In the Department of Surgery at WMed, we have an active research program that provides ample opportunities for students and residents to participate with faculty in research and scholarly activities. Together, we offer experiences that enable discovery and promote creativity and we are committed to pursuing inquiry, disseminating knowledge, and fostering critical thinking that encourages lifelong learning.
Our General Surgery residency curriculum includes the principles of research design, methodology, biostatistics and analysis, and the ethical principles of clinical and translational research. We provide research mentorship with a wide variety of interests in the discipline, and collaborate with faculty in other departments and programs. Most resident projects are presented at the annual Kalamazoo Community Medical and Health Sciences Research Day, the medical school’s annual research day. Additionally, many resident projects are presented at other prestigious regional and national venues, and published in peer-reviewed journals.
Research and Scholarly Activity, 2018-23
Recent Publications
Coster S., Shammout A., Chaney M., Folkert K., Grosh K., Shebrain S., Munene G. Prophylactic Enoxaparin Dosing Using Anti-Factor Xa Levels in Hepatic Surgery Patients: A Pilot Study American Surgeon. 2024
Coster S., Shammout A., Chaney M., Folkert K., Grosh K., Shebrain S., Munene G. Prophylactic Enoxaparin Dosing Using Anti-Factor Xa Levels in Hepatic Surgery Patients: A Pilot Study American Surgeon. 2024
Coster S., Shammout A., Chaney M., Folkert K., Grosh K., Shebrain S., Munene G. Prophylactic Enoxaparin Dosing Using Anti-Factor Xa Levels in Hepatic Surgery Patients: A Pilot Study American Surgeon. 2024
Ferrin N., Edmond D., Jones R., McCahill L.E. Management of Locally Advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma with Sonic Hedgehog Pathway Targeted Therapy: A Case Report and Discussion Case Reports in Dermatology. 2024:75-82.
Ferrin N., Elian A., Flewelling K., Nadeem M., Nava K., Berry S.D., Stehlik K., Bella A.K., Awad P., Alfred A., Ksajikian A., Chen K., Shebrain S. Psychologic assessment in patients undergoing bariatric surgery Surgical Endoscopy. 2024;38:1922-1932.
Flewelling K., Alfred A., Jose J., Elian A., Norman E., Timmons J., Munene G., Sawyer R., Shebrain S. Do Surgery Residents Prepare Enough for Surgical Cases? Journal of Surgical Education. 2024;81:48-55.
Guidry C.A., Chollet-Hinton L., Baker J., O'Dell J.C., Beyene R.T., Watson C.M., Sawyer R.G., Simpson S.Q., Atchison L., Derickson M., Cooper L.C., Pennington G.P., VandenBerg S., Halimeh B.N. Desirability of Outcome Ranking and Response Adjusted for Antibiotic Risk (DOOR/RADAR) Post Hoc Analysis Supports Equipoise for Antibiotic Initiation Strategies in Intensive Care Unit-Acquired Pneumonia Surgical Infections. 2024;25:221-224.
Khalil S., Olds A., Chin K., Erkmen C.P. Implementation of Well-Being for Cardiothoracic Surgeons Thoracic surgery clinics. 2024;34:63-76.
Kwasny L., Adams M., Bovio N., Rahaman Z., VandenBerg S., Markle S., Bjerke S., Shebrain S., Sawyer R. Type-O Blood Is Not Associated With Elevated Mortality After Trauma: A North American Cohort Study American Surgeon. 2024;90:978-984.
Shebrain S.S., Grosh K., Termuhlen P.M., Sawyer R.G. Influence of Applicant Interview Format Choice on Demographics and Outcomes from the Residency Match Journal of Surgical Education. 2024;81:535-542.
Stevens N., Alfred A., Gao R., Khalil S., Miller L., Sawyer R., Shebrain S. Scholarly Activity and Gender of an Applicant for a General Surgery Residency Journal of Surgical Research. 2024;295:95-101.
Swilling A.C., O'Dell J.C., Beyene R.T., Watson C.M., Sawyer R.G., Chollet-Hinton L., Simpson S.Q., Atchison L., Derickson M., Cooper L.C., Pennington G.P., VandenBerg S., Halimeh B.N., Hughes D., Guidry C.A. Provider Perceptions of Antibiotic Initiation Strategies for Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia Surgical Infections. 2024;25:109-115.
Tran W., Thomas M.B., Garofalo D., Patten M., Graham R., Estrella J., Dickinson K., Carmichael H., Velopulos C.G., Myers Q.W.O. The Characterization of Violent Deaths Among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans Journal of Surgical Research. 2024;297:109-120.
Wames W.M., Welter M., Folkert K., Elian A., Timmons J., Sawyer R., Shebrain S. Applicants Performance in Interview for a General Surgery Residency Pre- and During Coronavirus Disease-19 Pandemic Journal of Surgical Research. 2024;293:341-346.
Wames W.M., Welter M., Folkert K., Elian A., Timmons J., Sawyer R., Shebrain S. Response Regarding: Surgical Residencies Need in Person Interviews Journal of Surgical Research. 2024;295:880-881.
Barie P.S., Kao L.S., Moody M., Sawyer R.G. Infection or Inflammation: Are Uncomplicated Acute Appendicitis, Acute Cholecystitis, and Acute Diverticulitis Infectious Diseases? Surgical Infections. 2023;24(2):99-111.
Dillon C.H., Vos D.G., McCahill L.E. Reoperation following urgent and emergent colectomy in the State of Michigan American Journal of Surgery. 2023;225(3):558-563.
Folkert K.N., Khalil S., Sawyer R. Hepatic Abscesses Textbook of Emergency General Surgery: Traumatic and Non-traumatic Surgical Emergencies. 2023:911-922.
Folkert K.N., Khalil S., Sawyer R. Hepatic Abscesses Textbook of Emergency General Surgery: Traumatic and Non-traumatic Surgical Emergencies. 2023:911-922.
Grosh K.M., Folkert K.N., Chou J., Shebrain S.A., Munene G.M. A Cohort Study of an Enhanced Recovery Pathway for Pancreatic Surgery at a Community Hospital American Surgeon. 2023;89:2350-2356.
Guidry C.A., Beyene R.T., Watson C.M., Sawyer R.G., Chollet-Hinton L., Simpson S.Q., Atchison L., Derickson M., Cooper L.C., Pennington G.P., Vandenberg S., Halimeh B.N., O'Dell J.C. Trial of antibiotic restraint in presumed pneumonia: A Surgical Infection Society multicenter pilot Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. 2023;94:232-240.
Jose J., Khalil S., Liu G., Vos D., Leinwand M. Perforated appendicitis: The solution to pollution is not dilution American Journal of Surgery. 2023;225(3):545-548.
Khalil S., Jose J., Welter M., Timmons J., Miller L., Elian A., Munene G., Sawyer R., Shebrain S. The importance of USMLE step 2 on the screening and selection of applicants for general surgery residency positions Heliyon. 2023;9
Moody M., Chilukuri N., Khalil S., McLaren G., Shebrain S., Timmons J. Selected common acute gastrointestinal and general surgical conditions in children and adolescents Chronic Disease and Disability: The Pediatric Gastrointestinal Tract, Second Edition. Medical and Surgical Perspectives including Infection and Pain. 2023:233-274.
Moody M., Chilukuri N., Khalil S., McLaren G., Shebrain S., Timmons J. Selected common acute gastrointestinal and general surgical conditions in children and adolescents Chronic Disease and Disability: The Pediatric Gastrointestinal Tract, Second Edition. Medical and Surgical Perspectives including Infection and Pain. 2023:233-274.
Moody M., Sawyer R. Is There a Community Microbial Community? A Comparison of Pathogens Between Two Hospital Surgical Intensive Care Units in a Single City Surgical Infections. 2023;24:897-902.
Shaikh F.A., Khalil S.I., Ander E.H., Calvelli H.R., Kashem M.A., Mokashi S.A. Cerebral protection strategies for type A aortic dissection repair Indian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. 2023;39:308-314.
Tuma F., Shea C., Nadeem M., Shebrain S. Inaccuracy of surgical irrigation fluid temperature hand assessment Journal of Perioperative Practice. 2023;33:260-262.
Welter M., Grosh K., Jose J., Khalil S., Muharraq A., Elian A., Munene G., Sawyer R., Shebrain S. Are There Racial Differences in the Rate of Surgical Site Infection Based on Surgical Subspecialty? Surgical Infections. 2023;24:860-868.
Khalil S.I., Espinosa J.A., Bakhos C., Erkmen C., Petrov R. Management of Native Lung Malignancy in a Lung Transplant Recipient Innovations: Technology and Techniques in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery. 2022;17(6):567-569.
Patten M., Carmichael H., Moore A., Velopulos C. Circumstances of Suicide Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Individuals Journal of Surgical Research. 2022;270:522-529.
Shebrain S., Coster S., Alfred A., De Cecco D., Khalil S., Munene G., Elian A., Timmons J., Sawyer R.G. Resident Autonomy and Performance Independence in Surgical Training Are Time- and Skill-Dependent Journal of Surgical Research. 2022;279:285-295.
Shebrain S., Ferrin N., Cookenmaster C., Norman E., Sawyer R. History of surgical training in Kalamazoo Annals of Medicine and Surgery. 2022;73
Shebrain S., Ferrin N., Cookenmaster C., Norman E., Sawyer R. History of surgical training in Kalamazoo Annals of Medicine and Surgery. 2022;73
Vergara R., Khalil S., Munene G. Case report: Multimodal neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy for hepatic undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma in a young adult Frontiers in Oncology. 2022;12
Borker P.V., Valesky M., Phalunas C., Wyland C., Nouraie S.M., Patel S.R. Patient preferences on initiating treatment with positive airway pressure Annals of the American Thoracic Society. 2021;18(6):1068-1070.
Cookenmaster C., Shebrain S., Vos D., Munene G., Miller L., Sawyer R. Gender perception bias of operative autonomy evaluations among residents and faculty in general surgery training American Journal of Surgery. 2021;221:515-520.
Grosh K., Smith K., Shebrain S., Collins J. Local anesthesia as an alternative option in repair of recurrent groin hernias: An outcome study from the American College of Surgeons NSQIP® database Annals of Medicine and Surgery. 2021;71
Shebrain S., Folkert K., Baxter J., Leinwand M., Munene G., Sawyer R. SCORE-Based Simulated ABSITE Exam Performance as a Predictor of Performance on the ABSITE Journal of Surgical Education. 2021;78:1692-1701.
Thomas R., Yancey T., Skidmore C., Ferrin N., Zapata I., Williams J., Mason N.L. The Effects of Pre-medical Anatomy and Clinical Experiences on Medical School Anatomy-Related Academic Performance Medical Science Educator. 2021;31:1839-1849.
Davidson S.B., Brunken N., Naughton S., VandenBerg S.L. Burn patient decontamination outside of mass casualties JACEP Open. 2020;1:1250-1254.
Ferrin N., Zarbock T., Tieman M. Effect of Grading and Class Rank on Performance in a Surgical Simulation Course Journal of Surgical Education. 2020;77:166-177.
Flewelling K., Bahaee J., Kirby K. Small cell lung cancer initially presenting with acute urinary retention: A case report Urology Case Reports. 2020;33
Folkert K.N., de Beaufort H., Bauman N.M. Horner Syndrome from a Pediatric Otolaryngology Perspective Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology. 2020;129(2):191-194.
Leonetti J.P., Weishaar J.R., Gannon D., Harmon G.A., Block A., Anderson D.E. Osteoradionecrosis of the skull base Journal of Neuro-Oncology. 2020;150(3):477-482.
Rivas L., Ju T., Hernandez M., Sparks A., Folkert K., Butano V., Moawad G.N., Klebanoff J.S., Sarani B., Gondek S. Current Management of Gynecologic Trauma Journal of Gynecology Obstetrics and Human Reproduction. 2020;49(6)
Serena T., Gao R., Dinnan K. Open surgical approach for infected mesenteric pseudocyst presenting as lifelong, migratory abdominal pain—A case report International Journal of Surgery Case Reports. 2020;66:96-100.
Jastifer J., Christianson E., VanZweden D., Gustafson P. Feasibility of Transosseous Nonarticular Fixation of Lisfranc Injuries Foot and Ankle International. 2019;40:672-678.
Zucker N.A., Schmitt C., DeJonckheere M.J., Nichols L.P., Plegue M.A., Chang T. Confidentiality in the Doctor-Patient Relationship: Perspectives of Youth Ages 14-24 Years Journal of Pediatrics. 2019;213:196-202.
Gannon D., Majumdar S. Effectiveness of palbociclib in reducing cell multiplication in human and mouse breast cancer cell lines International Journal of Pharma and Bio Sciences. 2016;7(4):B73-B79.
Davidson S., Blostein P., Schrotenboer A., Sloffer C., Vandenberg S. Ten Years of Equine-related Injuries: Severity and Implications for Emergency Physicians Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2015;49:605-612.
Li N., Joska T., Ruesch C.E., Coster S.J., Belden W.J. The frequency natural antisense transcript first promotes, then represses, frequency gene expression via facultative heterochromatin Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2015;112(14):4357-4362.
VandenBerg S.L., Davidson S.B. Preparation for Mass Casualty Incidents Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America. 2015;27(2):157-166.