Who We Are

Leadership

The leadership of the iNSPIRe initiative includes seasoned investigators with multi-year experience in clinical and health services research and an established track record of excellence, as indicated by continuous, multi-million peer-reviewed funding.

Sherene Sharath, PhD, MPH

Sherene Sharath, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery
Director of Clinical and Health Services Research
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Dr. Sharath is an epidemiologist with a special focus on biostatistics. Her research interests are related to the nonoperative management of intermittent claudication, health care disparities among vulnerable groups, and the cohort-specific, systematic assessment of postoperative risks. Most notably, she has extensive expertise in managing and analyzing big datasets, typically consisting of several millions of observations, using advanced statistical coding techniques.

Dr. Sharath is the principal investigator for multiple studies, both funded and unfunded of varying design types. She is also the national clinical trial coordinator for the TOP trial, a multi-center, randomized controlled trial examining the effects of permissive anemia on postoperative adverse events after major operations in high cardiac risk patients. Dr. Sharath has authored and co-authored multiple papers, serves as peer-reviewer on multiple journals, and has a record of mentoring residents and medical students in research methodology and interpretation.

Panos Kougias, MD, MSc, FACS

Panos Kougias, MD, MSc, FACS
Chair, Department of Surgery

Dr. Kougias is a nationally and internationally known clinical researcher, scientist and trialist. His research interests center around a) outcomes after complex vascular surgery interventions, b) optimization of the operating room efficiency, and c) analysis of big data in medicine. His research has significantly contributed to the understanding of risks after technically complex vascular interventions in physiologically vulnerable cohorts.

Dr. Kougias is the national Principal Investigator and Study Chair for TOP trial, a multi-center, randomized controlled trial examining the effects of permissive anemia on postoperative adverse events after major operations in high cardiac risk patients. In addition, he has been the PI of a randomized trial that demonstrated that a statistically-driven operating room scheduling methodology can improve the throughput of the operating room without compromising patient safety; and the PI of a randomized trial that compared cognitive function after carotid endarterectomy and stenting. He has authored, co-authored, and senior authored numerous papers, received uninterrupted multimillion dollar grants from federal, peer-reviewed funding agencies, has mentored numerours trainees and junior faculty members, and serves on the editorial boards of multiple journals.

Danylo Orlov, MPH

Danylo Orlov, MPH
Research Coordinator, Department of Surgery

Danylo is a biostatistician specializing in data management and analysis within the context of epidemiological research. His research interests include disparities rooted in social determinants of health, the impacts of psychosocial health on both physical and mental outcomes, and the interplay between health policies and clinical practices in improving patient care and public health. Drawing on extensive collaborative experience with public health professionals, Danylo is skilled at leveraging advanced statistical techniques and software tools such as R, SAS, and Stata to manage large datasets, perform complex multivariate analyses, and generate insights for evidence-based healthcare decision-making.

Danylo has authored and contributed to multiple projects, including research manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at academic forums and scientific conferences. Most recently, he worked with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to advance research into the long-term health and well-being of the World Trade Center Health Registry, the largest post-disaster prospective cohort in the United States. In addition to his research expertise, Danylo has extensive experience mentoring MPH and MD students in biostatistical methods and simplifying complex analytical concepts to improve comprehension.