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.

Dewi Sihaloho, MPH

Dewi Sihaloho, MPH
Research Program Manager, Department of Surgery

Dewi is a biostatistician with a strong foundation in data analysis, statistical modeling, and public health research. Her research interests include examining the role of social determinants of health in shaping health behaviors and access to care and exploring the impact of health policies and clinical practices on improving patient care, particularly within underserved communities. Passionate about leveraging data to drive meaningful health outcomes, Dewi is particularly interested in using real-world data to address disparities and improve health equity. She is proficient in utilizing tools such as R, SAS, and Stata to manage and analyze complex datasets.

Previously, Dewi has collaborated with the We Care About Brooklyn (WeCAB) program at SUNY Downstate's School of Public Health and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, where she concentrated on identifying and addressing maternal health disparities in Central Brooklyn, particularly within Black immigrant communities. She has also worked with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she analyzed complex survey data to examine mental health outcomes in emerging adults.