Staff: Yale Center for Children's Surgical Research

Postdoctoral Fellows/Associates

Matthew P. Brennan, MD; Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Matthew Brennan came to Yale University after completing two years of surgery residency at the University of Miami / Jackson Memorial Hospital . He received his BS in Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , and his MD from Ross University School of Medicine. Dr. Brennan is currently working in the field of tissue engineering to advance the utility of tissue engineered vascular conduits. He is also working in conjunction with the Section of Cardiology to isolate and manipulate markers for angiogenesis for their use in implantable drug delivery systems. His clinical interests include cardiothoracic and transplant surgery.

Karen A. Diefenbach, MD John Seashore Fellow in Pediatric Surgical Research

Karen Diefenbach has joined the Section of Pediatric Surgery as our second Seashore Pediatric Surgical Research Fellow. After completing medical school and surgical residency at The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria , Karen became a board certified general surgeon and worked in private practice before deciding to pursue a career in pediatric surgery. Her interests are in critical care, surgically treated congenital anomalies, and minimally invasive pediatric surgery. Karen’s current research projects include ‘ Pediatric Trauma Radiation Dose’, ‘ Risk Factors for Necrotizing Entercolitis Totalis’ and ‘Association Between Intra-abdominal Pressure and Necrotizing Enterocolitis’.

Peter Fong, PhD; Postdoctoral Associate Biomedical Engineering ; Brown Coxe Fellow

Peter Fong earned his PhD, MPhil and MS in Biomedical Engineering, Engineering and Applied Science from Yale University . His prior research experience includes work in Gel Dosimetry and MRI, Polymer Science, Medicinal Chemistry, and Solid State Synthetic Organic Chemistry. Dr. Fong's research focuses on the construction of improved neotissue (tissue made from living cells but assembled in a laboratory) for the replacement of diseased or damaged organs, specifically heart valves and parathyroid glands. He is also investigating the development of microspheres as MRI contrast agents that could be used in a variety of applications, ranging from the detection of cancer to imaging the development of neo-tissue architecture. A recent recipient of the Brown Coxe Fellowship, Dr . Fong also will be working with Drs. Saltzman and Breur in the Center's Bench Science Division.

Reynold I. Lopez-Soler MD, PhD; Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Reynold I. Lopez-Soler is a surgical resident at Yale/New Haven Hospital. He completed his BS in Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then received his MD and PhD at Northwestern University Medical School . His graduate thesis focused on the role of nuclear proteins in cancer metastasis. He is currently in the laboratory of Christopher Breuer, MD performing tissue engineering research on the role of Nitric Oxide in increasing the patency of tissue engineered vascular grafts. His interests are Pediatric as well as Transplant Surgery.

Jason Roh BA, Fourth-year Yale Medical Student; James G. Hirsch, MD Endowed Medical Student Fellow

Jason Roh is a fourth year medical student at the Yale University School of Medicine. Prior to coming to Yale, he received a BA in biology from Amherst College and completed research fellowships at the NIH and the Northwestern School of Medicine. He has presented at the annual AAAS meeting and published an abstract with the AAI. He recently received the James G. Hirsch, MD, Endowed Medical Student Fellowship to do one year of tissue engineering research with the Department of Pediatric Surgery. Currently, he is working with Dr. Christopher Breuer on a project to evaluate the growth potential of tissue engineered vascular grafts. His plans are to pursue a career in academic surgery.

Loren Berman, MD Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar

Loren Berman, a second year Surgical Resident at the Yale University School of Medicine, will be become Pediatric Surgery’s first Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar in July 2006. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (BS/Biological Basis of Behavior, 2000) and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (MD, 2004), Loren has a long record of undergraduate and graduate research including work at Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Schools of Medicine, Boston Medical Center and University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychology. She also has volunteered extensively in community outreach and mentorship programs. As a RWJCS, Loren will be investigating the relationship between access to specialized care in pediatric surgery and clinical outcomes.