Staff

The Center for Translational Injury Research (CeTIR) at UTHealth Houston is a multidisciplinary team dedicated to advancing trauma care through research and innovation. The staff includes faculty investigators, administrative personnel, clinical and laboratory researchers, external collaborators, and trauma research fellows. Their combined expertise spans acute care surgery, neurobiology, anesthesiology, and military medicine, working together to improve trauma treatment and patient outcomes.

Our Staff

• Faculty Investigators
  • Charles S. Cox Jr., MD, FACS
    Director, Center for Translational Injury Research (CeTIR)
    Professor, George and Cynthia Mitchell Distinguished Chair in Neurosciences, and Glassell Family Distinguished Chair,
    Department of Pediatric Surgery

  • Erin Fox, PhD
    Assistant Director, CeTIR
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Sasha Adams, MD, FACS
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Rondel Albarado, MD, FACS
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Yanna Cao, MD
    Department of Surgery

  • Thomas Clements, MD
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Bryan Cotton, MD, MPH, FACS
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Pramod Dash, PhD
    Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy

  • Marie Françoise Doursout, PhD
    Department of Anesthesiology

  • Brijesh Gill, MD, FACS
    Department of Surgery

  • John Harvin, MD, MS, FACS
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Todd Huzar, MD, FACS
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Lillian Kao, MD, MS, FACS
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Lillian Liao, MD, MPH, FACS
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Tien C. Ko, MD, FACS
    Department of Surgery

  • Laura Moore, MD, FACS
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Michelle McNutt, MD, FACS
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • David Meyer, MD, MS, FACS
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Krislynn Mueck, MD, MPH, MS
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Thaddeus Puzio, MD
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Charles Wade, PhD
    Professor
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Michael Wandling, MD, FACS
    Department of Surgery, Acute Care Surgery
• Administration
  • Charles S. Cox Jr., MD, FACS
    Director, Center for Translational Injury Research (CeTIR)
    Professor, George and Cynthia Mitchell Distinguished Chair in Neurosciences, and Glassell Family Distinguished Chair,
    Department of Pediatric Surgery

  • Erin Fox, PhD
    Assistant Director, CeTIR
    Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery

  • Serena Cooper, MBA
    Administrative Manager

  • Heidi Draehn, M Ed
    Program Coordinator

  • Kim Mankiewicz, PhD
    Scientific Editor
• Clinical
  • Destiny Aceves
    Research Coordinator I

  • Joiya Arrington
    Sr. Research Nurse

  • Dominique Diaz
    Research Assistant I

  • Jamysha Jones
    Research Nurse

  • Garrett Jost
    Research Coordinator I

  • Thet Thet Khin
    Research Assistant I

  • Ilana Klein Marcuschamer
    Research Coordinator I

  • Kandice Motley
    Research Coordinator I

  • Cristal Vera Padua
    Research Assistant I

  • Sophia Pham
    Research Assistant I

  • Savanah Weaver
    Sr. Research Nurse

  • Julie Word
    Research Nurse
• Laboratory
  • Christina Estrada
    Research Assistant I

  • Jackson Burris
    Research Assistant I

  • Leslie Gonzalez
    Research Assistant I

  • Anh Huynh Pham
    Research Assistant I

  • Daisy Lopez
    Research Assistant I

  • Melissa Maldonado
    Research Assistant I

  • Veda Pa
    Research Assistant I

  • Willa Yao-Wei Wang, MD
    Program Manager - Research
• External Collaborators
  • Andrew P. Cap, MD, PhD
    U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research

  • Pär I. Johansson, MD, MPA, DMSc
    Transfusion Medicine Rigshospitalet, Denmark

  • Vinod Vijayan, PhD
    Baylor College of Medicine
• Trauma Research Fellows
  • Janet Ashley, MD
    T32 Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Jared Covell, MD
    T32 Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Mokunfayo Fajemisin, MD
    T32 Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Stephanie Martinez Ugarte, MD
    T32 Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Will Rieger, MD
    T32 Postdoctoral Fellow