Four benefit from Bressler-Alpert Travel Awards to present research in 2025

Congratulations to this winter/spring’s winners of the Bressler-Alpert Travel Awards, which are funded largely by current and former faculty and their families.

The awards were created as part of the Bressler-Alpert Travel Society, which was formed in 2012 to assist in assuring students, residents and fellows training in internal medicine in the University of Arizona Department of Medicine at the College of Medicine – Tucson would be able to attend medical conferences to present their research findings. It’s named for prior DOM chairs, the late Rubin Bressler, MD (1976-1992), and Joseph S. Alpert, MD (1992-2006), who is currently the DOM’s vice chair for appointments and promotions, a cardiologist in the Division of Cardiology and a Sarver Heart Center member.

Thirteen have been presented to residents and fellows since January 2023.

2025 | Winter-Spring

Among this year’s recipients and the research they were presenting are:

• Mateo “Matthew” Mendoza, MD, a  Class of 2025 U of A Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson resident. Dr. Mendoza presented on “Assessing the Utility of Proactive Maneuvers During Right Heart Catheterization in Pulmonary Venous Hypertension” at the American Thoracic Society 2025 in San Francisco, May 16-21.
• Tom Finkelstein, MD, a fellow in the U of A Geriatric Medicine Fellowship in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine. Dr. Finkelstein presented on “Screening for Success: Promoting Functional Independence and Wellbeing in At-Risk Older Adults” at the American Geriatrics Society 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, May 7-10.
• Samuel Cheong, DO, a Class of 2025 U of A Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson resident. Dr. Cheong presented on “Evaluating Visual Assessment Accuracy and Interobserver Variability in Colorectal Polyp Identification Among Gastroenterologists” and “The Impact and Effectiveness of Post-Acute Diverticulitis Colonoscopy in Detecting Colon Cancer: A Retrospective Analysis in a Tertiary Care Center” at Digestive Disease Week 2025 in San Diego, May 3-6.
• Tom Marco, DO, a Class of 2026 U of A Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson resident. Dr. Marco presented on, “The effects of socioeconomic deprivation on the tumor microenvironment of bladder cancer” at the American Association for Cancer Research 2025 Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 25-30.

2024

There were six Bressler-Alpert Travel Award recipients in 2024. They included:

• Shoma Bommena, MBBS, a GI fellow in the Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology. She presented on “Outcomes of TIPS in Native Americans: A Single-Center Experience” at the The Liver Meeting in San Diego, Nov. 15-19, 2024, hosted by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, or AASLD.
• Marian Lacy, MD, a Class of 2024 fellow in the Division of Infectious Diseases’ fellowship program. She presented on “Disseminated Pediatric Coccidioidomycosis at an Academic Center in Southern Arizona (2013-2023)” at ID Week 2024 in Los Angeles, Oct. 16-19, 2024.
• Maryam Naveed, MBBS, a fellow in the Division of Infectious Diseases’ fellowship program. She presented on “Antifungal Drug Resistance and Emerging Fungal Pathogens” at the ASM Microbe 2024 in Atlanta, hosted June 13-17 by the American Society for Microbiology.
• Aaron Bertolo, MD, a Class of 2024 Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson resident. He presented on “Iron Deficiency and Acute Heart Failure: Improving Quality of Life, Reducing Hospitalization, and Following Current Guidelines” at the ACP Annual Meeting 2024 in Boston, hosted April 18-20, by the American College of Physicians.
• Hoang Nhat Pham, MD, a Class of 2026 Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson resident. He presented on “Dual Antithrombotic Therapy Versus Triple Antithrombotic Therapy in Atrial Fibrillation and Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Meta Analysis” at the ACC.24, the American College of Cardiology’s 73rd Annual Scientific Session & Expo in Atlanta, April 6-8, 2024.
• Mahek Shahid, MD, a Class of 2025 Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson resident. She presented on “Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy Mortality and Social Vulnerability Index: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Analysis” at ACC.24, the American College of Cardiology’s 73rd Annual Scientific Session & Expo in Atlanta, April 6-8, 2024.

2023

There were three Bressler-Alpert Travel Award recipients in 2023. They included:

• Armaan Dhaliwal, MBBS, a Class of 2023 resident in the Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson. He presented on “Genomic Profiling between Hispanic Americans (HA) and Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW) with Advanced Prostate Cancer: A Retrospective Analysis of Tissue, Liquid & Germline Testing” at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting hosted June 2-6 in Chicago by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
• Jyotirmayee Lenka, MD, a Class of 2023 fellow in the Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program. She presented on “A Pilot Student of Diagnostic Value of Sentinel-10 Liquid Biopsy Assay for the Detection of Malignancy in Pleural Fluid” at the American Thoracic Society’s 2023 ATS International Conference, May 19-24, in Washington, DC.
• Srilekha Sridhara, MD, a Class of 2024 fellow in the Nephrology Fellowship Program. She presented on three papers – “Coexistent Multiple Viremia and Acute Cellular Rejection in a Kidney Transplant Recipient,” “Daratumumab Management of Monoclonal Immunoglobulin Deposition Disease (MIDD) in a Second Renal Allograft,” and “Successful Pregnancies in a Renal Transplant Recipient with Recurring Intrahepatic Cholestasis” – at the National Kidney Foundation’s Spring Clinical Meetings, April 11-15, 2023, in Austin, Texas.

To apply for funding to assist in sending students, residents or fellows to an academic conference, please reach out to Breanna Sherrow-Serrano, PhD, the DOM’s director of faculty development and teaching excellence, at bsherrow@arizona.edu in the Vice Chair of Education Office.

ALSO SEE:
“Twenty-six students, residents and a fellow share in DOM 2025 Education Awards” | Posted May 1, 2025