On The Cutting Edge | June 2026

June 19, 2026

T32 Biobehavioral Oncology Training Program

Kshitij Gaur, MD MS
General Surgery Resident

Congratulations to Kshitij Gaur, MD, MS for being accepted to the T32 Biobehavioral Oncology Training program!

The program aims to cultivate successful, independent cancer research leaders from diverse population groups to address cancer health disparities by integrating biological and behavioral aspects into their research.

Supported by a National Cancer Institute (NCI) T32 award, the program includes mentors with significant expertise in epidemiology, cancer biology, genetics, biostatistics, neuroscience, immunology, and behavioral medicine and interventions, offering research opportunities focused on the interactions of genetic, molecular, neural, psychological, behavioral, and social factors and its impact on cancer.

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

Upcoming Events

HRPP Research Connection Series | 12:00-1:00pm via Zoom
- Beginner Series:
  - Thursday, July 9 | IRB Submissions Part 1
  - Thursday, August 13 | IRB Submissions Part 2
- Intermediate/Advanced Series:
  - Thursday, July 9 | MCW QA/I & Post Approval Monitoring Activities
  - Thursday, August 13 | Hot Topics
CTSI Research Coordinator Enrichment Series | 12:00-1:00pm
- Thursday, June 25 | When Things Go Wrong in Clinical Research: Managing Errors and Staying Compliant
- Thursday, July 23 | Clinical Trial Activation Best Practices
CTSI Bootcamp - Clinical Research Basics | 8:00am-12:45pm
- Day 1 - August 5, 2026
- Day 2 - August 11, 2026

SurPASS Tip of the Month

Helpful Reminders When Using Artificial Intelligence in NIH-Supported Research

AI tools may be appropriate to assist in application preparation for limited aspects or in specific circumstances, but researchers should be aware that using AI comes with its own risks. Applications that are either substantially developed by AI or contain sections substantially developed by AI are not considered the original ideas of applicants and will not be considered by NIH.

Situations we may consider:

Generating data with AI and claiming it was obtained another way, which could constitute fabrication or falsification
Completely generating grant applications and/or papers using AI tools (including agents) that may have incorrect, misleading, or copied information
Altering images with AI without full disclosure, which may constitute data falsification
Presenting AI-generated, non-existent references overtly as real, which could constitute data fabrication (see this 2026 paper)
Copying substantial portions of text using AI tools without disclosure, which could be plagiarism

What researchers can do:

Clearly describe in applications, manuscripts, and presentations the use of the AI tools and how they may have been used during the development of an application, research itself, and/or data analysis and subsequent results, including a section on described methods for reproducibility
Disclose any specific image-editing processes used
Appropriately cite references and carefully review and confirm information is accurate
Consult institutional and journal policies and procedures to determine their acceptable practices, including if they allow for disclosing AI use, prohibiting AI-generated images or text, and crediting the tools as authors
Use the tools to edit or polish text in alignment with institutional, journal, or funders policies

Please contact Lynn Cummings with any questions!

Clinical Research Tip of the Month

REFORM Process: Accelerating Quality Clinical Trial Activation

Over the last year, the Office of Research, OCRICC & CPS have been piloting the Research Financial Optimization and Risk Management (REFORM) process as a standardized framework designed to improve institutional efficiency and clinical trial activation.

Developed from feedback by study teams, this initiative brings together a collaborative, cross-functional team of subject matter experts to support trial start-up activities, including a central intake form, feasibility review, OnCore billing grid set-up, coordinated coverage analysis and budget development/negotiation.

The purpose of REFORM is to target measurable reductions in activation timelines, while optimizing workflows, eliminating rework, ensuring timely budget/contract execution, maximizing budgets and proactively managing financial and operational risk. To date, we have over 25 pilot protocols initiated through REFORM and are aligning with the Cancer Center activation processes to ensure standardization across the research enterprise.

We need you! If you have any NEW trials pending activation, please let the REFORM team help you! We ask that MCW has been site-selected, but that no initial budget efforts have been initiated and that it has not been submitted to the IRB yet. All trial types welcome.

If you have any questions regarding REFORM, please contact Jen Brown.

MCW REFORM Sponsor Introduction

GRANT$ Alert

DOD Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP)
Various awards available
Pre-Proposal or Letter of Intent: Due mid-July 2026
Application due: end of July to mid-September 2026

Various awards available for translational, basic and clinical research.

Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation
$60,000 for 1 year
GCO deadline: July 24, 2026
Application due: July 31, 2026

Funds innovative research, prevention initiatives, and patient support for all types of adult and pediatric cancer.

AHW Seed Grants
$50,000 for 1 year
GCO deadline: N/A
Application due: August 3, 2026

Health improvement projects addressing Wisconsin's leading health challenges. MCW faculty and post-docs may apply. Project begins January 1, 2027.

Abstracts Alert

The Southern Surgical Association (SSA) Annual Meeting
December 6-9, 2026 | Palm Beach, FL
Abstract deadline: June 30, 2026

Submission Categories: Cardiothoracic; Education; Endocrine; Gastrointestinal; General/ Acute Care Surgery; Hepatopancreaticobiliary (HPB); History of Surgery; Outcomes/ QI; Pediatrics; Surgical Oncology; Transplantation; Trauma/ Critical Care; Vascular

Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) Annual Scientific Assembly
January 12-15, 2027 | New Orleans, LA
Abstract deadline: July 1, 2026

Abstract Categories: Basic Science, Clinical Science, and Injury Prevention*
*To be considered for the Cox-Templeton Injury Prevention Abstract Presentation Competition, the Injury Abstract Category must be selected.

Pacific Northwest Vascular Society (PNWVS) Annual Meeting
October 15-16, 2026 | Kelowna, B.C., Canada
Abstract deadline: July 13, 2026

More information can be found here.

Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Society (VESS) 2027 Annual Winter Meeting
January 21-24, 2027 | Steamboat Springs, CO
Abstract deadline: August 31, 2026

Submission Categories: Standard Papers (a select group of papers will be chosen for Rapid-Fire Presentations); Case Reports; Video Case Reports

Department of Surgery Recent Publications

Individual and combined effects of wheel running and ischemic preconditioning in protecting the rat heart from reperfusion injury. American Journal of Physiology - Cell Physiology. (Mishra J, Krier C, Cavanaugh M, Asija A, Baker JE, Kwok WM, Camara AK, Fitts RH)

Closing the Gap: A Longitudinal Review of the Trends of Gender Representation in the Society of Surgical Oncology Membership and Annual Meetings. Annals of Surgical Oncology. (Gaughan NA, Conroy MM, McLaughlin S, Jeruss JS, Hunt KK, Teshome M, Kong AL)

Surgical Trainee Familiarity and Knowledge of the Commission on Cancer Operative Standards: A National Survey Study. Journal of the American College of Surgeons. (Baskin AS, Funk EC, Sample JW, Francescatti AB, Pastore BM, Lee C, Boffa DJ, Dossett LA, Weigel RJ, Hieken TJ, Teshome M, Wang TS, Vreeland TJ, Zaveri S)

Default mode network resting-state functional connectivity and event centrality in adult acute trauma survivors. Scientific Reports. (Wang AZ, Tomas CW, Stevens S, Larsen SE, deRoon-Cassini TA, Larson CL)

Clinical Practice Guideline for the Surgical Management of Ulcerative Colitis. Diseases of the Colon & Rectum. (Lightner AL, Leeds I, McGee MF, Dawes AJ, Peterson CY, Krane MK, Hedrick TL, Gaertner WB)

Alcohol and mental health care integration in traumatically injured patients with elevated BAC: a retrospective chart review. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, & Policy. (Schumann NR, Marks MR, Jayan D, Greenwood J, Timmer-Murillo SC, Geier TJ, Bird CM, Schramm AT, McBain SA)

Closure of an urban level 1 trauma center and firearm assault mortality: The death of Hahnemann University Hospital. Surgery. (Counihan D, Byrne J, Poulson M, Hatchimonji J, Hynes A, Seamon M, Holena D, Torres C, Saillant N, Scantling D)

Readiness accelerators for military general surgeons: Insights from acute care surgery fellowship programs. The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. (Dilday JC, Fannon EEH, Remick K, De Moya M, Gurney J, Jurkovich GJ, Galante JM, Elster E, Knudson M, Russo RM)

The Elusive Definition of Type 2 Diabetes in the Context of Pancreas Transplantation: Summary of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association Pre-Congress Meeting. Transplantation. (Fridell JA, Dunn TB, Oram RA, Sadhu AR, Spaggiari M, Dib YE, Odorico JS)

Contraction of blood clots occurs during hemostasis and hemorrhagic shock to promote closure of lacerations. Biomaterials. (Ferraresso M, Ali-Mohamad N, Cau MF, Seadler M, Turner H, Ferraresso F, Zhang Y, Carver TW, Nagaswami C, Beckett A, Peng HT, Litvinov RI, Weisel JW, Bacca M, Kastrup CJ)

Modified Frailty Index and outcomes after liver transplantation: A multicenter cohort study. Surgery. (Abuassi M, Turner T, Westein R, Raigani S, Rawashdeh B, Tachtatzis P, Prasad K, Hynes AM)

Type of pledget and suture technique relative to esophageal tensile strength in long-gap esophageal atresia. Pediatric Surgery International. (Schuh JM, Morelos AA, Olson HM, Abebrese EL, Yan K, Zhang J, Freudinger BP, Jones DW, Salazar JH)

Prehospital Trauma Care Challenges in Lima, Peru: A Mixed-Methods Review of Patient Perspectives. Journal of Surgical Research. (Dentice AD, VanDerWal JA, Zavala-Wong G, Agrawal A, Blaser M, Cole O, Jaraczewski T, LaGrone LN, Arredondo-Manrique G, Betalleluz Pallardel JR, Graneros GA, Castro MR, Borda-Luque G, Castro-Dolorier A, Allagual A, Huaman-Egoavil E, Iverson KR)

The AAST International Relations Committee: Fostering education, scholarship, research and partnership. [Review]. The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. (Guo WA, Brahmbhatt TS, Jawa RS, Buhavac M, LaGrone LN, Nehra D, Bagaria D, Zhang G, de Moya M, Peralta R, Asensio JA, Aboutanos MB, Dicker R)

Indocyanine Green Fluorescence for Intraoperative Tumor Identification During Resection of Pediatric and Adolescent Intra-Abdominal Malignancy: A Prospective Multi-Institutional Observational Study. Journal of the American College of Surgeons. (Schermerhorn SM, Hartman SJ, Dasgupta R, Jenkins TM, Lautz TB, Kastenberg Z, Malek MM, Aldrink JH, Piche N, Brown EG, Roach JP, Rhee DS, Polites SF, Lal DR, Kim ES, Le HD, Tracy ET, Davies DA, Boehmer C, Bondoc AJ)

Long-Term Renal Outcomes in Living Kidney Donors with Asymptomatic Nephrolithiasis: A 10-Year Single-Center Study. American Journal of Transplantation. (Arpali E, Ozbek L, Karatas C, Akyollu B, Gunaydin B, Demir E, Uzunalan M, Rawashdeh B, Thomas B, Dunn TB, Kocak B)

Intratumoral TLR4 agonist therapy elicits antigen-specific T cell clonal expansion in metastatic leiomyosarcoma: a case series. Frontiers in Oncology. (Zhang JS, Ng JCK, Hermida de Viveiros P, Al-Marayaty R, Al Akoum N, Shinglot H, Jing W, Vizcaino V, Alexiev BA, Cranmer LD, Loggers ET, Abrams H, Wagner MJ, Pillarisetty VG, Kim EY, Pierce RH, Berglund P, Jones RL, Lu H, Ter Meulen J, Pollack SM, Seo YD)

Abortion restrictions and female medical school applicants: A retrospective study. PLOS Global Public Health. (Gilchrist JM, Istl AC, Kirpalani A)

Leveraging natural language processing artificial intelligence for automated data extraction of ejection fraction and strain from cardiovascular imaging reports. American Heart Journal Plus Cardiology Research And Practice. (Brown SA, BagheriMohamadiPour M, Sparapani R, Osinski K, Zhang J, Echefu G, Stowe I, Hamid A, Kothari A)

The fibrinogen alphaC region promotes arterial thrombosis in the context of hypofibrinogenemia. Blood. (Lee RH, Ferraresso F, Couzens A, Jameson AT, Hanes HE, Casini A, Neerman-Arbez M, Nieswandt B, Kastrup CJ, Bergmeier W, Flick MJ, Hur WS)

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