Surgery Service Line Research includes faculty members, affiliated surgeons, and investigators who are involved in research studies and clinical trials. The Inova Fairfax campus is strategically located in Northern Virginia in close proximity to Washington, DC, serving and caring for a culturally rich and diverse population. This allows us to study and address critical disparities in healthcare within our community.

Our team supports the research efforts for surgical services offered at all Inova hospitals in the region, including breast, cancer, cardiac, colorectal, endocrine, gastrointestinal, general, ophthalmology, plastic, thoracic, transplant, trauma, and vascular surgery care. As the only designated and verified Level 1 trauma center in Northern Virginia, the Inova Trauma Center has dedicated research staff who especially focus on improving safety, education, and trauma patient care through research.

Director of Research

Stefan Leichtle, MD, MBA, FACS

Dr. Stefan Leichtle is a Trauma and Critical Care Surgeon at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus and the Research Director for the Surgery Service Line at Inova Health System. He is board certified in general surgery and surgical critical care and he holds an MBA degree from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University in Boston, MA.

Dr. Leichtle is nationally engaged in education, research, and health advocacy. He is an Associate Professor of Medical Education at the University of Virginia School Medicine, President of the Virginia Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, Vice-Chair of the Virginia Committee on Trauma, and an editorial board member for the American Board of Surgery’s SCORE Curriculum for Surgical Critical Care and the American Journal of Surgery. His areas of research interest include clinical studies on the assessment and improvement of care delivery in trauma and critical care surgery as well as the promotion of multi-disciplinary, collaborative research efforts crossing traditional specialty boundaries. He has (co-)authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, books, and book chapters.

Core Research Team

Sulakshana Seevaratnam
Research Manager

Lolita Ramsey, PhD, RN, CCRC
Surgical Epidemiology Biostatistician

Arkadii Sipok, MD, PhD
Surgery Projects Research Coordinator

Lori Schlegel, BSN-RN, CCRC
Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator

Hannah Choi, BSN, RN
Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator

Alma Khan, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, GERO-BC
Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator

Emiliya Bakalska, CCRP
Clinical Research Regulatory Coordinator

Susan Osmanzada
Trauma Research Manager

Elena Lita, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator, Trauma

Victoria Ingram
CIREN Program Coordinator, Trauma

Robert Freeth
CIREN Crash Reconstructionist, Trauma

Resources

The Surgery Service Line, Department of Research, offers the following support to our researchers:

  • Protocol development
  • Regulatory consults
  • IRB submissions
  • Liaising with Office of Research at Inova and others for clinical research study start up (budgets, contracts, business office, pharmacy, lab)
  • Statistical analysis (power analysis; results analysis and interpretation)
  • Abstract writing
  • Manuscript and presentation support
  • Grant writing and submission
  • Research mentorship and support
  • Quarterly research education
  • Monthly SSL Research Committee reviews

Contact Us

Contact the Department of Surgery Research at Inova for research inquiries, education, and training opportunities: surgery.research@inova.org.

Make a Gift to Surgery and Research

About the Foundation:

The Surgery Research and Education Foundation in partnership with the Inova Health Foundation helps enhance the support for our research and education efforts. The private support we receive through this foundation enables us to provide world-class surgical education to medical students, residents, nurses, and faculty which impacts the lives of our patients. The direct impact of this foundation was the expansion of the Advanced Surgical Technology and Education Center (ASTEC). Additionally, this foundation supports our research efforts which affects our community by providing the necessary infrastructure our young and seasoned researchers need to change our patient experience, treatments, and outcomes.

Support Inova with a gift that saves lives!