PhD Graduates

Updates are in progress!

Hussam Alqahtani
Hussam Mohammed Alqahtani, PhD

Program: Clinical Translational Science

Advisors: Siran Koroukian, PhD and James Spilsbury, PhD

Dissertation: Investigating the Association Between Complex Multimorbidity and Periodontal Disease: An Analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Currently: Assistant Professor of Periodontics and Clinical Data Science Researcher, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences

 

Haimeng Bai
Haimeng Bai, PhD

Program: Systems Biology and Bioinformatics

Advisor: William S. Bush, PhD

Dissertation: Exploring the Effect of a Haptoglobin Structural Variant on Neurocognitive Phenotypes Using Computational Approaches

Currently: Bioinformatics Scientist, Vanda Pharmaceuticals

 

Wyatt Bensken
Wyatt Peter Bensken, PhD

Program: Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Advisor: Siran Koroukian, PhD

Dissertation: Disparities and Inequities in Health, HealthCare, and Outcomes for People Living with Epilepsy

Currently: Research Investigator at OCHIN, Inc. and Adjunct Faculty here in PQHS. Link to Dr. Bensken's website here.

 

Weicong Chen
Weicong Chen, PhD

Program: Computing and Information Science

Advisor: Curtis Tatsuoka, PhD

Dissertation: High-performance and Scalable Bayesian Group Testing and Real-time fMRI Data Analysis

Currently: Postdoc Research Scholar at the Parallel and Distributed Systems Laboratory (PADSYS Lab), one of the labs in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The University of California, Merced.

 

Gwendolyn Donley
Gwendolyn Donley, PhD

Program: Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Dissertation: The Role of Perception and Crisis in Food Environments, Vaccine Acceptance, and Financial Stress

Currently: Postdoctoral National Poverty Fellow with the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison

 

India Jarita Gill

India Jarita Gill, PhD, MPH

Program: Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Dissertation: Investigating the Neighborhood Context of Racial Inequities in Child Ashtm Emergency Healthcare

Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow, Social Interventions Research and Evaluation Network, University of California San Francisco 


Britney Graham, PhD

Program: Systems Biology

Advisor: Scott Williams, PhD

Currently: Postdoctoral Scientist, Cedars-Sinai

 

Emily Hannon
Emily Hannon, PhD

Program: Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Advisors: Diane Dowd, PhD, Alex Yee-Chen Huang, MD, PHD, James Kazura, MD, and Scott Williams, PhD

Dissertatiion: Assessing Heterogneity in the Immune Response Against Malaria in African Children

Currently: Emily is working on the MD component of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) - an MD/PhD combined degree program.

 

Vanessa Ho
Vanessa Phillis Ho, MD, MPH, PhD, FACS

Program: Clinical Translational Science

Advisor: Siran Koroukian, PhD

Dissertatiion: Worse than Death? The Older Patient and Long-Term Outcomes after Emergency General Surgery

Currently: Associate Professor, Departments of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU)

Faculty, Center for Health Equity, Engagement, Education, and Research within the Population Health and Equity Research Institute (PHERI), The MetroHealth System

Medical Director of the Trauma Recovery Center, Institute for H.O.P.E, The MetroHealth System

Director of Trauma Research, Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Critical Care, Emergency General Surgery, and Burns

 

Olivia Hogue
Olivia Marie Hogue, PhD

Program: Clinical Translational Science

Dissertation: Statistical Practice in Preclinical Neurosciences: Implications for Successful Translation of Research Evidence from Animals to Humans

Currently: Assistant Staff, Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Cleveland Clinic

 

Bowen Jin
Bowen Jin, PhD

Program: Systems Biology and Bioinformatics

Advisor: William S. Bush, PhD

Dissertation: Transcriptome-Wide Study of Transcriptional Kinetics in Human Cells

Currently: Postdoctoral Researcher, Brigham and Women's Hospital

 

Kakul Joshi
Kakul Joshi, PhD, MPH

Program: Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Advisor: Erika Trapl, PhD

Dissertation: Food Banking during COVID-19: Understanding Food Sourcing, Quality, and Factors Influencing Healthier Food Inventory

Currently: Senior Evaluator, Professional Data Analysts

 

Uriel Kim
Uriel Kim, PhD, MBA

Program: Clinical Translational Science

Kim's dissertation looked at the impact of the Affordable Care Act on cancer outcomes in individuals from low-income communities.

Currently: Completing the MD portion of the combined degree Medical Scientist Training Program here at CWRU.

 

Carli Lehr
Carli Jessica Lehr, MD, PhD

Program: Clinical Translational Science

Dissertation: Updating Risk Predictions for Lung Transplant Candidates Bridged with Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Using Novel National Data

Currently: Staff pulmonologist at the Respiratory Institute and assistant professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, specializing in transplant medicine. 

 

Morgan McGrath
Morgan K. McGrath, PhD

Program: Clinical Translational Sciences

Advisor: Jill Barnholtz Sloan, PhD

Currently: Completing the MD portion of the combined degree Medical Scientist Training Program here at CWRU.

 

Michael McHenry
Michael Lyon McHenry, PhD

Program: Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Dissertation: Genomic and Co-Evolutionary Determinants of Clinical Severity in Active Tuberculosis Patients

Currently: Housestaff, Division of Medicine Administration, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

 

Ann Miller
Anna Miller, PhD

Program: Genetic and Genome Sciences

Advisor: Scott Williams, PhD

Currently: Molecular Science Liaison, Caris Life Sciences

 

 

Elina Misicka

Elina Misicka, PhD

Program: Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Dissertation: Understanding Genetic Drivers of Age at Onset and Risk Conferred by Obesity in Multiple Sclerosis

Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow, Neuroimmunological Disorders Gene-Environment Epidemiology Lab, Department of Population & Quantitative Health Sciences, CWRU.


 

Jasmine Olvany
Jasmine Olvany, PhD

Program: Genetics and Genome Sciences

Advisor: Scott Williams, PhD

Currently: Research Project Manager in Stroke Intervention Trials at Mercy Health

 

 

Michael Osterman
Michael David Osterman, PhD

Program: Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Advisor: Jonathan L. Haines, PhD

Dissertation: Refining the Use of Polygenic Risk Scoresfor Alzheimer Disease in Diverse and Founder Populations

Currently: Assistant Director of Epidemiology at Epividian, Inc.

 

Ryan Nazemian
Ryan Nazemian, MD, PhD

Program: Clinical Translational Science, CRSP Program

Advisor: Johnie Rose, MD, PhD

Dissertation: Monitoring Nitric Oxide Bioactivitiy, Tissue Oxygenation and Blood Flow in Neurologically-Diseased (DNC) Organ Donors

Currently: Anesthesiologist, Lahey Hospital & Medical Center

 

Sarah Ronis
Sarah Diane Ronis, MD, PhD

Program: Clinical Translational Science

Advisor: Kurt Stange, MD

Dissertation: Engagement for Impact in Social Risk Screening and Intervention

Currently: Director of the University Hospitals Rainbow Center for Child Health & Policy and Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

 

Wayne Tsuang
Wayne Mark Tsuang, MD, PhD, MHS

Program: Clinical Translational Science

Advisor: Johnie Rose, MD, PhD

Dissertation: Towards Translational Geospatial Medicine in Lung Transplantation

Currently: Staff physician in the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Associate Professor at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine