September is Sepsis Awareness Month, and the University of Florida’s Sepsis and Critical Illness Research Center is hard at work translating discoveries into clinical solutions to address sepsis.
“Early identification and early intervention can make a tremendous difference in patient outcomes,” said center director Philip Efron, M.D., a professor in the Department of Surgery.
In this Q&A, meet the Department of Surgery residents advancing sepsis science and care with the potential to accelerate recognition, personalized treatment and therapies, and recovery after sepsis.
Angel Charles, M.D.
What is your current research agenda?
- Burn and inhalation injury is characterized by severe acute and chronic immune dysfunction resulting in significant morbidity, mortality and cost. The goals of this proposal are to characterize the lung microbiome (including mycobiome) and microbial-derived metabolome in patients with burn and inhalation injury, as well as to determine the roles the lung microbiome and metabolome play in immune dysfunction and the development of acute lung injury. The information gained through this proposal will be used to determine the molecular mechanisms underpinning crosstalk between the lung microbiome and innate immune cells in the lungs after burn and inhalation injury and identify possible prognostic and therapeutic targets to control immune dysfunction and improve patient outcomes.
What are your long-term professional goals?
- Ultimately, I plan to become an academic surgical oncologist. The opportunity to surgically treat — and in some cases cure — cancer; to study unique disease processes and create personalized and side-effect limited therapies for patients with advanced disease; and to cultivate future generations of physicians and scientists is incomparable to any other life I could have imagined for myself.
Miguel Hernandez-Rios, M.D.
What is your current research agenda?
- Since joining the Sepsis and Critical Illness Research Center in 2024 as a postdoctoral fellow, I have assisted the lab in interpreting transcriptomic data to bioinformatics from human adult and neonatal immune systems. With the mentorship of Shawn Larson, M.D.; Philip Efron, M.D.; and Jaimar Rincón, Ph.D., I have published multiple abstracts and presented at local and national conferences. In my two-year research fellowship I have published a manuscript describing the diagnostic utility of monocyte anisocytosis in surgical/trauma sepsis and a commentary in Pediatric Research. As our adult work continues to make progress, the neonatal transcriptomic data has led to the identification of cells that may place preterm neonates at a disadvantage when regulating immune responses from the extra-uterine environment.
I anticipate my research will lead to the discovery of cellular communication pathways in human neonates that could lead to targeted therapies to improve outcomes in neonatal sepsis. My long-term goal is to complete my training in general surgery and continue my contribution to pediatric academic surgery with future strides in neonatal immunology.
What are your long-term professional goals?
- I aspire to form a private group of surgeons encompassing a variety of surgical subspecialties that may travel/work as locum in the state of Florida and territory of Puerto Rico. The island of Puerto Rico has experienced a recent exodus of medical specialists, and the burden of surgical pathologies is addressed by only a few specialists.
What drew you to your current study/research focus?
- As a previous preliminary general surgery resident, I had the opportunity to join Sepsis and Critical Illness Research Center to improve my curriculum vitae and reapply for categorical positions. Since then, I have joined the Division of Pediatric Surgery’s research on neonatal myeloid-derived suppressor cells.
Why is it important that we continue to make sepsis research a priority?
- It only takes a few weeks in the ICU and a month at the Sepsis and Critical Illness Research Center to realize the importance of sepsis research. It imposes an extreme burden on our health care system and some of our most vulnerable populations — neonates and the elderly — suffer the most.
What is one thing about sepsis you’d like people to know, or that perhaps doesn’t get enough attention?
- Pediatric immunology’s advancement lags and depends on adult research. We need to prioritize neonatal sepsis research. We hope to find novel ways to perform multiple functional assays using microliters of blood to advance the field.
Christine Rodhouse, M.D.
What is your current research agenda?
- Sepsis induces profound immune dysregulation, often resulting in chronic critical illness characterized by persistent immunosuppression and poor outcomes. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells are central mediators of this immunosuppressive phenotype, yet the influence of age and sex on their transcriptional and metabolic states remains poorly understood. We are attempting to better understand the biology of myeloid-derived suppressor cells among the different cohorts of age and sex so that a personalized medicine approach can be used to improve outcomes.
What are your long-term professional goals?
- I plan to pursue a fellowship in colorectal surgery after residency and then become a colorectal surgeon. Because no surgical specialty is exempt from sepsis, this research will help improve outcomes for my future patients.
What makes the University of Florida Department of Surgery an exciting place to complete a residency?
- Our attendings are all experts in their fields, giving us excellent opportunities for great operative experiences and learning how to take the best possible care of patients. We also have the privilege of getting to take care of patients with complex needs and a wide breadth of pathologies.
What makes the Sepsis and Critical Illness Research Center unique in terms of its approach to sepsis research?
- At the Sepsis and Critical Illness Research Center, we have experts in multiple fields collaborating so that we can think about sepsis from many different perspectives.
Whitman Wiggins, M.D.
What are your long-term professional goals?
- I plan to pursue fellowship training in pediatric surgery. With the skills and perspective gained during my training, my goal is to provide excellent, compassionate surgical care for sick children and their families.
Why is it important that we continue to make sepsis research a priority?
- Sepsis remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and it continues to place a heavy burden on patients, families and health care systems. Ongoing research is essential to improve early recognition, optimize treatment and ultimately reduce its devastating impact. By advancing our understanding, we can ensure we deliver the highest standard of care possible.
What makes the University of Florida Department of Surgery an exciting place to complete a residency?
- The operative experience at UF is exceptional. Ultimately, surgical residency is about mastering both the art and science of surgery with technical excellence, and our program provides unparalleled opportunities to do so. The breadth of cases, combined with faculty and co-residents who are deeply committed to training, ensures we graduate prepared to practice at the highest level possible.
What is one thing about sepsis you’d like people to know, or that perhaps doesn’t get enough attention?
- Sepsis is indiscriminate and can affect anyone: old and young, medical professionals and surgical patients alike. It touches every corner of medicine. Improving how we recognize and treat sepsis has ripple effects that elevate the quality of care across all specialties.
Athina Yoham, M.D.
What is your current research agenda?
- In the lab of Alicia Mohr, M.D., the Edward R. Woodward Professor and chief of acute care surgery, our research focuses on the pathophysiology of trauma, critical illness and sepsis, with a focus on elucidating molecular and cellular mechanisms that influence recovery trajectories. We interrogate biological processes at the molecular level, including the characterization of miRNA profiles, exosome composition and signaling occurring within the bone marrow and plasma. Through this approach, we seek to define pathological alterations that disrupt hematopoiesis, compromise immune function and hinder tissue repair, with the goal of identifying novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets to improve outcomes in critically ill patients.
What are your long-term professional goals?
- I have maintained a strong interest in both clinical and basic science research, recognizing its capacity to foster advanced critical thinking and analytical skills. My career interests lie in trauma and critical care surgery and I am using these dedicated research years to strengthen my scientific foundation, hone my investigative skills and ultimately translate these efforts into improved outcomes for my patients.