Presented by: Dan Eisenberg, MD, Professor of Surgery (General Surgery), Stanford University
Talk Title: “Obesity in Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury – A work in progress”
Bio: I am a fellowship-trained minimally invasive and bariatric surgeon, who is involved in national surgical and specialty societies. My area of clinical and research interest is in outcomes of metabolic and bariatric surgery in special populations. As a surgeon at the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital, I am specifically interested in the outcomes of weight loss surgery in obese Veterans, who represent a population with a significant burden of co-morbidity, as well as challenging social, economic, and geographic circumstances. In addition, I am currently studying Veterans with spinal cord injury, with a goal to identify gaps in assessment and management of obesity in this special population.
For inquiries, please contact Ana Mezynski at mezynski@stanford.edu
Presented by: Albaraa Basfar, PhD
Talk Title: Underrepresented Minority Students’ Sense of Belonging in Medical School: How Does Mentorship Matter?
Bio: Albaraa Basfar Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the S-SPIRE Center at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. in Educational Research and Evaluation from Ohio University in 2023. His research interests include program evaluation, research methodology, and education.
Dr. Basfar has a strong quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research background. He has experience in managing programs, conducting research, and analyzing data. He is also proficient in using SAS, R, SPSS, and Python.
Prior to joining the S-SPIRE Center, Dr. Basfar was a Research Analyst at Pensacola State College. In this role, he was responsible for compiling, arranging, and presenting data reports for several communities and college departments. He also created and analyzed surveys, Tableau visual dashboards, and conducted data research related to grants and accreditations.
Dr. Basfar is passionate about using research to improve education and positively impact students’ lives. He is excited to continue his research at S-SPIRE and contribute to the field of Pipeline Programs.
Please contact Ana Mezynski for Venue and Zoom details.
Presented by: Heather Selby, PhD, Postdoctoral Scholar, S-SPIRE Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University.
Talk Title: “Enhancing the accuracy of tumor response assessment in rectal cancer using radiomics: Insights from the SFX Trial”
Bio: Heather Selby is a postdoctoral scholar at the S-SPIRE Center in the Stanford Department of Surgery. She is advised by Dr. Arden Morris, Dr. Todd Wagner, Dr. Sandy Napel, and Dr. Vipul Sheth. Her research focus is building MRI-based AI models to identify patients with locally advanced cancer patients who achieve a clinical complete response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy to spare them from surgery and its associated risks.
Each week, S-SPIRE hosts a hybrid-model Work-In-Progress session (WIP) for faculty members and trainees to present their research and receive feedback. These run from September through May each year.
Our monthly WIP sessions (first Monday of every month) features Stanford and guest faculty presentations of well-developed projects. This WIP provides an opportunity to discuss high impact research and create synergy within the Stanford HSR/Surgery communities.