Faculty
Research Summary
Thyroid Cancers Head & Neck Paraganglioma Hyperparathyroidism
Clinical Summary
Endocrine surgery (thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal); Head and neck cancer surgery; Melanoma; Surgical oncology
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Honors and Recognition
Bio
I wholeheartedly enjoy caring for patients with critical illness and emergency surgical conditions. My approach is to provide high-quality evidence-based emergency surgical and critical care to those in need. I treat every patient like I would my own family member. Dr. Tignanelli is an Acute Care Surgeon at the University of Minnesota providing trauma, emergency surgery, critical care, and ECMO care for critically ill patients. He is triple board-certified in General Surgery, Surgical Critical Care, and Clinical Informatics. His research lab, MNCCORE includes over 30 researchers developing and deploying informatics-based tools to improve the delivery of healthcare within and beyond the University of Minnesota system. His research focuses on the development and validation of machine learning and AI-enabled decision support systems as well as the implementation, user-centered design, and scaling of interoperable clinical decision support tools.
Dr. Tignanelli is the current dyad director of the University of Minnesota Center for Outcomes, Quality, Delivery and Evaluation (C-QODE). He is the current co-Director of the Federated Computer Vision in Healthcare U.S. Collaborative and faculty in the UMN Institute for Health Informatics' Natural Language Processing research lab. He is an AHRQ-funded K12 Learning Health System Scholar. His research program has since been funded by the NIH, Gates Foundation, Microsoft AI for Health, among others. He has over 70 peer-reviewed publications and has been awarded over $6 million in grant funding since 2018. In 2021, he was named a "Health Care Hero" by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal for his innovative use of AI and informatics to improve healthcare for patients with COVID-19. Dr. Tignanelli is a member of multiple informatics committees including the AHRQ evidence-based Care Transformation Support (ACTS), CDC's Adapting Clinical Guidelines for the Digital Age Initiative and the American College of Surgeons Health Information Technology (HIT) Committee.
Research Summary
Quality Improvement Patient Safety Trauma Systems Research Surgical Outcomes
Clinical Summary
Trauma, Surgical Critical Care, ECMO, Emergency general surgery
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Licensures and Certifications
Honors and Recognition
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations
Contact
Address
MMC 195420 Delaware St. SE
Minneapolis, MN, 55455
Administrative Contact
(Non-Research) Keara Carpenter | carpe803@umn.edu
Research Scheduling Contact:
(Research) Andrea Lee| leex7731@umn.edu
Research Summary
Outcomes after breast cancer treatment Outcomes after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal Surgical outcomes among Native Americans Breast cancer outcomes in Central America
Clinical Summary
Specialties: Surgical oncology, Gastrointestinal cancer, Breast cancer, Melanoma, Sarcoma Interests: Surgical oncology; Gastrointestinal cancer; Breast cancer; Melanoma; Sarcoma; Cancer care in Central America
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Honors and Recognition
Clinical Summary
Minimally invasive mitral valve repairs; Minimally invasive valve surgery; Aortic surgery; Coronary artery bypass grafting; Surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation; Surgical management of endocarditis; Complex redo heart surgeries; Heart transplantation; Mechanical circulatory assist devices
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Licensures and Certifications
Honors and Recognition
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations
Contact
Address
Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery420 Delaware St. S.E., MMC 207
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Administrative Contact
Tina Russell | 612-625-1096 | russe041@umn.edu
Bio
Dr. Watt obtained her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and medical degree from the University of Michigan. She remained at University of Michigan for Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency training as well as Advanced Heart Failure and Mitral Surgery Fellowship. During her training she also obtained a Master of Health and Healthcare Research degree from the Institute for Health Policy and Innovation and completed a fellowship in Surgical Critical Care at University of Michigan.
Dr. Watt is committed to providing evidence-based, patient-focused care in the surgical treatment of advanced heart conditions. The primary tenant of her care philosophy is always putting patients first.
Research Summary
Dr. Watt’s research interests include cardiothoracic surgical outcomes, mitral valve repair, heart failure and mechanical circulatory support, cardiac transplant recipient outcomes, organ donor optimization, surgical education, and the use of video analysis to evaluate and improve surgical skill and technique.
Clinical Summary
Coronary Revascularization (coronary artery bypass grafting); Valvular Heart Disease including Mitral Valve Repair; Aortic Surgery and Reconstruction; Heart Failure and Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs); Mechanical Circulatory Support; Heart Transplantation
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Honors and Recognition
Professional Memberships
Bio
I enjoy practicing medicine at the University of Minnesota, where we have every resource in place to ensure the best possible outcome for each patient. As a general and bariatric surgeon, I believe in taking a very thoughtful approach with each patient, sometimes leading to surgery but many times not. I am very involved in clinical and basic science research as well, as only through this process of discovery can we develop better treatments for the surgical disease we see on a daily basis.
Research Summary
Medical device development, physiology, clinical applications of artificial intelligence.
Clinical Summary
Bariatric Surgery; Benign diseases of the foregut; Hernia; Gallbladder; General Surgery
Contact
Address
Department of Surgery319 Variety Club Research Center
401 E River Parkway, Minneapolis, MN, 55455
Administrative Contact
Inna Potapenko | potap014@umn.edu
Bio
He received his Medical Degree from the Jefferson Medical College - Thomas Jefferson University, completed his General Surgery residency at the University of Rochester and recently completed a Cardiothoracic Fellowship with the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Dr. Wong is an expert in adult cardiac surgery, coronary artery revascularization, mechanical circulatory support, and heart and lung transplantation. He is driven to provide excellence in care to patients and teach and mentor the next generation of cardiothoracic surgeons.
Dr. Wong's research interests are focused on surgical outcomes after adult cardiac surgery, surgical education, and Mechanical Circulatory Support (ECMO/LVAD)-Medical device innovation.
"I am excited to be joining and working with the outstanding group of individuals who comprise the Department of Surgery," said Dr. Wong. "It will be my goal to help grow the clinical, educational, and research endeavors of our Division. I thank my U of M mentors for my growth as a surgeon."
Research Summary
Surgical outcomes after adult cardiac surgery; Mechanical Circulatory Support (ECMO/LVAD)-Medical device innovation; Surgical Education
Clinical Summary
Coronary (multi-arterial) revascularization; complex aortic surgery; structural heart disease; mechanical circulatory support; heart and lung transplantation
Contact
Address
Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery420 Delaware St. S.E., MMC 207
Minneapolis, MN, 55455
Administrative Contact
Tina Russell | 612-625-1096 | russe041@umn.edu
Research Summary
Cancer gene therapy with Adenovirus Vector Conditionally replicative adenovirus for the treatment of cancer Non-invasive in vivo molecular imaging Gene therapy of gastrointestinal diseases, pancreatic cancer, esophageal cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and multiple myeloma Cancer gene-therapy and virotherapy Our goal is to develop clinically usable gene-/viro-therapy modalities for solid tumors, e.g. GI cancers including pancreatic cancer. Our group has been developing cancer therapeutics with adenovirus as gene delivery tool. Current gene therapy modalities for cancer have not achieved the expected therapeutic efficiency due to disease related obstacles. Our lab is developing advanced version of adenovirus vectors and oncolytic adenoviruses by employing virological advance. We perform extensive vector engineering and produce the viruses/vectors to overcome the issues impeding clinical realization of this kind of therapeutics. Recent advances include 1) Development of adenovirus targeting ligand library and its application to the targeted delivery upon systemic administration, 2) Theranostics enables tumor imaging and tumor selective radiotherapy employing sodium-iodine symporter, 3) Combination viro-therapy with INF-alpha expressing oncolytic adenovirus and chemoradiation, 4) Development of cancer stem cell targeted oncolytic adenovirus.
Contact
Address
11-216 MMT Bldg515 Delaware St SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Administrative Contact
Kelli Tourand | 612-624-4581 | toura018@umn.edu
Bio
Rui Zhang, PhD, FAMIA, Chief of the Division of Computational Health Sciences in the News:
- Research Spotlight: Dr. Zhang Received an R01 Renewal Developing Novel AI Approach to Mine Effective & Safe Use of Dietary Supplements
- Dr. Zhang Received a New R01 to Research Drug Repurposing for Alzheimer's Disease
- U of M researchers receive $1.2M to study role of AI in breast cancer treatment
- Center for Learning Health System Sciences: All of Us Risk Modeling
- Detecting synergistic effects of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for Alzheimer's disease and related dementia
Education
Honors and Recognition
Media Appearances
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Selected Presentations
Grants and Patents
Selected Grants
Other Grants
Contact
Address
7-115A Weaver-Densford Hall308 Harvard Street SE
Minneaplis, MN 55455