Presented by: Maria Widmar, MD, MPH, Assistant Attending Surgeon, Colorectal Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Talk Title: “Cost-effectiveness analysis in Rectal Cancer: Ongoing work and opportunities for Impact”

Bio: Maria Widmar, MD, MPH, is an Assistant Attending Surgeon on the Colorectal Surgery Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she also serves as Medical Director for Surgery in the Regional Network and Affiliates program.

Dr. Widmar completed her general surgery residency and obtained a Master of Public Health degree at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. She subsequently completed clinical fellowships in colorectal surgery and colorectal surgical oncology at Weill Cornell Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering.

One of her primary research interests is comparison of rectal cancer treatments from the perspective of health economics. In addition to cost-effectiveness studies, she has led studies evaluating the economic implications of robotic surgery and modelling the economic burden of surgical complications.

A long-time resident of New York City, she is a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Presented by: Carolyn Seib, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery, General Surgery, Stanford University
Talk Title: TBD

Bio: Dr. Carolyn Dacey Seib is a fellowship-trained endocrine surgeon and board certified general surgeon. Her practice is focused on surgery of the thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands.

Dr. Seib has clinical and research expertise in the surgical management of endocrine disorders in older adults, including primary hyperparathyroidism, thyroid cancer, and hyperthyroidism. Dr. Seib completed her undergraduate education at Princeton University, graduating summa cum laude in 2004. She received her M.D. at the New York University School of Medicine and then attended residency in General Surgery at UCSF. Dr. Seib also completed a fellowship in Endocrine Surgery at UCSF, during which she cared for patients with complex disorders of the thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands.

Dr. Seib focuses on providing individualized care for patients with thyroid malignancy, hyperthyroidism, primary hyperparathyroidism, and adrenal disorders. She has received funding from the National Institute on Aging and the American Thyroid Association to study the surgical management of endocrine disorders in older adults and has a number of peer-reviewed journal publications on this topic that have received national attention, including being featured in the New York Times.

For inquiries, please contact Ana Mezynski <mezynski@stanford.edu>

Due to the University Winter Closure, the WIP has been canceled. We will resume on Jan 5, 2026.

We wish everyone a safe holiday!

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.

Our weekly WIP sessions feature trainees and faculty projects in every phase of development—from drafting specific aims pages, to parsing grant review committee comments, to abstracts/papers/methods in preparation.

Anyone can attend and happy hour conditions apply here too.

For inquiries, please contact Ana Mezynski <mezynski@stanford.edu>

Presented by: Leandra Barnes, MD, Instructor of Dermatology, Department of Dermatology at Stanford School of Medicine
Talk Title: “Generating Rigorous and Reproducible Real-World Evidence from Epic Cosmos: Threats to Validity and Design Solutions.”

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 WIP sessions provide valuable opportunities to share research, receive constructive feedback, and build synergy within the Stanford HSR/Surgery communities. Held every Monday, these sessions feature Stanford and guest faculty as well as trainees—including postdocs, residents, and medical students—who present projects at all stages of development, from drafting specific aims pages to interpreting grant review committee comments and refining abstracts, papers, and methods

Anyone can attend and happy hour conditions apply here too.

For inquiries, please contact Ana Mezynski <mezynski@stanford.edu>

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, this WIP (Work-in-Progress) session has been canceled.

We wish everyone a safe holiday!

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.

Our weekly WIP sessions feature trainees and faculty projects in every phase of development—from drafting specific aims pages, to parsing grant review committee comments, to abstracts/papers/methods in preparation.

Anyone can attend and happy hour conditions apply here too.

For inquiries, please contact Ana Mezynski <mezynski@stanford.edu>

Due to the University Winter Closure, the WIP has been canceled. We will resume on Jan 5, 2026.

We wish everyone a safe holiday!

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.

Our weekly WIP sessions feature trainees and faculty projects in every phase of development—from drafting specific aims pages, to parsing grant review committee comments, to abstracts/papers/methods in preparation.

Anyone can attend and happy hour conditions apply here too.

For inquiries, please contact Ana Mezynski <mezynski@stanford.edu>

Presented by: Lakshika Tenakoon, PhD, MD, Research Data Scientist, General Surgery, Stanford University
Talk Title: “Big Data in Clinical Research: Pearls, Pitfalls, Analytic Approaches, and Machine Learning.”

Bio: Dr. Lakshika Tennakoon is a clinical epidemiologist working in the Department of Surgery Stanford University. Her work focuses on improving trauma systems and clinical outcomes for injured patients. Her broader research interests include epidemiology, injury prevention, biostatistics, bioinformatics, health service research, machine learning, and psychiatry. Dr. Tennakoon serves as a scientific reviewer on the PCORI (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute) Addressing Violence and Trauma panel and is the Associate Editor for Statistics at the Journal of Surgical Research.

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 WIP sessions provide valuable opportunities to share research, receive constructive feedback, and build synergy within the Stanford HSR/Surgery communities. Held every Monday, these sessions feature Stanford and guest faculty as well as trainees—including postdocs, residents, and medical students—who present projects at all stages of development, from drafting specific aims pages to interpreting grant review committee comments and refining abstracts, papers, and methods.

Anyone can attend and happy hour conditions apply here too.

For inquiries, please contact Ana Mezynski <mezynski@stanford.edu>

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 WIP sessions provide valuable opportunities to share research, receive constructive feedback, and build synergy within the Stanford HSR/Surgery communities. Held every Monday, these sessions feature Stanford and guest faculty as well as trainees—including postdocs, residents, and medical students—who present projects at all stages of development, from drafting specific aims pages to interpreting grant review committee comments and refining abstracts, papers, and methods

Anyone can attend and happy hour conditions apply here too.

For inquiries, please contact Ana Mezynski <mezynski@stanford.edu>

Presented by: Kajal Khanna, MD, Clinical Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, Stanford University.
Talk Title: TBD

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.

Our weekly WIP sessions feature trainees and faculty projects in every phase of development—from drafting specific aims pages, to parsing grant review committee comments, to abstracts/papers/methods in preparation.

Anyone can attend and happy hour conditions apply here too.

For inquiries, please contact Ana Mezynski <mezynski@stanford.edu>