2019 Texas Children’s Surgical Research Day Awards

May 21, 2019

Emily Steen, M.D., general surgery resident at Baylor College of Medicine, was awarded the 2019 Samuel Stal Research Award at Texas Children’s Hospital. Dr. Steen went to the University of Virginia for her undergraduate studies and earned her medical degree at UT Southwestern Medical Center in 2015. Over the past two years, she has been conducting basic science research in the Laboratory for Regenerative Tissue Repair under Dr. Sundeep Keswani, professor of surgery in the Division of Pediatric Surgery at Baylor and surgical director of basic science research at Texas Children’s. Dr. Steen’s work has focused on pediatric and fetal surgery, wound healing and fibrosis. Throughout her time in the lab, she has been prolific, publishing multiple papers and giving 30 presentations both nationally and internationally, many of which won awards at the various conferences.

Edward Buchanan, M.D., was selected as the 2019 Research Mentor in the Department of Surgery at Texas Children’s. Dr. Buchanan is chief of plastic surgery at Texas Children’s. He was nominated by Dr. Kelly Schultz, who recently graduated from Baylor. Dr. Schultz wrote, “in addition to showing unparalleled commitment to his patients, Dr. Buchanan has been a strong mentor, sponsor, and role model in clinical research through the entirety of my and many other students’ and residents’ medical careers.”

In addition to the Stal Award and Research Mentor Award, the following awards were given at the 2019 Texas Children’s Surgical Research Day event: Dr. Yangyang Yu received the award for Best Poster titled “Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the Surgical Management of Infants Under 1 Year of Age with Feeding Difficulties,” and Dr. Candace Style won the award for Best Oral Presentation, where she discussed how “Citrulline Effectively Reduces the Rate and Severity of Necrotizing Enterocolitis Compared to Hydrogen Sulfide in the Premature Piglet Model.”