Gulf Coast Division GME Research Day 2026

The 6th Annual Gulf Coast Division Research Symposium was hosted on April 8th, 2026, at HCA Houston Healthcare Kingwood and on WebEx. It combines GME programs from cities in the Gulf Coast Region of Texas: Kingwood, Houston, Clear Lake, and Corpus Christi. The symposium is specialty agnostic, providing an opportunity for residents and fellows to network with others in healthcare outside of their area of expertise.

We extend our sincere appreciation to our distinguished keynote speaker, Dr. O. Daniel Odutola, for his insightful and engaging presentation on the responsible use of AI in research. His expertise and perspective were a highlight of the symposium.

In 2026, we received 102 poster submissions and of those, 9 projects made it to the oral stage. The results of the 2026 symposium are below.

Poster Awards

1st Place: Madison Taylor, MD — Allergic Contact Dermatitis to Medihoney Gel after Mastectomy: Role of Alkyl Glucoside Sensitization in Chronic Wounds
2nd Place: Puneeth Shridhar, MBBS — Pre-existing Bifascicular Block with Wide QRS and/or Prolonged PR in Patients undergoing TAVR: Case Series and Review
3rd Place: Christine Castillo, DO — Bridging the Gap: A Review of Gender Disparity in General Surgery

Oral Presentation Awards

1st Place: Suhas Tatapudi, DO — After Hours, Faster Reperfusion: A Multidisciplinary Quality Improvement Initiative to Reduce STEMI Door-to-Balloon Time
2nd Place: Yves Najm Mrad, MD — Automated AI Echocardiography: Agreement with Experts and Workflow Impact Across EF, GLS, and Volumes
3rd Place: Christine Castillo, DO — Bridging the Gap: A Review of Gender Disparity in General Surgery

Research Residents and Faculty of the Year

Clear Lake

Resident: Yves Najm Mrad, MD
Faculty: Maher Dahdel, MD

Kingwood

Resident: Supritha Chintamaneni, MD
Faculty: Sivatej Sarva, MD, PhD

Corpus Christi

Resident: Ali Asghar, DO
Faculty: Abhay Vakil, MD

2026 Gulf Coast Division GME Research Day Agenda
2026 In-Person Keynote: The Responsible Researcher in the Age of AI: Updates on Ethics and Accountability in GME Research
2026 In-Person Presentation - A: Bridging the Gap: Gender Disparities in General Surgery
2026 In-Person Presentation - B: Benign Hepatic Pneumatosis (Portal Venous Gas): A Case Series and Literature Review
2026 In-Person Presentation - C: Reducing Healthcare Spending with Pharmacist Driven ICG Allocation
2026 In-Person Presentation - D: Association of Sodium Levels and Acute Kidney Injury with the Use of Hypertonic Saline for Cerebral Edema
2026 In-Person Presentation - E: Seconds Matter: Rapid POCUS Diagnosis of Ruptured Type B Aortic Dissection with Left Hemothorax
2026 In-Person Presentation - G: Effect of Mupirocin Decolonization on the Negative Predictive Value of MRSA Nasal Screening
2026 In-Person Presentation - F: Automated AI Echocardiography: Agreement with Experts and Workflow Impact Across EF, GLS, and Volumes
2026 In-Person Presentation - H: Accelerating Quality Improvement in CABG Surgery: A Real-Time Rapid-Cycle Process Improvement Tool Guided by the Publicly Available STS Risk Calculator
2026 In-Person Presentation - I: After Hours, Faster Reperfusion: A Multidisciplinary Quality Improvement Initiative to Reduce STEMI Door-To-Balloon Time
After Hours, Faster Reperfusion: A Multidisciplinary Quality Improvement Initiative to Reduce STEMI Door-to-Balloon Time

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HCA Healthcare Graduate Medical Education 2026 Research Days