Our Team
Primary Investigators
Kenneth W Liechty, MD, FACS, FAAP
Division Chief, Pediatric Surgery
Director, Fetal Medicine
Surgeon-in-Chief, Banner Children’s at Diamond Children’s Medical Center
Professor, Surgery
Professor, Pediatrics
Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Carlos Zgheib, PhD, MS
Professor of Surgery
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor of Pharmacology
Member of the Graduate Faculty
Current Team Members
Emilia Mora Pinos, MD
Research Surgery Resident/Postdoctoral Fellow
Melisa, Kafali, MS
PhD Student
Stacy Skopp, MS, CVT
Researcher/Scientist III
Collaborators
Geoffrey C Gurtner, MD, FACS
Chair, Department of Surgery
Professor, Surgery
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Fayez K. Ghishan, MD
Horace W. Steele Endowed Chair
Head Department of Pediatrics
Director, Steele Children’s Research Center
The University of Arizona
Pawel R. Kiela, DVM, PhD
Professor
Associate Director for Basic Science Research
Research Associate Professor, Immunobiology
PANDA Endowed Professor in Autoimmune Disease Research
The University of Arizona
Kellen Chen, PhD
Associate Professor, Surgery
Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Michael D. L. Johnson, PhD
Associate Professor, Immunobiology
Member, BIO5 Institute
Member, Valley Fever Center for Excellence
Member, Asthma & Airway Disease Research Center
Director of Graduate Studies, Industrial Microbiology Track, Applied Bioscience Program
Director of the National Summer Undergraduate Research Project (NSURP)
Christopher Erickson, PhD
Assistant Professor
University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus
Sudipta Seal, PhD
Trustee Chair
Chair, Materials Science and Engineering
Pegasus and University Distinguished Professor
University of Central Florida
2012 – Present
Siobhan Malany, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Florida
College of Pharmacy
President of Micro-gRx
2012 – Present
Eva S. Nozik, MD
Professor of Pediatrics
Pediatric Critical Care and Cardiovascular Pulmonary Research Labs
University of Colorado Denver – Anschutz Medical Campus
2014 – Present
Sreejayan Nair, PhD
Professor of Pharmacology
Director, Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program
School of Pharmacy
University of Wyoming
2015 – Present
Previous Team Members
Efua Bolouvi, MD (July 2022 – July 2025)
Research Resident
University of Arizona Department of Surgery
Bailey Lyttle, MD (July 2022 – July 2025)
Research Resident
Department of Surgery
The University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus
Alyssa Vaughn, MD (July 2021 – July 2024)
Research Resident
Department of Surgery
The University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus
Anisha Apte, MD (July 2022 – July 2024)
Research Resident
Department of Surgery
George Washington University Hospital, Washington DC
Allison Wallbank (May 2019 – July 2022)
PhD Student
School of Bioengineering
The University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus
Stephen Niemiec, MD (July 2019 - July 2021)
Research Resident
The Department of Surgery
The University of California San Diego.
Amanda Louiselle, MD (July 2019 - July 2021)
Research Resident
The Department of Surgery
The University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus.
James Bardill, PhD (January 2020 – Present)
Post-Doctoral Fellow
The University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus.
Saliha Ahmad, BS (July 2020 – Present)
Masters Student
Boston University
Junyi Hu, MD
Professional research assistant
University of Colorado Denver – Anschutz Medical campus
Shaquia Idlett-Ali
Research Track Master’s Student
The University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus
Junwang Xu, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Tennessee Health Science Center – Memphis
Terry Lefcourt, MS2 (January 2015-January 2018)
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Emergency Medicine Resident
Maggie Hodges, MD (July 2015-July 2018)
Research Resident
The Department of Surgery
The University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus.
Lindel Dewberry, MD (July 2017-July 2019)
Research Resident
The Department of Surgery
The University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus
International Maternal Fetal Surgical Society 2018 Travel Award
Matched in Pediatric Surgery at The University of Iowa
Sarah Hilton, MD (July 2017-July 2019)
Research Resident
The Department of Surgery
The University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus
International Maternal Fetal Surgical Society 2018 Travel Award
International Maternal Fetal Surgical Society 2018 George Henry Award
American Academy of Pediatrics 2018 Award
Matched in Pediatric Surgery at Emory
Scott Deeney, MD (July 2014-June 2016)
Research Resident
The Department of Surgery
The University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus.
General Surgery Physician, North Springs Surgical Associate, Centura Health