As he enters the first dedicated research year of his residency at the University of Colorado Department of Surgery, Stefan Marasligiller, MD, is breaking new ground as the inaugural O’Hara Rising Star Trainee at the CU Cancer Center’s Katy O. and Paul M. Rady Esophageal and Gastric Center of Excellence.
“I’ve been interested in cancer research since I was in high school and got involved with a research program through a private cancer foundation in Cincinnati, where I grew up,” Marasligiller says. “The Rady Research Fellowship is a perfect stepping stone to get more involved in cancer research and expand my network.”
The O’Hara Rising Star fellowship is designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration across multiple specialties within the Rady Center, including gastroenterology, medical oncology, surgical oncology, thoracic surgery, and pathology.
The fellowship is named after Paul O’Hara II, who was diagnosed with advanced esophageal cancer and succumbed to his illness in 2015. But the quality care he received at the CU Cancer Center convinced his sister Katy O. Rady and her husband to support the center and accelerate the pace of research for esophageal and gastric cancer.
→ Learn more about the Radys' contributions to esophageal and gastric cancer.
This work aligns well with Marasligiller’s research interests.
“Working with my mentor, Dr. Ben Mungo, I'm hoping to start out by going to some meetings with the Rady group to find out how can we develop new multidisciplinary projects,” Marasligiller says. “We're planning to do a research symposium toward the end of the summer where everyone will present their research interests and we look at the kinds of data we have at our disposal. Then we can talk about how we can put our heads together to create new projects, and how can we apply for new funding sources as a group.”
Mungo says he sees the trainee position as a “quarterback” for the Rady Center’s research efforts, promoting multidisciplinary collaboration and helping get projects off the ground. His combination of academic, clinical, and research achievements, Mungo says, make Marasligiller the ideal candidate for the new role.
“The CU Cancer Center and the CU Department of Surgery are strongly committed to raising future academic leaders,” Mungo says. “The funding that was made possible to start this scholarship is ideal for a trainee who wants to do research, because they have access to high level mentoring — not only in surgery, but it opens so many doors to other disciplines as well.
“The Rady Center has a lot to gain from this as well,” he continues. “We all try to talk to each other and make research plans, but everyone has a lot of different things going on in their respective fields. Having somebody who's devoted to research and can help parts talk to each other is the spirit of what we are hoping is going to be a successful first year, and what ultimately honors the multidisciplinary calling of the Rady Center.”
Marasligiller first came to the CU Cancer Center during his junior year in college at Vanderbilt University, spending two summers in Colorado on a cancer research fellowship. He returned as a resident in the CU Department of Surgery two years ago, after attending medical school at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, where rotations with cancer surgeons steered him toward a career in surgical oncology.
“Their job was a unique one that had some very specific challenges in terms of working through tough decisions with patients and helping to guide them through the right decisions — is surgery right for them? What's the right timing of surgery? A lot of these operations are very difficult and technical, which draws me to them, and I also enjoy coaching patients through recovering from difficult operations,” he says.
As a medical student, Marasligiller also published research on retinoblastoma, or cancer of the eye, looking at the effectiveness of a procedure that delivers chemotherapy directly to the retina in order to bypass the toxic effects of giving chemotherapy to the whole body.
“That was my first foray into multidisciplinary cancer research, and we found that the procedure helped improve outcomes and prevented the need for removal of the whole eye,” he says. “It was my first time doing clinical research, and it was a big learning process to learn how to use those methods, but it ended up being very useful.”
Among the other projects he will work on as the Rising Star Trainee at the Rady Center, Marasligiller plans to continue research he has already begun with Mungo on ischemic preconditioning for patients undergoing surgery for esophageal cancer.
“This is a procedure that would happen a few weeks prior to the big operation where they take out the cancer,” he says. “Basically, they're preparing the stomach to improve blood flow to the part that will remain. The data that we've seen so far is that it improves the rates of anastomotic leak, which is the most devastating complication you could have as a result of surgery. This helps that connection heal better and not fall apart.”
Marasligiller is excited for all aspects of his training at the Rady Center, as well as the opportunity to expand his network of mentors.
“Typically, surgery residents are only mentored by the one surgeon they have as their mentor,” he says. “But being part of the Rady Center, I now have access to all of the different members of all the various specialties that are involved. Sachin Wani, MD, director of the Rady Center, has a very comprehensive network in terms of researchers and potential funding sources, so he's also a great mentor who could help me build my career.”
He also is excited to help to refine the trainee program as its first fellow.
“I'm excited to see where it takes me, and hopefully I can also provide some input into the program and make it better for future residents as well.”