Summer Research Scholars Program offers new Great Lakes Bay Cardiovascular Wellness Research Scholarship

This summer, the CMU College of Medicine launched an exciting opportunity for first-year medical students with an interest in cardiovascular research. 

A new Great Lakes Bay Cardiovascular Wellness Research Scholarship was added to the Summer Research Scholars program.  The scholarship, supported by the CMU Pulse3 Endowment for Community Cardiovascular Health, funds research relevant to the cardiovascular concerns of the communities in the Great Lakes Bay Region. 

The first recipient, Matteo Mazzella, designed a study to determine whether patients with abnormal pre-operative stress tests were at an increased risk for post-operative complications after undergoing endovascular aortic repair (EVAR).  Mazzella’s passion for vascular surgery began when he was working as a medical scribe in a vascular surgery clinic, but he was inspired to conduct this research because of his concerns surrounding medical debt.

“Medical debt is such a big part of medicine, especially in the underserved and rural communities,” said Mazzella. “Working at the vascular surgery clinic, I saw a lot of patients who were struggling with debt and were worried about getting certain tests because they weren’t sure if they could afford it, or if they did pay for this test, would they be able to put food on the table.”

The primary aim of Mazella’s research was to determine whether patients with abnormal pre-operative stress tests undergoing EVAR were at an increased risk for post-operative complications.  The study also sought to evaluate whether the connection between patients having an abnormal stress test and developing post-operative complications was significant enough to warrant the stress test, given its limited access and high cost in underserved populations. 

Mazzella added, “Everyone gets a stress test when they get an endovascular aortic repair, and I wanted to see if the stress test is actually predicting post-operative outcomes.  If not, is it worth having patients go through a test that is expensive and could be hours away from those in rural and underserved areas?”

The study analyzed 6,680 patients who underwent EVAR between January 2016 and December 2023. In his results, Mazzella concluded “there was no difference in primary outcomes whether a patient did or did not have a pre-operative stress test.”  He does note that patients with an abnormal stress test were more likely to have a longer hospital stay.  But overall, Mazzella feels his results prompt questions regarding the value of routine stress testing prior to EVAR.

The College of Medicine’s Summer Research Scholars Program is designed for first-year students who choose to participate in a summer research experience between their first and second year of medical education. Candidates for the program identify a faculty mentor and submit a short research proposal, which is then competitively reviewed.  Each year 12-16 Summer Research Scholars are awarded scholarships and expected to present their research at the Student Research Forum and the CMU College of Medicine/CMU Medical Education Partners Research Symposium the following academic year.