STANFORD PEDIATRIC ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY
SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM

Kira Skaggs

Kira graduated from Amherst College ('16) with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and was a second year medical student at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons ('22) at the time of her summer research internship. Kira is an avid equestrian and weightlifter, and interested in pursing research in sports medicine. 

In the summer of 2019, she worked with Dr. Emily Kraus on various projects that involved the Female Athlete Triad, running medicine, and case reviews.

1. A Prospective Study to Identify the Prevalence of Female and Male Athlete Triad Risk Factors in High School Athletes
2. Unique Bone Stress Injury Case Review
3. Genetic and Serologic Determinants of Bone Health in Ultramarathoners

Sahej Randhawa

Sahej was a rising second year medical student at the University of California, San Diego at the time of his summer research internship. He completed his undergraduate education at UC San Diego as well, majoring in Bioengineering: Bioinformatics. During the summer of 2019, he worked under the mentorship of Dr. Shea on quantitively defining key anterolateral landmarks of pediatric knees and conducting epidemiological analysis of the discoid meniscus. Other projects included analyzing radiographic images of supracondylar humeral fractures and assessing outcomes of improved MRI techniques. His past professional experiences include working as a speechwriter and professional interests include surgical devices and utilizing data science and machine learning methods in a medical context.

Sunny Trivedi

Sunny was a rising second-year medical student at the University of Florida College of Medicine at the time of his summer research internship.  He is originally from Eastvale, CA and spent 2 years at UCLA as a Molecular Biology major before being accepted to the BS/MD Medical Honors Program at the University of Florida.  Sunny is passionate about anatomy, sports medicine, and quality improvement.  He is interested in pursuing Orthopedic Surgery and returning to California for future training. During the summer of 2019, he was working under the mentorship of Dr. Kevin Shea.  His projects included a QI initiative in collaboration with the Anesthesia team on splitting acetaminophen/opioid combination medications, a retrospective review on Type IV supracondylar humerus fractures, an anatomy project on the pediatric proximal Tibia/Fibula Joint, and a retrospective review on targeted Knee MRIs.

Taeyoon (Dan) Kim

Dan studied biological sciences as an undergraduate at Cornell University and was a rising second year medical student at SUNY Upstate Medical University at the time of his summer research internship. During his gap year, he studied prostate cancer and the efficacy of the active surveillance protocol as a clinical research coordinator in the UCSF Department of Urology. He returned to the Bay Area for the summer at Stanford to further nurture his interest in pediatric orthopedic surgery. Some of his accomplishments through his internship included writing a study on the potential effect of the 6AM Start program for certain fractures admitted to the ED at night. He was also a part of many ongoing studies on scoliosis in children such as Mehta casting, different pelvic fixation methods of spinal fusion for neuromuscular scoliosis patients, and bracing compliance for AIS patients. He is extremely grateful for all the great mentors, colleagues, and friends from this internship, and excited to apply all that he has learned over the summer to his journey in medicine.

Vincent Gnad

Vincent Gnad was a 3rd year student pursuing a bachelor's degree in public health at the University of California Berkeley. He was assisting mulitple clinical research projects at the Stanford Department of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery. Some of his work involved investigating methods for lowering anxiety in pediatric patients undergoing certain procedures and studying the effectiveness of treatment processess regarding hip dysplasia. This is his first major experience with clinical research. He hopes to continue his academic endeavors and pursue medical school within the next couple years.

Alexander Karius

Alexander Karius was a 3rd year undergraduate student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology at the time of his summer research internship. He was pursuing multiple clinical research projects at the Stanford Department of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery. Some of his work pertained to studying the decision making process of medical practitioners, investigating methods for lowering anxiety in pediatric patients undergoing certain procedures, promoting compliance for scoliosis and clubfoot bracing, and analyzing trends in pediatric research across research universities and hospitals. His past research has involved Effects of fibroblast donor variability on in vitro vasculogenesis, which was presented as a poster at the Biomedical Engineering Society’s 50th anniversary annual meeting in 2018. He hopes to continue his pursuit of medicine by applying to and attending medical school in 2020. Ultimately, his passion is in pediatric orthopedic medicine.

Karthik N, Uzosike M, Sanchez U, Karius A, Leyden J, Segovia N, Eppler S, Hastings KG, Kamal R, Frick S (September 27 2020) Deciding Without Data: Clinical Decision Making in Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery. Int J Qual Health Care. doi: 10.1093/intqhc/mzaa119.

Damian McGlothin

Damian was a second year medical student at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at the time of his summer research internship. Damian has a longstanding passion for both Orthopaedic Surgery and Pediatric medicine that has recently been strengthened through recent research experiences at the Stanford Medicine Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. During his time at Stanford, he focused on a project that provided virtual reality technology to pediatric patients with the goal of alleviating procedural anxiety and enhancing clinic dynamics. Additionally, he helped launch a study measuring the relationship between physical activity and relapse incidence in pediatric clubfoot patients, while also managing a project aimed at improving bone age radiograph assessment for children with scoliosis. In the future, he plans to pursue a specialty in Orthopaedic Surgery along with opportunities specific to international medical outreach as a member of his school's Global Medicine Program.

Paige Skorseth

Paige Skorseth was a M2 at the University of Wisconsin during the time of her summer research internship and was involved in several research projects with Stanford's Department of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery. Her most recent work was on the Female Athlete Triad and iron deficiency in high school aged distance runners. Additionally, she worked with her mentor, Dr. Emily Kraus, on several other sports medicine focused projects. Her past research has included Can Asymmetric Running Patterns Be Predicted By Assessment of Asymmetric Standing Posture: A Case Study in Elite College Runners, which is published in the Journal of Functional Neurology, Rehabilitation and Ergonomics and was orally presented at the Movement, Brain, Body, and Cognition Conference in Oxford, UK (2017). She hopes to keep working in sports medicine and orthopedics and additionally be involved in NCAA policy creation, in the future.

Skorseth P, Segovia N, Hastings K, Kraus E (October 27 2020) Prevalence of Female Athlete Triad Risk Factors and Iron Supplementation Among High School Distance Runners: Results From a Triad Risk Screening Tool. Orthop J Sports Med 8(10). doi: 2325967120959725.