Dr. Vivi Chen Awarded NIH Grant for Outcomes Study

Dr. Vivi Chen, PGY-2 categorical resident, has received a two-year grant totaling $166,952 from the National Institute of Health. This grant is for a project titled, “Optimizing the Risk-Adjusted CUSUM for Monitoring Hospital Non-Cardiac Perioperative Outcomes.”  The goal of this project is to study and refine CUSUM, a major alternative analytic strategy to current national surgical quality improvement programs. With this method, it can provide real-time data that can result in detection of previously unappreciated suboptimal care processes and save patients from potentially preventable morbidity and mortality. 

Dr. Chen’s faculty mentors include Dr. Nader Massarweh and Dr. Laura Petersen. Dr. Chen is currently a second-year general surgery resident where she will undergo a two-year research period, during which she will also receive her Master in Public Health degree from the University of Texas School of Public Health. Her interests lie in surgical outcomes research with plans to pursue a fellowship in surgical oncology.