On The Cutting Edge | December 2025

December 19, 2025

Award Announcements

Congratulations!

Department of Surgery Grant Submissions/Awarded

In Case You Missed It

Faculty Mentorship/Student Help: The Division of Research has an established process for matching research residents and medical students with faculty members for research opportunities. These opportunities are to be strictly for volunteer work done by the student. Specifics on task work is completely up to the faculty member’s discretion. If you are interested in mentoring, please fill out this Qualtrics survey.
NIH Scientific Data Sharing Website: Whether you are involved in an NIH-funded project and want to understand which sharing policies apply to your research and how to comply, or you are a researcher looking to access scientific data from NIH-affiliated repositories, this site is for you. | More information
Department of Surgery Intranet Site: Funding Opportunities, Cultural Complications/Grand Rounds/Quality Minute presentations, Surgery Sparks of Gratitude, Global Surgical Programs, Finance/Reimbursement links, DOS Phone list, and resources for logos/fonts/templates. | More Information
Abstract Deadlines and Meeting List: List is updated weekly. | More Information

Faculty Feature

SurPASS Tip of the Month

**Major Changes to NIH Biosketch – effective January 25, 2026**

NIH is adopting the Common Forms for the Biographical Sketch (Biosketch) and Current and Pending (Other) Support to be used with all application and Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs) by January 25, 2026. (for real this time!)

NIH will require the use of Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) to complete Common Forms (i.e., Biographical Sketch, Current and Pending (Other) Support), and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement to produce digitally certified PDF(s) for use in application submission.
NIH will also require all Senior/Key Personnel to enter their ORCID ID into SciENcv in the Persistent Identifier (PID) section of the Common Forms. NIH will require all Senior/Key Personnel to link their ORCID ID to their eRA Commons Personal Profile. For information on linking an ORCID ID to the eRA Commons Personal Profile see the ORCID ID topic in the eRA Commons online help.

Failure to utilize the correct forms during the timeframes specified in the table below will cause NIH to withdraw your application from consideration.

You can being entering your data into SciENcv December 22 when the “Preview” is removed from the forms. Link to SciENcv (log in using ‘eRA Commons’ then select ‘Login.gov’ on the next screen: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/

**Please reach out to Lynn Cummings, Grants Operations Coordinator, to convert your Biosketch to the Common Forms! This will take hours on your own or 15-20 minutes with support.**

Clinical Research Tip of the Month

Selig Hub's Surgiclinomics: A Precision Health and Outcomes Program

Surgiclinomics is a department-wide quality and outcomes initiative, supported by the Selig Hub, with a goal of facilitating discovery using "real-world" data. Similar to other institutional “-clinomic” protocols, this IRB-approved project allows efficient and fast approval for studies that want to use data from the electronic health record (EHR) through sources such as: CTSI's Clinical Research Data Warehouse (CRDW), Froedtert Health (FH) Enterprise Data Warehouse databases, and the Center for Imaging Research Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), and local surgical databases created using EHR data. This includes any retrospective or prospective chart review projects that include adult patients seen in the Froedtert Health system with surgical conditions or who are at risk for surgical conditions.

To register a project under this approval process, investigators should first fill out the Selig Hub Project Request Form. Researchers will then be sent a Sub-Investigator Intake Form outlining the proposed project and attesting to compliant practices.

Approval for the project generally is completed <48 hours (Surgiclinomics PI: Kothari).

Contact the Surgiclinomics team, Dr. Anai Kothari or Kaitlyn Nimmer, with any questions!

GRANT$ Alert

Lustgarten Foundation LEAD Project
$150,000/year for 3 years
GCO deadline: December 26, 2025
Application due: January 5, 2026

This call is intended to support programs that will address specific barriers to participation in clinical trials and can include efforts to expand community outreach, patient education and/or clinical recruitment staff. Preference will be given to applications from institutions that can document equity and diversity in hiring and staffing for the project.

PCORI Improving Health Decision Making with Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research-Retrospective Observational Studies Leveraging Existing Data Sources
$2,000,000 over 18 months
LOI due: January 6, 2026
LOI status notification: February 3, 2026
GCO deadline: April 28, 2026
Full application due: May 5, 2026

Looking for applications that propose longer-term comparative effectiveness and safety assessments and examining populations that are not easily randomized, as well as studies examining heterogeneity of treatment effects are strongly encouraged.

PCORI Partnering Research and Community Organizations for Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research Across the Cancer Care Continuum
$12,000,000 for up to 5 years
LOI due: January 6, 2026
LOI status notification: February 3, 2026
GCO deadline: April 28. 2026
Full application due: May 5, 2026

High impact, patient-centered projects addressing one of the following Special Areas of Emphasis: 1) Addressing barriers to recommended cancer screening and timely follow-up in the general population and among individuals at high risk of cancer; 2) Improving the delivery of patient-centered, evidence-based care during cancer treatment; or 3) Addressing the post-treatment, follow-up care needs of cancer survivors. Proposal must include dual PIs - one from a research organization and one from a community organization.

CVRC JIT Pilot Award
$15,000 through June 30, 2026
No GCO
Application due: February 1, 2026 (3rd cycle)

Funding to address questions/concerns in summary statements for "near miss" applications. Must have applied for an R01 or equivalent, R21, or K award OR a non-profit with total cost of greater than $200,000/year. "Not Discussed" grant applications are not eligible.

Abstracts Alert

MCW Research Day
March 12, 2026
Abstract deadline: January 16, 2026

All MCW faculty, staff, students and postdocs who wish to share their work are invited to participate in our in-person poster presentations. All presenters who participate in the live poster sessions will have the opportunity to compete for monetary prizes in one of four categories: Faculty; Fellows (Postdoctoral Researchers, Clinical Fellows and Residents); Students (Medical, Graduate, Pharmacy); Staff

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Vascular Annual Meeting
June 10-13, 2026 | Boston, MA
Abstract deadline: January 7, 2026

Session Types: Plenary; Poster competition; Interactive poster; International young surgeon competition; International plenary session; International poster competition; Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Society (VESS)

Central Surgical Association (CSA) Annual Meeting
June 4-6, 2026 | Chicago, IL
Abstract deadline: January 8, 2026

Abstract Submission Categories: Basic Science; Breast; Cardiothoracic; Colorectal; Education; Endocrine; General; GI/Hepatobiliary; Minimally Invasive; Oncology; Other; Outcomes; Transplant; Trauma/Critical Care; Vascular

Association of VA Surgeons (AVAS) 2026 Annual Meeting
April 26-28, 2026 | Newport Beach, CA
Abstract deadline: January 9, 2026

More information can be found here.

Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM) Annual Meeting
June 28-July 1, 2026 | Oslo, Norway
Abstract deadline: January 14, 2026

Abstract Categories: Decision Psychology and Shared Decision Making; Applied Health Economics; Health Services, Outcomes, and Policy Research; Quantitative Methods and Theoretical Developments; Patient and Stakeholder Preferences and Engagement

Endocrine Society ENDO 2026
June 13-16, 2026 | Chicago, IL
Abstract deadline: January 15, 2026

Abstract categories can be found here.

American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2026 Annual Meeting
May 29-June 2, 2026 | Chicago, IL
Abstract deadline: January 27, 2026

Abstract categories can be found here.

Department of Surgery Recent Publications

Surgical Management and Outcomes in Pediatric Adrenocortical Carcinoma: A Pediatric Surgical Oncology Research Collaborative Study. Annals of Surgical Oncology. (Srivatsa S, Aldrink JH, Haque MR, Murphy A, Gehle D, Halepota H, Newman EA, Williams K, Mattei P, Johnston WR, Hwang R, Lautz TB, Ayala SA, Piche N, Lemoine CP, Debertin J, Polites SF, Rothstein DH, Riehle KJ, Nchinda N, Malek MM, Rinehardt HN, Gestrich C, Castle SL, Lopez A, Mayes MS, Myers EK, Roach JP, Craig BT, Lal DR, Schuh J, Cromeens BP, Mannava SV, Austin MT, Mayon LK, Kastenberg ZJ, Wallace M, Alexander A, Stellon MA, Le HD, Joshi DS, Chidiac C, Rhee DS, Cameron D, Stetson A, Rich BS, Glick RD, Fialkowski EA, Fowler K, Fareh R, Brown EG, Doyle K, Abril P, Grant C, Dasgupta R, Boehmer C, Mansfield SA)

A Multi-Institutional Comparison of Management Techniques for Infants with Giant Omphalocele. Journal of Pediatric Surgery. (Stetson A, Leonard S, Flynn-O'Brien K, Goldstein S, Wright T, Downard C, Van Arendonk KJ, Leyes CM, Cherney-Stafford L, Speck K, Minneci PC, Markel TA, St Peter SD, Lal D, Sobolic M, Landman MP, Rymeski B)

Sustainability of the “Name, Ask, Thank” Method to Improve Student Mattering in the Operating Room. Journal of Surgical Education. (Turner H, Patten C, Silverman R, Higgins RM)

Understanding Failure to Rescue in Solid Organ Transplantation: A Scoping Review. [Review]. Clinical Transplantation. (Kimura J, Asassfeh A, Cooper E, Prasad KR, Cooper M, Rawashdeh B)

Beyond capacity: an EAST multicenter mixed-methods study exploring surgeon perceptions on patient ratios in acute care surgery. Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open. (Wilson DJ, Gellings JA, Coleman J, Mukherjee K, Bonne S, Boltz M, Hartwell JL, Bruns B, Kurle J, Hassan M, Todd SR, Maqbool B, Morse BC, Cripps MW, Patel M, Margulies DR, Lilienstein JT, Aryan N, Zarzaur BL, Bayouth CV, Porter J, Staudenmayer K, Mederos DR, Fasanya C, Leneweaver K, Jacobson LE, Farrell MS, Norwood S, Cull JD, Hoth J, Kamine T, Prabhakaran K, Rakitin I, Englehart MS, Fusco-Ruiz T, Blondeau B, Adams CA Jr, McKenzie K, Holleman G, Liggett MR, Cunningham K, DeMoya M, Murphy PB)

The impact of body mass and posterior adiposity indices in robotic adrenalectomy. Surgical Endoscopy. (Kumar AL, Sanchez A, Doffek K, Taylor G, Yen TWF, Wang TS, Dream SY)

A 100-Year Simulation of the National Kidney Registry's Voucher Program. American Journal of Transplantation. (Cooper M, Kandaswamy R, Shannon P, Fleming JN, Veale J)

Outpatient care disparities in trauma patients discharged to jail: A propensity score matched study. Injury. (Biesboer EA, Brandolino A, Campbell J, Tannir AHA, Johnson A, Labott A, Hamadeh Y, Cronn SE, Trevino CM, deRoon-Cassini TA, Schroeder ME)

Understanding unrealized trial enrollments following patient-to-trial matching with large language models. Surgery. (Verhagen CT, Westerman G, Heaviland H, Lynch E, Brandenburg O, Adams-Patton J, Schwind R, Seo YD, Clarke CN, George B, Kothari AN)

Depression, Anxiety, and PTSD After Traumatic Injury: A Temporal Retrospective Cohort Study. Journal of Surgical Research. (Pearson LR, Timmer-Murillo SC, Schroeder ME, deRoon-Cassini TA, Holena DN)

Limited Awareness and Persistent Barriers To Crime Victims Compensation in Violently Injured Patients. Journal of Community Health. (Labott AT, Cooper E, Tatakis A, Biesboer EA, Berry AF, Hamadeh Y, Anderson Q, Brandolino A, deRoon-Cassini TA, Schroeder ME)

Optimizing Trauma Care: Evaluating Operating Room Door-to-Incision Using Trauma Video Review. Journal of Surgical Research. (Wilson DJ, Tatakis A, Gellings JA, Caswell C, Butak W, Farah A, Milia D, Holena D)

An integrative multitiered computational analysis for better understanding the structure and function of 85 miniproteins. Nar Genomics & Bioinformatics. (Veluri R, Pollin G, Wagenknecht JB, Urrutia R, Zimmermann MT)

Evolving Management of Acute Pulmonary Embolism with Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation-A Narrative Review. [Review]. Journal of Clinical Medicine. (Hart JP, Davies MG)

Is Appendiceal Cancer a Risk of Nonoperative Management of Pediatric Uncomplicated Appendicitis? Journal of Surgical Research. (Turpin AG, Asti L, Lutz C, Saito JM, Mak GZ, Hirschl RB, Gadepalli S, Helmrath MA, Leys CM, Lal DR, Flynn-O'Brien KT, Sato TT, Landman MP, Markel TA, Kabre R, Fallat ME, Deans KJ, Minneci PC)

PrevCardioOncAI: Machine Learning Algorithms for Predicting Cardiovascular Disease in Cancer Survivors. Journal of the American Heart Association. (Brown SA, Fang MZ, Sparapani R, Zhou Y, Osinski K, Taylor B, Yu D, Blessing J, Shah R, Collier P, BagheriMohamadiPour M, Zhang J, Kothari A, Echefu G, Rickards J, Otto C, Sanchez Z, Olson J, Arruda-Olson A, Cheng YC, Cheng F)

Characterizing Gastrostomy Tube Feeding Intolerance in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. Journal of Surgical Research. (Turner H, Morales S, Hanson A, Carver T)

ASO Visual Abstract: Contemporary Nodal Management and Overall Survival in Older Patients with HR-/HER2+ Breast Cancer. Annals of Surgical Oncology. (Cobb AN, Dong X, Makope A, Cohen L, Huang CC, Kong AL, Cortina CS)

Adrenalectomy patients with mixed primary aldosteronism and hypercortisolism: An analysis of outcomes following surgery at a single institution. Surgery. (Taylor GA, Allen M, Lisevick Kumar A, Doffek K, Shaik T, Carroll TB, Findling JW, Zhang CD, Evans DB, Wang TS, Dream S)

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