
Graduate Medical Education Research
The objective of the Graduate Medical Education Research Office is to create a multidisciplinary and collaborative environment to stimulate and support high quality scholarly activities within our department. Our ultimate goal is to advance quality of care and patient related outcomes by providing residents and faculty with the resources, knowledge and infrastructure to plan and conduct transformative biomedical research.
Got research questions? Contact the Center for Academic Research Excellence (CARE), our team is available to help you, residents and faculty, with all your scholarly activities, from protocol development and regulatory processes to statistical analysis and manuscript preparation.
Program Research Directors

Collin Tully, MD
General Surgery Residency

Christopher L. Reeves, DPM, FACFAS
Podiatry Residency

Dwayne Gordon, MD
Internal Medicine Residency

Enrique Vega, MD
General Surgery Residency

Indrani Acosta, MD
Neurocritical Care Fellowship

Jeffrey C. Chiu, MD
General Surgery Residency

Joshua Goldberg, MD
General Surgery Residency

Mary McLean, MD
Emergency Medicine Residency

Raj Mehta, MD
Family Medicine Residency
Women’s Health Fellowship, Geriatric Medicine Fellowship

Sebastian G. de la Fuente, MD
Surgical Oncology, HPB Fellowship, General Surgery Residency

Steve Timothy McElveen, MD
HPB Fellowship
Brian Cardona, PA
PA Surgical Residency
GME Research Support Team
Center for Academic Research Excellence (CARE)

Julie Pepe, PhD
Senior Manager and Biostatistician

Monica Davila, MD, PhD
Academic Mentor Manager
Natalie Reyes, PhD
Academic Mentor

Alane Waters, RN, MS
Project Coordinator

Donna Shaver
Academic Research Coordinator
GME Research Day Award Winners
- 2024 Award Winners
-
POSTERS
Basic and Clinical Research
- 3rd Theresa Kuhn, MD - Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship, Orlando
- 2nd Abdelrahman Sherif Abdalla, MD - Internal Medicine Residency, Sebring
- 1st Iktej Jabbal, MD - Internal Medicine Residency, Sebring
Education
- 3rd Alexis Aranda, MD - General Pediatrics Residency, Orlando
- 2nd Melissa Sayegh, DO - Emergency Medicine Residency, East Orlando
- 1st Abdelrahman Sherif Abdalla, MD - Internal Medicine Residency, Sebring
Quality Improvement
- 3rd Meagan Derbyshire, MD - Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship, Orlando
- 2nd Ernesto Robalino Gonzaga, MD - Gastroenterology Fellowship, Orlando
- 1st Daniel Farinas Lugo, MD - General Surgery Residency, Orlando
Case Studies
- 3rd Mary Ann Barnum, MD- Family Medicine Residency, Winter Park
- 2nd Abuoma Ekpendu, DO - Internal Medicine Residency, Sebring
- 1st Kashaf Aqeel Zaidi, MD - Internal Medicine Residency, Orlando
Podium Presentations
- 3rd Ivonne De la Hoz, MD - Internal Medicine Residency, Orlando
- 2nd Carlos Delgado, MD - General Surgery Residency, Orlando
- 1st Sehajpreet Kaur, MD and Gaayatrhi Krishnan, MD- Internal Medicine Residency, Sebring
Central Florida Association of Physicians from The Indian Subcontinent (CAPI) Awards
- Resident: Shannon Calirii, DO - Emergency Medicine Residency, East Orlando
- Faculty: Mary McClean, MD - Emergency Medicine Assistant Program Director, East Orlando
- 2023 Award Winners
-
POSTERS
Basic and Clinical Research (less than 5 submissions)
- Yelena Pleshkova, MD- Internal Medicine, Sebring
Education (less than 5 submissions)
- Alexis Aranda, MD- Pediatrics
Quality Improvement
- 3rd James Leal, DO- Emergency Medicine
- 2nd Vladislav Mordach, MD- Emergency Medicine
- 1st James Nguyen, MD- Cardiology
Case Studies
- 3rd Iktej Singh Jabbal, MD- Internal Medicine, Sebring
- 2nd Arnold Paulo, DO- Hospice and Palliative Care
- 1st Gaayathri Krishnan, MD- Internal Medicine, Sebring
Podium Presentations
- 3rd Katherine Carson, MD- General Surgery
- 2nd Morgan Brazelle, MD- General Surgery
- 1st Connor Woodward, MD- Radiology
Central Florida Association of Physicians from The Indian Subcontinent (CAPI) Awards
- Resident: Mengni Guo, MD- Internal Medicine, Orlando
- Faculty: Fatma Levent, MD- Family Medicine, East Orlando
- 2022 Award Winners
-
POSTERS
Quality Improvement
- 3rd TIE
- Chloe Kindred, MD- Family Medicine WP: Improving the Compliance to the A1c Quality Metric Among Our Clinic’s Patient Population
- Yuliya Zamota, DO- Hospice and Palliative Care: Suboccipital Release as an Adjunct Therapy in Hospice patients
- 2nd Philip Jay Mendez Frayre, MD- Pediatrics: Identifying Communications Barriers in the Hospital: The Incorporation of iPASS into Family Centered Rounds
- 1st Kofi Sefah, Pharmacy and Karolina Kilowski, DO- Gynecologic Oncology: Addition of a Standardized Titration Protocol on the Incidence of Paclitaxel Infusion Related Hypersensitivity Reactions
Case Studies
- 3rd TIE
- Rodrigo Urcia, DO- Family Medicine East Orlando: An analysis of an enlarging Mycotic Abdominal aortic aneurysm in the setting of Salmonella Enteritis
- Jacob Friedman, MD- General Surgery: An uncommon cause of a common presentation: Right lower quadrant pain due to Herlyn-Werner-Wunderlich Syndrome
- 2nd Michelle McCullers, MD- General Surgery: Dysphagia and Subcutaneous Emphysema as presenting signs of Perforated Diverticulitis
- 1st Katherine Carson, MD- General Surgery: Intussusception due to Meckel’s Diverticulum in an adolescent
Education
- 3rd Jennifer Jiang, MD and John Lenahan, MD- Family Medicine WP: The great general governing Gestalt for primary prenatal providers (G4P3)
- 2nd Lin Luo, MD- Family Medicine WP: Ectopic Pregnancy: Clinical management and imaging review of cases from AdventHealth
- 1st Allan Herman, MD- Family Medicine WP: Evaluating Primary Care Providers implementation of in office point of care Ultrasound to screen for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms
Podium Presentations
- 3rd Na Zhou, MD- Internal Medicine: A Case of Transient Hyperthyroidism of Hyperemesis Gravidarum Complicated by Acute Hepatic Injury Successfully Treated with Plasmapheresis
- 2nd Saleh Hasan, MD- Emergency Medicine: Effectiveness of Emergency Department Initiated Glycemic Control
- 1st Daniel Farinas Lugo, MD- General Surgery: Management of Complex Painful Postoperative Wounds
Basic and Clinical Research (less than 5 submissions – no award)
Central Florida Association of Physicians from The Indian Subcontinent (CAPI) Awards
- Resident: Alberto Monreal, MD- General Surgery
- Faculty: Andrew Little, MD- Emergency Medicine
- 3rd TIE
- 2021 Award Winners
-
POSTERS
Basic and Clinical Research
1st Nnamdi I. Gwacham, DO, Gyn/Onc
Title: Feasibility of a telemedicine lifestyle-based rehabilitation program (HEAL) for gynecologic cancer patients.
2nd James Wert, MD, Internal Medicine
Title: The Mortality of MET Exon 14 Low and High Expression in Non-Small C.
3rd Joseph Reza, MD, General Surgery
Title: Incremental cost effectiveness of ECMO as a bridge to cardiac transplant or left ventricular assist device placement in patients with refractory cardiogenic shock.
Quality Improvement
1st Na Zhou, MD, Internal Medicine
Title: Cause Analysis of Loss to Follow Up in an Internal Medicine Resident Continuity Clinic.
2nd Alberto Monreal, MD, General Surgery
Title: General Surgery Training during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The AdventHealth Orlando General Surgery Residency Experience.
3rd Kathy Carson, MD, General Surgery
Title: Efficacy of a Mindfulness-based Program on Surgeon Quality of Life.
Case Studies
1st Melissa Zegarra Bustamante, MD, Pediatrics
Title: Cat scratch disease presenting as Parinaud’s oculoglandular syndrome in a pediatric patient.
2nd Eugene Bivins, Jr., MD, Radiology
Title: Delayed Radial Pseudoaneurysm Diagnosis and Management.
3rd Ashley Mila, MD, General Surgery
Title: Pediatric Pseudoappendicitis in cases of Coronavirus MIS-C, A Case Series.
Education (Four submissions, one award):
1st Tariq Patel, MD, Family Medicine Winter Park
Title: Glucose Management of Non-Critically Ill Diabetic Patients Receiving Steroid Therapy.
Podium Presentations
1st Justin Brady, MD, Colon and Rectal
Title: Over utilization of adjuvant chemotherapy in early onset Rectal Cancer patients: A National Profile
2nd Madhavi Manyam, DO, Gyn/Onc
Title: Intravenous Uterine Leiomyomatosis with Right Atrial Obstruction and Congestive Heart Failure: A Multidisciplinary Surgical Approach
3rd Matthew Goldstein, DO, Pediatrics
Title: Utilizing a standardized pain and agitation protocol for intubated patients in the pediatric ICU
Central Florida Association of Physicians From The Indian Subcontinent (CAPI) Awards
Excellence in Research - Resident: Cody J. Togher, DPM, Foot and Ankle Surgery
Excellence in Research - Faculty: Raj Mehta, MD, Family Medicine Winter Park

Medical Library
The AdventHealth Orlando Medical Library is a staffed, full-service library available to residents and clinicians alike. Through the library, you can access hundreds of online core clinical textbooks and journals from the top publishers. The library staff is here to help you with article delivery, literature searches, database instruction, and all of your information needs.
Additional Resources
These websites provide additional resources for our residents and faculty.