Scholars Participating in the Utah StARR 2023-2024 Program Year
Current Utah StARR Resident Investigators
Jackson Burton, MD
Internal Medicine Resident
Dr. Burton is an internal medicine resident interested in the full spectrum of clinical and translational research within cardiovascular disease. He completed his undergraduate degree in molecular biology at Yale University and received his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Outside of his research, Jackson enjoys the Utah mountains and online chess.
Alex Kolomaya, MD
Internal Medicine Resident
Alex Kolomaya has previously explored a variety of research areas and is narrowing his interests to the field of cardiology. His interests include health policy, and he aims to investigate the health of different populations and subpopulations in the context of cardiovascular disease and prevention.
Meera Nagarajan, MD
Pediatrics Resident
Meera's research interests surround the impact of social determinants of health on children’s health and well-being. Prior to StARR, she researched the impacts of a public health nutrition program as a Fulbright Scholar in Greece. She plans to continue studying the health markers within populations to implement sustainable interventions.
Boomer Olsen, MD
Internal Medicine Resident
Boomer Olsen's research interests, shaped by his personal experience with type 1 diabetes, include diverse topics in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. He aims to develop and utilize computational methods to advance understanding of diabetes genomics, beta-cell biology, novel therapeutics and technologies, and clinical outcomes.
Sonia Parra, MD PhD
OBGYN Resident
Sonia completed her MD/PhD in Bioengineering at Rice University, where she worked on developing low-cost technologies for cervical cancer prevention. Her primary research interests include developing and testing new technologies that increase access to women's health care in low resource settings.
Cecilia Peterson, MD
Internal Medicine Resident
Cecilia has a strong interest in Primary Care and Geriatrics, and her research interests include interprofessional teamwork and education, the comparative effectiveness of different healthcare delivery systems, and preventative medicine in the geriatric population. She is looking forward to growing as a researcher through the StARR program.
Scholars who have graduated the Utah StARR program
Graduated Utah StARR Resident Investigators
Anna Jones, MD
Graduated Pediatrics StARR Scholar
Anna was a pediatrics resident while in Utah StARR, with research interests in the intersection of adolescent health, public health, and infectious diseases. Her previous research focused on contraceptive education and STIs in adolescents, and as a UStARR scholar she pursued research related to the epidemiology of pediatric infectious diseases. Dr. Jones was recently accepted to the EIS fellowship with the CDC, and she generously credited UStARR for providing the skills and experience she needed to be a successful applicant.
Kayla Jordanova, MD
Graduated Family Medicine StARR Scholar
Kayla joined Utah StARR as a family medicine resident. Her primary research interests are in understanding how primary care practices can effectively address the social determinants of health and support patients in improving their lifestyles. As a Utah StARR scholar, she worked with Dr. Molly Conroy on the MAINTAIN PRIME trial based at University of Utah primary care clinics which evaluates the effectiveness of patient portal-based coaching to help patients sustain healthy weight loss.
Amara Finch, MD
Graduated Pediatrics StARR Scholar
As a UStARR scholar, Dr. Finch's research during Utah StARR focused on investigating maternal nutrition and blood flow to developing fetuses in pregnancies with cystic fibrosis. She was author on four papers related to her Utah StARR research (one of which she was first author on), presented on her published work and abstracts, and authored the pregnancy and contraception chapters of a medical education book. Dr. Finch's next role will be a Fellow in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the University of Minnesota starting July 2025, where she hopes to continue working on better understanding the prenatal environment to optimize approaches to neonatal nutrition.
Eric Stulberg, MD
Graduated Neurology StARR Scholar
During his last year in Utah StARR, Eric has been first-author on four publications and has presented his research at numerous events. He officially graduated on 6/30/24 and has accepted his first-choice role in a stroke fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. There, he plans to continue leveraging large secondary linked databases to research the social determinants of health related to neurological outcomes.
RJ Williams, MD
Graduated Internal Medicine StARR Scholar
RJ officially graduated on 6/30/24 and will join his first-choice institution at the University of North Carolina, where he will continue researching global infectious disease tracking methods.. RJ has carefully cultivated his research focus while in the Utah StARR program to set him up for success researching global infectious disease tracking. In the past year in Utah StARR, RJ has traveled internationally with his research mentor Dr. Daniel Leung to collect first-hand data in Bangladesh on diarrheal diseases and has published two first-author manuscripts. He plans to continue focusing on these topics moving forward into his next role.
Victoria Vardell, MD
Graduated Internal Medicine StARR Scholar
As a UStARR scholar, Dr. Vardell's research focused on real world outcomes in hematology patients. By using large real-world databases, she aims to improve the understanding and prevention of cardiac and vascular adverse events in chronic myeloid leukemia and multiple myeloma patients. She has been involved in multiple projects investigating population health markers in terms of outcomes in the treatment of patients with hematologic malignancies. Her goal is to continue research in the fields of classical and malignant hematology as a clinician-investigator hematologist. Dr. Vardell continued her post-StARR career as a fellow at the prestigious Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, and has recently accepted a new position with Intermountain Health Care..
Alex Zheutlin, MS MD
Graduated Internal Medicine StARR Scholar
Dr. Alexander Zheutlin’s primary research interest is in better understanding drivers of suboptimal cardiovascular care (e.g., therapeutic inertia, social and geographic barriers), particularly among vulnerable populations, with an ultimate goal of improving implementation of evidence-based treatment strategies. Following his successful tenure as a Utah StARR resident investigator, he has accepted a fellowship at his first-choice Institution - the cardiology program at Northwestern University in Illinois. During his fellowship, Dr. Zheutlin plans to continue pursuing his primary interest in preventive cardiology and working towards the goal of maintaining a career as a clinician-scientist.
Lauren Gimbel, MD
Graduated OBGYN StARR Scholar
Dr. Lauren Gimbel graduated from Utah StARR in 2022, and since then has continued her clinical and research pursuits in an Obstetrics and Gynecology fellowship position at the University of Utah Health system. Her research while in Utah StARR focused on maternal mental health outcomes, most recently those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. During her time with the program Dr. Gimbel also developed a plan to create infrastructure for a mental health in pregnancy clinic and program that will form the basis for future work. Dr. Gimbel maintains a close mentee relationship with Utah StARR program directors, and continues to elevate her career goals as a clinician researcher in her position in Salt Lake City.
Kathleen Campbell, MHSc MD
Graduated OBGYN StARR Scholar
Dr. Campbell graduated the Utah StARR program in 2021 and is now a Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Fellow at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Her research interests include brain development, autism spectrum disorders, and children with complex medical needs, focusing on neurodevelopment of infants born with critical congenital heart disease (CHD) - namely how neurobehavioral profiles of infants with CHD and their medical course after corrective surgery relate to later skills and behavior. Her work "Abnormal infant behavior and later neurodevelopmental delays in children with critical CHD" was recently published by Cambridge University Press.
