulatory cells
Claudia Lasalle	Medical Student	Zachary Dietch, MD	Long Term Cognitive Impairment in Kidney Transplant Recipients: A Scoping Review
Sia Salwan	Undergrad	Sook Park, MD	Impact of IFTA at 1 Year Post Kidney Transplant Biopsy in Long-Term Decline of eGFR
Christina Sebastian	Undergrad	James Matthew, PhD & Shareni Jeyamogan, PhD	Immunosuppressive activity of ex-vivo expanded autologous mice T regulatory cells
Surmai Shukla	Medical Student	Zheng Jenny Zhang, MD	Depletion of XBP1 in Macrophages Mitigates Ischemic Reperfusion Injury through Enhancing Renal Tubular Epithelium Regeneration
Salah Siddiqui	Medical Student	M. Javeed Ansari, MD	Biomarkers in Kidney Transplantation
Luca Speroni	Undergrad	John Friedewald, MD	Torque Teno Virus kinetics as a measure of net immunosuppression in kidney transplant recipients
Ashley Strouse	Undergrad	Satish Nadig, MD PhD	The Impact of Hypoxic Cold Storage and Reperfusion Injury on Endothelial Cell Autophagy in Organ Transplantation

2022 Summer Students


Student	Education	Mentor(s)	Research Title
Faraz Attar	Medical Student	Javeed Ansari, MD	TruGraf®Long-term Clinical Outcomes Study (TRULO): Interim Analysis of NM subjects
Kate Fahey	Medical Student	Daniel Borja, MD	Comparative Financial Analysis of Living vs. Deceased Donor Liver Transplantation
Akshay Garapati	High School	Daniela Ladner, MD	Empowering Patients with Cirrhosis: Creating Materials to Close the Educational Gap
Spurthi Gubbala	Medical Student	Xiaomin Zhang, MD	Restoring Pancreatic Endocrine Function via Biomaterial-Enabled Islet Autotransplantation
Michelle Guo	Medical Student	Zach Dietch, MD	Clinical Outcomes of Kidney Transplantation in Elderly Patients
Jose Ibarra Rodriguez	Medical Student	Juan Carlos Caicedo, MD	Strategies to Reduce Liver Transplant Disparities in the Hispanic Community through Cultural Competency and Health Equity
Ivy Lane	Undergrad	Jenny Zhang, MD	Impact of ER Stress Pathways in Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury Following Kidney Transplant
Haydee Mata	Undergrad	Caroline Lemoine, MD	Altruistic Living Liver & Kidney Transplant: Donor Risks & Outcomes
Grace McDonnell	Undergrad	Daniela Ladner, MD	Laboratory Website Project
Monitha Patel	Medical Student	Sook Park, MD	Does the presence Anti-HLA Donor Specific Antibodies (DSA) associate with 2019 Banff Lesion Scores i and t in Kidney Transplant Patients?
Umar Rehman	Medical Student	Elisa Gordon, PhD, MPH	Informed Consent for Vascular Composite Allograft Transplantation in the United States: A Content Analysis of Consent Forms
Brooklyn Shelton	Undergrad	Joseph Leventhal, MD	An Analysis of Living Donor Kidney Candidates at Northwestern Medicine: Comparison of Potential and Actual Donors

2021 Summer Students

Students on Zoom together


Student	Education	Mentor(s)	Research Title
Abdulaziz Ahmed	Medical Student	Sook Park, MD & John Friedewald, MD	Novel Subject-Level Cluster Analysis of CTOT-08 Kidney Transplant Trial
Aisha A. Ahmed	Medical Student	Caroline Lemoine, MD	Anticoagulation after pediatric renal transplantation: A single-center experience at Lurie Children’s Hospital
Sareen Ali	Medical Student	Valentina Stosor, MD	Incidence and Outcome Features of BK Nephropathy in Kidney Transplant Recipients Living with HIV
Lauren Allegretti	Undergrad	Sook Park, MD & John Friedewald, MD	Novel Subject-Level Cluster Analysis of CTOT-08 Kidney Transplant Trial
Charlie Chmelik	Undergrad	Daniela Ladner, MD	Hepatic Encephalopathy Patient Perspective Video
George Duncan	Medical Student	Dinee Simpson, MD & Devin Piepert, MD	Racial Disparities in Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) Post Kidney Transplant
Bilen Ghirmai	Undergrad	Andrew Benintende, MD	Lipid processing in HepG2 cells grown on different extracellular matrix stiffnesses
Ansh Goyal	Medical Student	Valentina Stosor, MD	1-year infection outcomes after heart transplantation in patients bridged with ventricular assist devices
Alvin Thomas	Undergrad	James Mathew, PhD	Immune tolerance and post-transplant complications following kidney transplantation
Melinda Xu	Undergrad	Daniela Ladner, MD MPH & Charles Manski, PhD	Racial Disparities in Annual Hospitalization due to Liver Cirrhosis

2020 Summer Students

This year we hosted a virtual lecture series for 20 students which included over 25 talks.

2019 Summer Students

Group of students from 2019


Student	Education	Mentor(s)	Project Title
Rhea Sharma	High School	Borja/Katariya	The Recent Decline of Pancreas Transplantation: Causes and Conclusions
Ella Nettnin	Undergraduate	Gordon	ENGAGE: Expanding Live Donor Kidney Transplantation through Advocacy and Social Media: A Focus on Patient Comfort Level in Initiating Conversations About Living Donation
Ali Zarandazchi	Med Student	Gordon	ENGAGE: Expanding Live Donor Kidney Transplantation through Advocacy and Social Media: A Focus on Assessing the Pressure on Potential Living Donors to Donate
Diane Casini	Med Student	Caicedo/Daud	Postoperative vascular complications and primary non-function in DCD liver transplantations
AlejandraVelazquez	Undergraduate	Caicedo/Daud	Postoperative vascular complications and primary non-function in DCD liver transplantations
Anil Mishra	Med Student	Park	Machine Learning Pilot Study: Turning Unstructured Kidney Biopsy Data into Structured Data via Natural Language Processing
Sydney Rabin	Med Student	Ladner	Creating Reading-Level Appropriate, Multimedia Tools to Educate Patients on Hepatic Encephalopathy
Je-Woo Im	High School	Ladner	Creating Reading-Level Appropriate, Multimedia Tools to Educate Patients on Hepatic Encephalopathy
Riziki Covington	Undergraduate	Simpson	The African American Transplant Access Program: Making Transplants Attainable for Marginalized Groups
Matthew Au	Med Student	Ison	Respiratory Viral Infections in Hospitalized Adults: Comparative Outcomes on Detected Viruses April 2009-April 2018
Rithva Ramesh	Undergraduate	Ison	Respiratory Viral Infections in Hospitalized Adults: Comparative Outcomes on Detected Viruses April 2009-April 2018
Olivia Finks	Undergraduate	Ison	Respiratory Viral Infections in Hospitalized Adults: Comparative Outcomes on Detected Viruses April 2009-April 2018
Angelin Mathew	High School	Wertheim	Validating and Characterizing the Specific Binding Capabilities of Phage Display Derived Peptides to Decellularized Kidney
Salmaan Zafer	Med Student	Caicedo/Daud	Ischemic Cholangiopathy, Biliary Complications, and Long-term Outcomes of Patients who received Livers from Donors who underwent Cardiac Death
Tommy Cerri	Med Student	Caicedo/Daud	Ischemic Cholangiopathy, Biliary Complications, and Long-term Outcomes of Patients who received Livers from Donors who underwent Cardiac Death
Mark Antkowiak	AOSC	Wertheim	Patient Specific Modeling of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease using 3D Printing
Mia Levitsky	High School	Ison	Retrospective Review of de novo Antibody Formation or Antibody-Mediated Rejection in Renal Transplant Recipients with BKVN Managed with Immunosuppression Reduction
Payal Shukla	Med Student	Ison	Retrospective Review of de novo Antibody Formation or Antibody-Mediated Rejection in Renal Transplant Recipients with BKVN Managed with Immunosuppression Reduction
Zach Shalginewicz	Med Student	Mazumder	Early Detection of Liver Cirrhosis Using EMR
Polineni	AOSC	Wertheim	Cell-signaling Molecules and Vasculogenesis in ex vivo Decellularized Kidney Scaffolds
Chris Yang	AOSC	Ladner	Personality and Prehabilitation in End-Stage Liver Disease
Osama Siddiqui	AOSC	Ladner	Personality and Prehabilitation in End-Stage Liver Disease
Steven Duc Tran	AOSC	Ladner
Allie Carroll	AOSC	Levitsky	Assessment of Desire to Attempt Immunosuppression Withdrawal in Autoimmune Hepatitis and Post-liver Transplant Patients

2018 Summer Students

Title

NAME	EDUCATION	MENTOR	TOPIC
Mohan Ravi	AOSC	Ladner	Living Donor Liver Transplantation: An Evaluation of Incidental Findings During Donor Workup
Eden Sharabi	AOSC	Levitsky	Assessment of Patient’s Desire to Attempt Immunosuppression Withdrawal in Autoimmune Hepatitis and Post-liver Transplant Patients
Christopher Collier	Medical Student	Ladner	Creating Reading-Level Appropriate Multimedia Educational Tools for Patients with Liver Cirrhosis
Anam Chhatriwala	Medical Student	Mazumder	Analyzing the Effect of Liver Transplantation on Myocardial Strain Using Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography in Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)
Sallyan Rusnak	Medical Student	Ison	Respiratory Viral Infections in Hospitalized Adults: Comparative Outcomes on Detected Viruses April 2009-April 2018
Michelle Lam	Medical Student	Mazumder	Analyzing the Effect of Liver Transplantation on Myocardial Strain Using Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography in Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)
Lauren Gabra	Medical Student	Simpson	Racial Disparities in Access to Liver Transplant Waiting List
Trisha Kaundinya	HPME	Ladner	Pre-Transplant Cirrhosis Exercise Dynamics and Patient-Perceived Preferences: A Systematic Review and Analysis
Megan Tcheng	Undergrad	Ison	Respiratory Viral Infections in Hospitalized Adults: Comparative Outcomes on Detected Viruses April 2009-April 2018
Erin Kim	Undergrad	Mazumder	Analyzing the Effect of Liver Transplantation on Myocardial Strain Using Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography in Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)
Gabriella Seo	Undergrad	Ison	Respiratory Viral Infections in Hospitalized Adults: Comparative Outcomes on Detected Viruses April 2009-April 2018
Mitch Afifi	Undergrad	McNutt	Frailty as a Predictor of Outcome
Ishaani Khatri	Undergrad	Ladner	Utilization and Analysis of Proactive Safety Debriefings to Assess Patient Safety in Living Donor Liver Transplantation
Madilyn Matsunaga	Undergrad	Ladner	Assessing Patient Safety in Living Donor Liver Transplants Using Proactive Safety Debriefings
Neha Sharma	Undergrad	Gordon	ENGAGE: Expanding Live Donor Kidney Transplantation through Advocacy and Social Media: A Focus on Recruitment
Christina Im	Undergrad	Wertheim	Gene Expression Patterns of Recellularized Kidney Scaffolds with Stem cell-derived Renal Organoid Cells
Aneesh Maganti	High School	Liu	Identification of Cell Types That Harbor Cytomegalovirus DNA in Acutely and Latently Infected Mice Spleen
Nader Mujtaba	High School	Daud	NUTORC: Assessing a Decade of Achievements
Dario Ciaciura	High School	VanWagner	Implementation Science to Improve Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Among Liver Transplant Recipients
Christine Hou	High School	Liu	Identification of Cell Types That Harbor Cytomegalovirus DNA in Acutely and Latently Infected Mice Spleen

2017 Summer Students

Title

NAME	EDUCATION	MENTOR	TOPIC
Bettina Chung	AOSC	Wertheim	Differentiation of Definitive Endoderm from H9 Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Ian Hollyer	AOSC	Ison	Assessment of Methenamine Hippurate for the Prevention of Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Adult Renal Transplant Recipients: A Single Center Study
Christopher Mowry	AOSC	Levitsky	Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis in the Liver Transplant Population
Stewart Pine	AOSC	VanWagner	The Relationship Between Body Composition Profiles and Outcomes in Liver Transplantation
Brett Nelson	Medical Student	Ison	Clinical Outcomes Related to Antimicrobial Therapy for Infections due to Multi-Drug Resistant Gram Negative Bacilli in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients
Kim Pardilla	Medical Student	Wallia/Kling-Colson/Karam	Development of an Assessment Tool of Diabetes Knowledge After Education with the ‘DIY-Diabetes Management’ System
Alexander Polyak	Medical Student	Shetty/Ganger	Evaluation of Renal Outcomes for Liver Transplant Patients on Renal Sparing Protocol
Lindsay Adamski	Undergrad	VanWagner	The Relationship Between Body Composition Profiles and Outcomes in Liver Transplantation
Hamza Ashfaq	Undergrad	Wolf	Determinant Factors of Routine Patient Portal Usage in Kidney and Liver Transplant Recipients
Tenzin Babu	Undergrad	Ison	Clinical Outcomes Related to Antimicrobial Therapy for Infections due to Multi-Drug Resistant Gram Negative Bacilli in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients
Karisma Chhabria	Undergrad	Bhorade	Clinical Implications of Lung Microbiota Dynamics in the Transplant Population
Samuel Chiang	Grinnell	Friedewald	Wellness and Health Outcomes of Live Kidney Donors (Whole Donor Study)
Siyuan Du	Grinnell	Liu	Characterization of the Course of MCMV Acute Infection and Latency Establishment in Mouse Spleen
Michelle Guo	Undergrad	Luo	Collagen Scaffolds for Islet Cell Transplantation in Treatment of Type I Diabetes
Christina Im	Undergrad	Wertheim	Improving Adhesion and Retention of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells in Decellularized Rat Kidney Extracellular Matrices
Akash Karmur	Undergrad	Fryer	Medical Student Duty Hours
Aidan M.	Undergrad	Levitsky	Transition from Pediatric to Adult Health Services Amongst Pediatric Liver Transplant Recipients
Ari Spellman	Undergrad	Ladner	Evaluation of Online Educational Resources for Cirrhosis Patients and Caregivers
Francesca Varias	Grinnell	Ison	Assessment of Methenamine Hippurate for the Prevention of Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Adult Renal Transplant Recipients: A Single Center Study
Kevin Chen	High School	Gordon	Linguistic Access to Care: Availability of Spanish Communication Systems in U.S. Hospitals
Mihir Kumar	High School	Gordon	Linguistic Access to Care: Availability of Spanish Communication Systems in U.S. Hospitals
Mateen Motavaf	High School	Wertheim	Validating Antibodies for Kidney Organoid Characterization

2016 Summer Students

2016_summer_students

NAME	EDUCATION	MENTOR	TOPIC
Avni Bavish	AOSC	Skaro/ Zhao	Age-related Hazard in Liver Transplantation
Daniella Ohnemus	AOSC	Alonso	A Pilot Study of the Feasibility and Variability of the PedsPCF Item Bank as a Screening Tool for Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy
Elliot Russell	AOSC	Ison	Parainfluenza Virus in Hospitalized Adults: A 7-Year Retrospective Study
Bilal Naved	MSTP	Wertheim	Developing Functional Metrics to Assess Therapeutic Interventions in a Rodent Model for Limb Transplantation
Ahmad Atallah	Medical Student	Atiemo	Characteristics of Donors Turned Down Following Complete Evaluation for Living Donor Liver Transplantation
Devan Higginbotham	Medical Student	Wallia	Donor Characteristics in Liver Transplant Patient Population in a Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating Glycemic Control Post Transplant
David Lyubashevsky	Medical Student	Shetty	Prospective Study of a Steroid Free, low dose Tacrolimus with Everolimus Regimen in Kidney Transplant
Stephanie Arias	Graduate Student	Ladner/Elrich-Jones	Effects of Rehabilitation for Liver Transplant Recipients
Parker Stride	Graduate Student	Fryer	Ischemic Cholangiopathy in DCD Recipients: Creating a Standard Definition and Grading System
Joseph Beggs	Undergrad	Wertheim	Cytochrome P450 Metabolic Activity as an Indicator of Cell Maturation
Jeffry Granados	Undergrad	Wertheim	Protein Characterization in Cellular Repopulation in Healthy and Fibrotic Kidney Extracellular Matrix Scaffolds
Emily Hayes	Undergrad	Liu	Quantification of Murine Cytomegalovirus DNA in Mouse Bone Marrow Cells during the Course of Acute Infection and the Establishment of Latency
Eman Hijab	Undergrad	Koller	Pharmacological Interventions to Prolong Primary Unassisted Patency
Sameeksha Malhotra	Undergrad	Mixon	A Billing Process Improvement for the Comprehensive Transplant Center
Rishabh Mazmudar	Undergrad	Ladner/Elrich-Jones	Investigating the Impact of Post-Operative Rehabilitation on Liver Transplant Outcomes
Sydney Tardrew	Undergrad	Ison	Parainfluenza Virus in Hospitalized Adults: A 7-Year Retrospective Study
Aditi Bawa	High School	Daud	Community, Caregiver, and Advocacy Group-Directed Strategies to Lead Comparative Effectiveness Research for Liver Cirrhosis
Anisa Ciaciura	High School	Luo	A Generation of Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) Growth- Transformed B Cell Lines
Arun Maganti	High School	VanWagner	Cardiovascular Risk Assessment of the Liver Transplant Candidate: An Evaluation of the Evidence and Proposed Management Strategies

2015 Summer Students

2015_summer_students

NAME	EDUCATION	MENTOR	TOPIC
Kevin Y Chang	AOSC	Ladner	The Use of Neuro-monitoring to Reduce Compression Neuropraxia in Living Liver Donors
Ruizhi Dong	AOSC	Levitsky	Factors Mediating the Rejection of Kidneys in Patients of Simultaneous Liver-Kidney Transplants
Helen Gomez	AOSC	Caicedo	Hispanic Preferences and Perceptions of the Kidney Transplant Education Received at Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Nicolas Krepostman	AOSC	Ladner	The Use of Neuro-monitoring to Reduce Compression Neuropraxia in Living Liver Donors
Andy Lee	AOSC	Ladner	A Multicenter Study of Factors that Increase Cognitive Load in Living Donor Liver Transplants
Erica Malagon-Blackwell	AOSC	Caicedo	Hispanic Preferences and Perceptions of the Kidney Transplant Education Received at Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Stephen Ngo	AOSC	Ison	The Impact of Pre-Transplant Infections on Post-Liver Transplant Outcomes
Benjamin Rodrigues	AOSC	Caicedo/Butt	Racial Differences in Post-Renal Transplantation Health-Related Quality of Life
Dustin Slagle	AOSC	Ison	Epidemiology and Outcomes of Fever during the First Month after Simultaneous Pancreas-Kidney Transplant
Pascal Accoh	Medical Student	Baker	Analysis of the Outcomes of Liver Transplants at Northwestern Based on Quality of Organs and Priority on Transplant List
Francis Eusebio	Medical Student	Maganti	The Interesting Presentations of Infective Endocarditis in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients
David R. Kasjanski	Medical Student	Friedewald	Comparison of Digital versus Light Microscopy in Renal Allograft Biopsies
Akta Patel	Medical Student	Bhorade	Comparison of the Incidence of Diabetes in Two Immunosuppressive Regimens in Lung Transplant Patients
Henry Schmidt	Medical Student	Ison	Epidemiology and Outcomes of Patients Admitted with Respiratory Syncytial Virus: A Six Year Retrospective Study
Pratyusha Yadavalli	Graduate Student	Bhorade	Renal Failure in Lung Transplant Patients
Alina Ahmad	Undergrad	Ladner	A2ALL-Patient Safety System Improvements in Living Donor Liver Transplantation
Wilson Faeh	Undergrad	Leventhal/Stare	T-Regulatory Adoptive Cell Transfer (TRACT)
Binu Kolenchery	Undergrad	Luo	Post-Transplant Immunotolerance Induced by Nanoparticles
Jacob B. Lissoos	Undergrad	Wertheim	Isolation of Hepatocytes from 3-D ECM Scaffolding
Victoria Liu	Undergrad	Hazen	Using Past MELD Scores as a Predictor for Future Changes
Alexandra Pfenning	Undergrad	Levitsky/Al-Saden	A Chronology of Hepatitis C Treatments
Alexander Siarris	Undergrad	Baker	Analysis of the Outcomes of Liver Transplants at Northwestern Based on Quality of Organs and Priority on Transplant List
Zayd Ahmed	High School	Daud	Causes and Clinical Consequences of Equipment Malfunction in Surgical Procedures
Kevin Chow	High School	Daud	Medical Records in Research, Paper or Electronic?
Anisa Ciaciura	High School	Salehitezangi	Social Media Strategies for Cirrhotic Patient Outreach
Becky Shepard	High School	Salehitezangi	Social Media and NUTORC

2014 Summer Students

2014_summer_students

NAME	EDUCATION	MENTOR	TOPIC
Ania Bilski	AOSC	Ison	Non-U.S. Born Transplant Candidates: Infectious Screening and Evaluation Hurdles
Chris Feng	AOSC	Ison	Vaccine Responses in Combined Hematopoietic Stem Cell-Solid Organ Transplant Recipients
Mia Helfrich	AOSC	Ison	A Retrospective Study to Describe the Epidemiology and Outcomes of Opportunistic Infections Post-Solid Organ Transplantation
Blake Platt	AOSC	Ladner/Woods	Living Donor Liver Transplant Surgery – Donor Adverse Events Codebook
Amanda Rosen	AOSC	Ison	Utility and Outcomes of Expanded Live Solid Organ Donor Screening
Jessica Lee Houk	Medical Student	Ison	Timing and Outcomes of Antiviral and Antibacterial Therapy in Patients Admitted with Influenza: A Five Year Retrospective Study
Vadim Lyuksemburg	Medical Student	Skaro	Project 1: Outcomes of Basilic Vein Transposition for Hemodialysis: A Meta-Analysis. Project 2: Evaluating the Impact of Graft Type on Biliary Complications After Liver Transplantation
Sanaa Abdul Hameed	Medical School Graduate	Ladner	Hospital Patient Safety Culture in Living Donor Liver Transplantation
John Cannizzaro	Graduate Student	Ladner	Patient Safety in Living Donor Liver Transplantation: Equipment Malfunction
John Capua	Graduate Student	Gordon	Cultural Competency in Organ Donation: A Literature Review of Interventions
Katy Skibba	Graduate Student	Ladner	Risk Factors for Mortality in Cirrhotic Patients with a Low MELD Score
Nicholas Welsh	Graduate Student	Wallia	Evaluation of Hypoglycemia in a Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Moderate to Intensive Glycemic Control Post-Liver Transplant
Jennifer Zakko	Graduate Student	Gordon	Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Kidney Transplant Access and Outcomes
Corey Meehan	Undergrad	Ladner	Patient Safety in Living Donor Liver Transplantation: Patient Positioning
Gabrielle Schwartzman	Undergrad	Ladner	Patient Safety in Living Donor Liver Transplantation: Sign in and Time Out
Tanvi Subramanian	Undergrad	Levitsky	Assessment of Energy Metabolism with Exercise in Liver Transplant Recipients
Jaylen Thomas	Undergrad	Levitsky	Incidence of Early Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events after Liver Transplantation
Sanskriti Varma	Undergrad	Caicedo	Are Kidney Transplant Centers in the US Targeting Minorities? Website Evaluation of Transplant Centers Across the Nation
Jacob Lissoos	High School	Wertheim	The Impact of 3-D Micro-Bio Scaffold Design On Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Hepatocyte Maturation and Differentiation

2013 Summer Students

2013_summer_students

NAME	EDUCATION	MENTOR	TOPIC
Peter Bjorkman Dorschner	AOSC	Ison	Nosocomial Infections within the First Month of Solic Organ Transplantation
Kamil Bober	AOSC	Ison	Clinical and Virological Outcomes of BK Virus Nephropathy Treated with Cidofovir
Edwardo Bustamante	AOSC	Levitsky	The Six Minute Walk Distance to Measure Exercise Capacity Early After Liver Transplantation
Jamie Amanda Chin	AOSC	Skaro	The Alphabet Soup of Kidney Transplantation in the Elderly
Mathew Goodmanson	AOSC	Levitsky	Colonoscopic Evaluation of Diarrhea and Colitis in Abdominal Solid Organ Transplant Recipients
Joshua Lee	AOSC	Levitsky	The Six Minute Walk Distance to Measure Exercise Capacity Early After Liver Transplantation
Adrian Tomes	AOSC	Alonso	Descriptive Analysis of Infectious Complications Following Pediatric Liver Transplantation and Cost of Treatment from 2005 to 2012
Christopher Tapia	AOSC	Levitsky	The Six Minute Walk Distance to Measure Exercise Capacity Early After Liver Transplantation
Lauren You-Jin Lee	AOSC	Ison	Epidemiology and Outcomes of Norovirus-Related Diarrhea in Transplant Recipients
Natalie Behnke	Medical Student	Ladner/McElroy	Quality and Safety of Abdominal Organ Transplant
Arman Changelian	Medical Student	Caicedo	Outcomes of Hispanic Patients
Kristina Doytcheva	Medical Student	Ladner/McElroy	Quality and Safety of Abdominal Organ Transplant
John Joseph	Medical Student	Ladner	The Etiology of Delays in Kidney Transplantation
Cristina Nguyen	Medical Student	Ladner/McElroy	Quality and Safety of Abdominal Organ Transplant
Rachel Ramchandani	Medical Student	Wolf	Medication Adherence in Transplant Patients
Zach Abecassis	Undergrad	Ladner	The Application of Systems Engineering to Post-Operative Complications in Liver Transplant Recipients, Seasonal Variation Paper
Madeleine Rose Heldman	Undergrad	Levitsky	A National Survey of Adult Transplant Hepatologists’ Perceptions on Pediatric Liver Transplant Recipients’ Transition to Adult Care
Margret Miller	Undergrad	Gordon	Smart Phone Use and Interest in a Smart Phone Intervention to Foster Transplant Evaluation Completion Among Kidney Transplant Candidates
Michael Pearl	Undergrad	Friedewald	Transplant Center and Organ Procurement Organization Assessment – Impact of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Conditions of Participation
Kathryn Schmidt	Undergrad	Ladner/McElroy	Emergency Care of Transplant Patients: System Optimization and Rationalization
Arianna Yanes	Undergrad	Ladner/McElroy	Assessment of Process Vulnerabilities in the Postoperative Handoff of Patients in the Intensive Care Unit
Alina Ahmad	High School	Daud	Introduction to Northwestern University Transplant Outcomes Research Collaborative
Anisa Ciaciura	High School	Ladner	Introduction to Northwestern University Transplant Outcomes Research Collaborative

2012 Summer Students

2012_summer_students

NAME	EDUCATION	MENTOR	TOPIC
Andres Camacho	MSSRP	Caicedo	Hispanic American Outcomes in Renal Transplantation
Lukasz Cerbin	MSSRP	Skaro	Cardiovascular Risk Index in Renal Transplant Recipients
Paul Jurgens	MSSRP	Wolf Serper	Assessment of Medication Adherence and Understanding in Liver and Kidney Transplant Recipients: A Pilot Study
Andrew Lok-Ming	MSSRP	Gordon	Shared Decision Making in Organ Transplantation
Harrison Mahon	MSSRP	Baker	A Complex Decision Analysis Tool for Decision Making for Optimal Treatment for Early Hepatocellular Cancer
Christian Mewaldt	MSSRP	Gordon	Internet Use for Health Information Among Kidney Transplant Candidates and Prospective Living Donors
Ariella Sprague	MSSRP	Friedewald	Quality of Life in Kidney Transplantation
Kai Xu	MSSRP	Ladner, Preczewski	The Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness of Patient Safety Regulations in Liver Transplant
Joshua Cahan	Medical Student	Baker	A Complex Decision Analysis Tool for Decision Making for Optimal Treatment for Early Hepatocellular Cancer
John Joseph	Undergraduate	Ladner	A2ALL Patient Safety System Improvements in Living Donor Liver Transplantation
Pamela Sharaf	Undergraduate	Ladner	A2ALL Patient Safety System Improvements in Living Donor Liver Transplantation

2011 Summer Students

NAME	EDUCATION	MENTOR	TOPIC
Jimmy Krupp	MSSRP	Levitsky	Simultaneous Liver Kidney Versus Liver Transplant Outcomes
Yuiy Moklyak	MSSRP	Skaro	Conducting Risk Assessments and Analysis to Improve Patient Safety in Kidney Transplantation
Chandni Patel	MSSRP	Gordon	Public Perception on when Payment for Kidney Donation Becomes Coercive
Amanda Schieler	MSSRP	Ladner	Conducting Risk Assessments and Analysis to Improve Patient Safety in Transplantation
Katy Secunda	MSSRP	Levitsky, Skaro, Caicedo	A National Survey of Attitudes and Perceptions of Transplant Providers Towards New Liver Transplant Candidates
Yabtsega Moges	MSSRP	Ladner	Northwestern University Transplant Outcomes Research Collaborative Marketing
Joshua Cahan	Undergraduate	Baker	A Complex Decision Analysis Tool for Decision Making for Optimal Treatment for Early Hepatocellular Cancer
Brad Feiger	Undergraduate	Ladner	Literature Review Kidney Transplantation and Safety
Lorena Garcia	Undergraduate	Caicedo	Cultural Competence of the Hispanic Transplant Program and/or Hispanic Pediatric Kidney Transplant
Brendan Lovasik	Undergraduate	Ladner	The Influence of Systems and Processes on Cold-Ischemic Time in Liver Transplantation
Jimmy Rosati	Undergraduate	Friedewald	Aperio Glass Pathology Side Scanning and Liver Safety Literature Review
Sissa Abecassis	High School	Ladner, Holl	Living Donor Liver Transplantation and Safety Literature Review
Adekore Taiwo	High School	Ladner	Introduction to Organ Transplantation

2010 Summer Students

NAME	EDUCATION	MENTOR	TOPIC
Krutika Lakhoo	MSSRP	Ladner	Safety Processes in Kidney Transplant Recipients
Sarali Mehta	Graduate Student	Ladner, Woods

2009 Summer Students

NAME	EDUCATION	MENTOR	TOPIC
Jae Lee	MSSRP	Levitsky, Ladner, Butt	Quality of Life in Liver Transplant Recipients and Effects of Immunosuppression
Gihyun Myung	MSSRP	Ladner, Fryer	Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Access to Transplantation