Medical College of Wisconsin Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery - Research Faculty, Advanced Practice Providers, and Staff
Research Leadership
Sydney Timmer-Murillo, PhD
Dr. Sydney Timmer-Murillo is an assistant professor and director of research (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. As a clinical psychologist, Dr. Timmer-Murillo’s research includes examination of the individual (i.e., affect dysregulation), biological, physiological and socioecological (i.e., systemic discrimination, community violence) factors that contribute to mental health outcomes after traumatic injury, with a focus in interpersonal mechanisms of trauma. A second focus of her work includes enhancing intervention provided at trauma systems to promote comprehensive care (i.e., integrated mental health care, trauma-informed care) to reduce risk of psychopathology and enhance quality of life after trauma.
Margo Mantz-Wichman, BS, RN
Margo is the clinical research manager (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She leads a multidisciplinary research portfolio spanning industry-sponsored EFIC trials, drug and device investigations, and studies in thoracic trauma, management of chest injuries, and hemorrhage requiring massive transfusion protocols. She also leads interventional studies that advance understanding of the biopsychosocial and psychophysiological mechanisms influencing recovery after traumatic injury, including predictors of PTSD, biomarkers of stress response, and healing trajectories. Margo’s professional focus emphasizes translational approaches that integrate alternative pain interventions, opioid misuse prevention, and personalized post-injury care to improve longitudinal mental and physical outcomes for trauma survivors.
Research Faculty & Advanced Practice Providers
Marc de Moya, MD
Dr. Marc de Moya is a professor of surgery and the chief of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. His research interests include thoracic trauma, traumatic brain injury, acute care surgery education, and resuscitation. His research methods are primarily focused on clinical outcomes in retrospective or prospective designs.
Jeffrey Anderson, MD
Dr. Jeffrey Anderson is an assistant professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Jacqueline Blank, MD
Dr. Jaqueline Blank is an assistant professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her research interests include the application of whole blood administration in trauma as well as surgical education. Having trained at the Medical College of Wisconsin, including a two-year research fellowship in the division of colorectal surgery, Jacqueline is looking forward to working with and educating residents and medical students. Specifically, she is interested in intraoperative teaching between senior and junior residents, and hopes to develop a structured learning curriculum to improve and maximize on this teaching relationship.
Thomas Carver, MD
Dr. Thomas Carver is a professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. As an acute care surgeon his clinical focus is trauma, emergency general surgery, and surgical critical care. His clinical research interests focus on thoracic trauma and the management of chest injuries, pain control following trauma and surgery, splenic injury diagnosis and management, ultrasound use in trauma, and surgical education.
Terri deRoon-Cassini, PhD
Dr. Terri deRoon-Cassini serves as a tenured professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She is the director of the Comprehensive Injury Center at MCW, which is focused on violence, suicide, and non-intentional injury prevention locally and statewide, with a focus on programming, research, and policy. This is a CDC funded Injury Control Research Center, one of 11 in the country.
She also serves as co-medical director of the gun violence prevention program (414LIFE) at Froedtert Hospital; holds appointments in the department of psychiatry and behavioral medicine, Institute for Health and Humanities, and is a member of the Neuroscience Research Center. Terri is also a co-founder of the Milwaukee Trauma Outcomes Project, a research collaborative to investigate outcomes after trauma, particularly for underserved individuals and under resourced communities.
Dr. deRoon-Cassini is a licensed psychologist and is the medical director for the Trauma & Health Psychology Service for the level 1 trauma center at Froedtert Hospital. Terri provides inpatient care to trauma survivors who have been injured and operates an outpatient behavioral health clinic for patients experiencing traumatic stress and other outcomes after trauma. As a member of the trauma quality of life clinic, Terri provides psychological care in the multidisciplinary clinic providing integrative care for survivors of gun violence.
Her research interest centers around documenting psychological, quality of life and resilience outcomes after injury and detecting acute risk for poor outcomes, as well as identifying psychosocial and neurobiological targets for early intervention to prevent distress and PTSD after trauma. Most recently, she has received funding to understand the impact that socioenvironmental stress, including chronic neighborhood violence and experiences of discrimination, has on creating a biologic vulnerability to traumatic injury that leads to poor outcomes from the National Institute of Mental Health.
Terri graduated with a BS in zoology and physiology from the University of Wyoming and completed an MS in clinical psychology from Marquette University. In 2008 she earned her PhD from Marquette University in clinical psychology. Dr. deRoon-Cassini completed her internship at the Zablocki VA Medical Center with an emphasis on health psychology and post-traumatic stress disorder after combat trauma. From 2008-2010, Dr. deRoon-Cassini completed her postdoctoral clinical and research training at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where she provided inpatient and outpatient clinical psychological care to injured trauma survivors. Outside of Froedtert & MCW, Terri can found most weekends on the soccer pitch sidelines with her husband, cheering on their daughter and son to victory across the Midwest.
Joshua Dilday, DO
Dr. Joshua Dilday is an adjunct assistant professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He is serving as an active-duty Army surgeon as part of the Army Military Civilian Trauma Team Training (AMCT3) Partnership. In addition to his clinical focus, he also works to promote system quality improvement and online education. He has additional fellowship training in hospital quality improvement and his research interests include system development and quality improvement, trauma outcomes, military surgical outcomes, and surgical education.
Christopher Dodgion, MD, MSPH, MBA
Dr. Chris Dodgion is an associate professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin and serves as a Froedtert/MCW Associate Trauma Medical Director. Through global collaboration he seeks to strengthen trauma systems, expand quality improvement initiatives in low resource settings, and address the global surgical workforce shortage through education innovation. His research methods vary from geospatial mapping and analysis informing system and workforce planning to survey development/ implementation examining educational initiative impact. He is passionate about training the next generation of global and trauma surgery leaders.
Katherine Flynn-O'Brien, MD, MPH
Dr. Katherine Flynn-O'Brien is an associate professor of surgery (pediatric surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin and trained in general surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she also obtained her Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology. She then completed her Pediatric Surgery Fellowship at Children’s Wisconsin, where she is now faculty. She is the associate trauma medical director at Children’s Wisconsin, core faculty at the Comprehensive Injury Center, and a member of the Milwaukee Trauma Outcomes Project. Her current research focuses on trends in pediatric injury, the patient and family experience after firearm injury, recidivism after violent injury, and the intersection between injury and mental and behavioral health.
Timothy Geier, PhD
Dr. Timothy Geier is an assistant professor in surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) and psychiatry and behavioral medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. His research interests include biopsychosocial risk factors for the development of trauma-related conditions (e.g., PTSD) following traumatic injury and acute medical illness, PTSD and depression screening and treatment, impact of socioenvironmental stressors on mental health outcomes, and health disparities following injury and illness.
Allyson Hynes, MD
Dr. Allyson Hynes is an assistant professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Katherine Iverson, MD, MPH
Dr. Katie Iverson is an assistant professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her research interests include global surgery, violence intervention and prevention, and trauma system development in low-resource settings. She has previously worked in Ethiopia and Peru through Harvard’s Program in Global Surgery and Social Change.
Christian Kastrup, PhD
Dr. Christian Kastrup is a senior investigator at the Versiti Blood Research Institute and a professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin, with appointments in the MCW departments of biochemistry, biomedical engineering, and pharmacology and toxicology. The Kastrup Lab is a multidisciplinary group of biochemists, surgeons, and engineers who investigate the biochemical and biophysical processes that regulate blood clotting. They use their discoveries to develop novel therapeutics for hemostasis and thrombosis based on RNA gene therapies, cellular therapies, and nanomedicines.
Jeremy Levin, MD
Dr. Jeremy Levin is an assistant professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. His interests include trauma resuscitation, trauma video review, and surgical education of residents and fellows. His research methods focus on patient outcomes in both retrospective and prospective study designs using local, regional, and national datasets.
Christina Megal, NP, DNP
Dr. Christina Megal is an assistant professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She serves in the role of clinical director and APP manager for the Wound Care Center and Ostomy Program. In addition to clinical and administrative responsibilities, research interests include the use of wound diagnostic technology, factors that impede wound healing, impact of topical therapies on wound healing, and nutrition.
David Milia, MD
Dr. David Milia is a professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Rachel Morris, MD
Dr. Rachel Morris is an associate professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) and associate director of research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. My research interest is model guided decision support using machine learning. Specifically, direct applications include shared decision-making in older adults and optimization of the trauma triage process. Through mobile application invention and development, we focus on directly applying complex models to patient care. My research is currently funded through the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma.
Patrick Murphy, MD, MSc, MPH
Dr. Patrick Murphy is an associate professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. His main research focus is in defining quality in emergency general surgery and developing indicators of high-quality care and better understanding work-force planning/sustainability in acute care surgery. He has interest in both qualitative and quantitative research methodology including meta-analysis and systematic reviews. He is an active participant in multicenter AAST research studies and EAST practice management guidelines.
William Peppard, PharmD
Dr. William Peppard is an associate professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin and serves as the pain stewardship coordinator at Froedtert ThedaCare. Additionally, Dr. Peppard serves as chair of pharmacy research where he is responsible for promoting innovative and multidisciplinary opportunities for his peers. As a clinical pharmacist, his research areas of interest include improving pain-related outcomes, optimizing medication pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in special populations, and leveraging clinical decision support to improve safety and reduce risk associated with complex medication management.
Jacob Peschman, MD
Dr. Jacob Peschman is an associate professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin and serves as the chair of Froedtert’s Trauma Education Committee and as an associate program director of the general surgery residency program. His research interests include medical education, trauma, acute care surgery and critical care system and protocol development, and management of rib fractures. His research methods primarily focus on the use of registry data and prospective observational studies of educational interventions.
Andrew Schramm, PhD
Dr. Andrew Schramm is an assistant professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He has a joint appointment in the department of psychiatry and behavioral medicine. As a clinical and community psychologist, Dr. Schramm’s research interests include factors that impact the psychological adjustment of survivors of traumatic injury. He is particularly interested in the impact of social and environmental factors on recovery such as experiences of discrimination and economic inequity. A second major focus of Dr. Schramm’s research is suicide prevention, and he currently leads two grant-funded studies on suicide prevention in trauma centers. This work includes development of practice management guidelines on suicide screening and intervention in trauma settings with the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST).
Mary (Libby) Schroeder, MD
Dr. Mary (Libby) Schroeder is an associate professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin and is the Chief Medical Officer at Froedtert Hospital. Libby’s research focuses on social determinants of health post-trauma as well as improving mental health outcomes in the setting of injury. With grant funding through Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin, she created a pilot program that provided survivors of gun violence with a nurse navigator and medical social worker to addresses their complex needs in the immediate aftermath of their injuries. This program led to improved patient engagement, decreased emergency department utilization and decreased hospital costs. She is involved in ongoing projects to address the needs of gun violence survivors to foster healing and improve their long-term recovery, both physically and mentally. This includes creating a medical legal partnership for injured patients and facilitating applications for the Crime Victims Compensation program, utilizing medical students as advocates through the process.
Colleen Trevino, NP, PhD
Dr. Colleen Trevino is an associate professor of surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her research interests involve understanding the biopsychosocial mechanisms that modulate the transformation from acute to chronic pain after traumatic injury; including investigating predictors, biomarkers, and the stress response relationship with pain. Further interests include mindfulness as an intervention to treat acute pain, comprehensive care of gun violence survivors, and emergency general surgery guideline development.
Research Residents
Anna Tatakis, MD
Dr. Anna Tatakis is a general surgery resident completing a two-year research fellowship with the trauma and acute care surgery division at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She is working on various clinical research projects with her mentors on topics including PEG tube usage, traumatic hemothorax management, DVT prophylaxis in EGS patients, and financial compensation services after trauma.
Fayrouz Abu-Hamdan, MD
Dr. Fayrouz Abu-Hamdan is a general surgery resident completing a two-year global surgery research fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her work centers on Ethiopia, where she is working and collaborating with local partners to evaluate the prehospital trauma care system and implement context appropriate interventions to improve trauma outcomes. In parallel, she conducts research with the division of trauma and acute care surgery. Current projects with her mentors include studies on Morel Lavallée lesions management and on safe firearm storage among survivors of firearm injury.
Research Staff
Ariel Berry, MPH
Ariel Berry is a clinical research assistant III in surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin whose work focuses on injury prevention, trauma outcomes, and health equity. She holds an MPH in Community-Oriented Primary Care from George Washington University, where her thesis examined reckless driving among Black youth in Milwaukee through the lens of historical trauma. Ariel is passionate about advancing community-informed approaches to trauma research and prevention.
Calista Capul, BS
Calista Capul is a clinical research assistant in surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Calista received her BS in Biomedical Sciences and Psychology from Marquette University. She is a member of the Milwaukee Trauma Outcomes Project (MTOP), which focuses on improving the lives of those affected by trauma through research, intervention, prevention, education, and outreach.
Sue Cotey, CVT
Sue Cotey is a clinical research assistant III in surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Yara Hamadeh, BS
Yara Hamadeh is a clinical research coordinator in surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She graduated in 2022 with a BA in Psychology and a BS in Cognitive Science. Yara works on trauma surgery studies through the division and trauma psychology studies as a member of the Milwaukee Trauma Outcomes Project (MTOP). She hopes to challenge and optimize how the healthcare system currently manages mental health treatment.
Kennedy Jackson
Kennedy Jackson is a clinical research assistant I in surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Kelley Jazinski-Chambers, BA
Kelley Jazinski-Chambers is a clinical research coordinator III in surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Kelley received her BA in psychology from the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin and has been a part of the Milwaukee Trauma Outcome Project (MTOP) since 2017 which focuses on improving the lives of those affected by trauma through research, intervention, prevention, education, and outreach.
Isabel Johnson, BS
Isabel Johnson is a clinical research coordinator in surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her research interests lie at the intersection of public health and health psychology. She works on a vast range of studies with trauma patients, conducting research aimed at improving quality of life and identifying barriers to recovery post-injury. She focuses much of her time facilitating research in our Trauma Quality of Life Clinic (TQoL), a comprehensive, multidisciplinary program designed to support firearm injury survivors. Isabel hopes her work can contribute to improving outcomes and making healthcare more accessible and effective for vulnerable populations.
Brandon Mansford, BS
Brandon Mansford is a clinical research assistant in surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He earned his undergraduate degree in Psychology from Washington State University. He started an early career in healthcare as a Certified Nursing Assistant and has since worked across the Emergency Department, Medical/Surgical floor, Intensive Care Unit, and Long-term Care clinical settings. Brandon currently works clinically in the Froedtert Hospital Emergency Department as an Emergency Department Technician. He has a clinical research interest in trauma resuscitation.
Maddie Rundell, BS
Maddie Rundell is a clinical research coordinator III in surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin, managing a variety of projects, from best practices in massive transfusion, to outcomes in robotic vs. laparoscopic appendectomies, to the efficacy of extended use negative pressure wound therapy in intra-abdominal surgery, and much more. Maddie has a wealth of knowledge in the management of federally funded and industry-funded research trials from previous roles as well as her time in trauma and acute care surgery. She is also the point of contact for the Trauma Research Recruitment Pool, a group of medical students, residents, and staff that enroll for certain trials on night and overnight shifts. Maddie works collaboratively with many surgical faculty in the division to execute their research goals while also pursuing her personal research passions off the clock with some of the psychology faculty. Maddie’s research interests are the quality of life and neural impacts of traumatic brain injury (TBI) as well as TBI with comorbid conditions such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety.
Tabatha Rush Briones, BS
Tabatha Rush Briones is a clinical research assistant in surgery (trauma and acute care surgery) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She earned her BS in Psychology from Arizona State University. Her research interests focus on identifying factors that promote mental well-being in individuals experiencing stressful or traumatic events. She is also interested in exploring how community and environmental factors can support mental health and resilience among diverse populations.