Current Fellows

Lexi Antunez

Medical Student Research Fellow

Lexi Antunez is a Master’s of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) student at the University of Michigan’s Center for Healthcare Outcomes & Policy. She is pursuing this degree during a year out from medical school at UMMS, and plans to apply to residency in general surgery. Her undergraduate degree is in Bioethics from Duke University.

Lexi’s research interests are in mixed-methods and outcomes in surgery, and her primary research mentors are Dr. Lesly Dossett and Dr. Scott Regenbogen. Her MSCR year is supported by a TL1 Fellowship from the National Institute of Health.

Alex Brescia, MD

Health Services Research Fellow

Alex Brescia is a health services research fellow at the University of Michigan's Center for Healthcare Outcomes & Policy, and an Integrated Thoracic Surgery resident at the University of Michigan. He is originally from St. Louis, Missouri, and is currently working toward a Master of Science in Health and Healthcare Research degree through the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and the Rackham Graduate School. He is supported during two years of academic development time through the Section of Vascular Surgery under an Institutional National Research Service Award T32 training grant.

Dr. Brescia's research focuses on the effect of surgical innovation on access, outcomes, and resource utilization. Specifically, he aims to examine the effect of rapid dissemination of transcatheter technology (e.g. transcatheter aortic valve replacement) on ease of access and regionalization, referral patterns, episode expenditures, and clinical outcomes in cardiac surgical patients. In addition to this focus, he has research interests in adult cardiac and aortic surgery clinical outcomes, as well as acute postoperative opioid prescribing and new persistent opioid usage among general thoracic and adult cardiac surgical patients.

Karan Chhabra, MD

Health Services Research Fellow

Karan Chhabra is a research fellow at the University of Michigan Center for Healthcare Outcomes & Policy and the National Clinician Scholars Program, as well as a General Surgery resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. He is from Allendale, New Jersey and studied at Duke University and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Prior to medical school, he worked on strategic research for hospital executives at The Advisory Board Company in Washington DC. As an undergraduate at Duke, he studied English and researched physician-patient communication. He is working toward an Master's in Health and Healthcare Research through the National Clinical Scholars Program and the Rackham Graduate School.

Dr. Chhabra's research focuses on: 1) the effects of healthcare changes on surgical access and quality, 2) designing the optimal delivery network for surgical population health, and 3) methods to measure and encourage improvement in surgical quality and costs.

Ana De Roo, MD

Health Services Research Fellow

Ana De Roo is a health services research fellow at the University of Michigan’s Center for Healthcare Outcomes & Policy, as well as a National Clinician Scholar. She is a General Surgery resident at the University of Michigan and received her medical degree from The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Through the National Clinician Scholars Program, she is working towards a Master’s Degree in Health and Healthcare Research.

Dr. De Roo’s research focuses on evaluating the outcomes of enhanced recovery protocols in older and vulnerable surgical patients, particularly those with comorbid conditions. She is also interested in patient decision making roles in cancer care.

Calista (Cali) Harbaugh, MD, MS

Health Services Research Fellow

Calista (Cali) Harbaugh is a health services research fellow at the University of Michigan’s Center for Healthcare Outcomes & Policy and a clinical scholar in the National Clinician Scholars Program. She is a General Surgery resident at the University of Michigan. She received her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan, her medical degree from the University of Michigan, and she is currently working toward a Masters of Science in Health and Healthcare Research through the National Clinician Scholars Program and the Rackham Graduate School.

Dr. Harbaugh's research interests are in improving access to and optimizing the quality of surgical care for pediatric patients. She has a specific research focus on perioperative opioid prescribing and consumption among children and adolescents following surgery, to better understand its contribution to the national opioid epidemic.

JR Montgomery, MD

Health Services Research Fellow

John Montgomery is a health services research fellow at the University of Michigan’s Center for Healthcare Outcomes & Policy, and a General Surgery resident at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He received his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina.

Dr. Montgomery’s research focuses on the impact of obesity on abdominal organ transplantation outcomes. In particular, he investigates the influence of pre-transplantation metabolic syndrome on post-transplantation outcomes and the effect of optimization via pre-habilitation and bariatric surgery on these outcomes. His research is supported by a T32 training gran from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Ari Schuman, MD

Health Services Research Fellow

Ari Schuman is a medical student at the University of Michigan Medical School. He is currently taking a year to study for a Masters of Science in Clinical Research at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He completed his undergraduate degree at Columbia University, where he studied Art History.

Since coming to medical school, he has developed an interest in surgical outcomes research, primarily in surgical oncology, and in how learners are evaluated during the course of their medical education. His research year is funded by a TL1 grant through the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research.

Kyle Sheetz, MD

Health Services Research Fellow

Kyle Sheetz is a health services research fellow at the Center for Healthcare Outcomes & Policy. He is a General Surgery resident at the University of Michigan, where he also received his medical degree and completed a Master of Science in Clinical Research. Kyle was named to the 2017-18 class of White House Fellows and served as a policy advisor to the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

His work focuses on hospital consolidation and its impact on the quality and costs of surgical care in the United States. He is interested in developing better ways for hospital systems to coordinate the delivery of high-risk and resource intensive services. Kyle is also interested in the diffusion of new surgical technologies. To better inform large-scale practice changes, he uses econometric methods to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of new approaches to common surgical procedures. His research is supported by an NIH T32 training grant through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Magaret (Meg) Smith, MD

Health Services Research Fellow

Margaret (Meg) Smith is a health services research fellow at the University of Michigan's Center for Healthcare Outcomes & Policy, and a General Surgery resident at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She graduated with a Bachelor in the Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University and then served as a 2008 Teach for America Corps Member teaching high school science in Chicago, Illinois. Margaret then received her medical degree from the University of Michigan, and is currently working toward a Masters of Science in Health and Healthcare Research through the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and the Rackham Graduate School.

Dr. Smith's research focuses on improving the quality and efficiency of surgical care, as well as investigating the impact that improving organizational culture has on surgical quality and patient outcomes. Her research is supported by a T32 training grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Joceline Vu, MD

Health Services Research Fellow

Joceline Vu is a General Surgery resident at the University of Michigan, currently training in health services research at the Center for Healthcare Outcomes & Policy. She completed her undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Virginia, where she also attended medical school. Her research is supported by the National Institutes of Health Obesity Surgery Scientist Training program. Dr. Vu’s research focuses on assessing quality of common surgical procedures, especially using patient-reported outcomes. She is also interested in characterizing the drivers of high healthcare costs in General Surgery, in the context of the increasing focus on value-based healthcare.