Dr. Melvin Donaldson, MD, PhD
Current Role: Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Iowa, Medical Director for AirCare, and EMS fellowship core faculty
Research Experience Prior to Residency: Completed doctoral training in epidemiology at the University of Minnesota.
PSTP Project and Mentor(s): Co-mentored by Dr. Nicholas Mohr and Dr. Azeem Ahmed, I investigated out-of-hospital pain management and pain trajectories during interfacility transport. My current research examines how early pain control in acute trauma alters stress responses to prevent chronic pain and long-term psychological sequelae.
Physician-Scientist Life Goal: My goal as a physician-scientist is to integrate clinical epidemiology and emergency care to establish evidence-based prehospital interventions that minimize long-term post-injury morbidity.
Dr. Karen Cyndari, MD, PhD, MS
Current Role: Assistant Professor and Director of Emergency Medicine PSTP at the University of Iowa
Research Experience Prior to Residency: MS in Natural Sciences from Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY (2011), MD/PhD from Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY (2019).
PSTP Project and Mentor(s): Mentored by Dr. Christine Petersen, DVM, PhD, my project focused on understanding how Lyme Arthritis disrupts joint space immune regulation through characterization of immune cell subsets in synovial fluid from patients presenting to the ED.
Physician-Scientist Life Goal: 1) Change the world for the better, one experiment, one mentee, one patient at a time. 2) cure diseases of the joints that are caused or worsened by failure of immune regulation, including arthritis and synovial sarcoma.
Dr. Nancy Mikati, MD, MS
Current Role(s): Medical Toxicology fellow at UCLA
Research Experience Prior to Residency: T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at UPMC, focused on post-cardiac arrest care and resuscitation, and a Master’s in Clinical Research from the University of Pittsburgh
Current Research: Research focused on medical toxicology, with my most recent publication focused on postmortem toxicology testing
Physician-Scientist life goal: My goal is to build a career in academic emergency medicine and medical toxicology that bridges clinical care, research, and education, while mentoring and inspiring the next generation to find their own paths in medicine