Medical Student Leadership
4 Executive Board Members
9 Committee Chairs
26 Committee Members

Research Committee

Hannah Elwell

Hannah is a fifth-year MD/PhD candidate at Tufts University School of Medicine. She graduated from Georgetown University in 2020, where she was a coxswain on the Men’s Varsity Lightweight Rowing Team. Prior to starting medical school in 2022, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology on work focused upon improving maturation and vascularization of stem cell-derived cardiac tissue grafts. Her current PhD thesis work investigates novel therapeutic targets against adverse cardiac remodeling and decompensation in heart failure, with the goal of producing translational work that can help improve outcomes for future patients.

Since starting medical school, Hannah has worked closely with the Tufts Medical Center Division of Cardiac Surgery. She can often be found scrubbing into cases in the OR when she has free time from her lab schedule, and makes time to conduct clinical research alongside her thesis work. She has presented this work, focused largely on heart transplant outcomes, at various national conferences including STS, AATS, and ISHLT.

Outside of her professional endeavours, Hannah enjoys skiing and hiking with her husband, playing with her rescue cat (Tzatziki), and accumulating crafting hobbies (she is currently learning how to knit). Hannah is honored to join TSMA leadership as Co-Chair of the Research Committee and help to support the next generation of CT surgeons!

Dariush Yalzadeh

Dariush Yalzadeh is a third-year medical student at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine with a focus on academic cardiothoracic surgery and equitable access to cardiac care. Growing up in an underserved community in Iran, he saw firsthand how limited healthcare access and low awareness of cardiovascular warning signs affected the people around him, experiences that gave his path in medicine a clear direction after immigrating to the United States in 2017.

A summa cum laude graduate in Biology, he conducts research in UCLA's Cardiac Outcomes Research Laboratory (CORELAB) under Dr. Peyman Benharash, studying outcomes of aortic dissection and valvular surgery, socioeconomic disparities in surgical care, and outcomes at safety-net hospitals. His work has been published in Surgery and the Annals of Thoracic Surgery and presented at the STS, AATS, and Academic Surgical Congress.

As an STS Advocacy Scholar, he investigates disparities in lung cancer screening and works to protect quality of care by advocating for proportional physician pay, petitioning Congress and state representatives and writing letters urging revisions to newly proposed reimbursement schedules.

Alexander Berg

Alexander Berg is a third-year medical student at Stanford University School of Medicine, originally from Los Angeles, California. His research focuses on cardiothoracic transplantation, including heart and lung transplant outcomes, donation after circulatory death (DCD) heart procurement, and ex vivo heart perfusion technology. He has coauthored several peer-reviewed publications in journals such as The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation and The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, on topics including primary graft dysfunction after heart transplantation and outcomes in adults with congenital heart disease undergoing heart and heart-liver transplantation.

As a member of the TSMA Research Committee, Alexander is especially passionate about expanding research opportunities for medical students who don’t have a home cardiothoracic surgery program, helping level the playing field for exposure and mentorship in the field. Outside the hospital, he’s an avid gamer and a regular at electronic music festivals — he’s hoping to squeeze in EDC this year somewhere between away rotations.

Charles Wang

Charles is Taiwanese Canadian, currently in his M4 year at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Before medical school, he studied biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins.

Charles’ interest in CT surgery began during college, where he was drawn to the physiology of the CV system and how engineering can be integrated into this field. During medical school, his interest only grew as he learned about the fancy devices surgeon’s work with industry to help develop, the creative repairs needed in various operations, and the life-changing benefits of successful cardiac surgeries. His current research interests include heart transplantation and valve modeling.

Outside of academics, Charles enjoys going to the gym, playing video games, and playing chess. Charles is excited to join the research committee and look forward to working with peers around the country also interested in CT surgery!

Tobias Fuchs

Tobias Fuchs is a third-year medical student at VCOM-Virginia. Born in Germany and raised in Northern Virginia, he graduated magna cum laude from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. During his gap years, he worked as an associate scientist in a BSL-2 laboratory at the Merck Group, supporting FDA approval for Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies, before graduating summa cum laude from his Master of Biomedical Sciences program.

His interest in cardiothoracic surgery began with his uncle Kambiz Norozi, a pediatric cardiologist, and has grown through mentorship from Dr. Andrew Vogel at UNC Chapel Hill, along with Dr. Taufiek Rajab and Dr. Lawrence Greiten at Arkansas Children's Hospital. Tobias currently serves on the ACOS-MSS National Research Committee and TSMA's Research Committee, founded VCOM's Cardiothoracic Research Interest Group, and is passionate about expanding research access to medical students beyond his own campus. His research spans first-in-human cardiac procedures, AI in cardiac surgery, polygenic risk scores in congenital heart disease, cardiac tumors, mechanical circulatory support, and surgical simulations.

At VCOM, Tobias previously served as the ACOI chapter president, overseeing its Cardiology committee and 4 others. He also worked as an anatomy tutor, mentor, and intern, writing practice questions, building mock practicals, and teaching dissections. Outside of academics, he enjoys weightlifting and binge-watching sci-fi thrillers.

Ahmet Bilgili

Ahmet, a Jacksonville Beach native, is a Biomedical Engineering graduate of the University of Florida. Currently, he is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Florida College of Medicine, working toward becoming an academic cardiac surgeon. In addition to his dedication to medicine and research, he derives fulfillment from his love for fitness, regularly engaging in weight training and competing in ultra-endurance events. Ahmet is honored to contribute to TSMA's continued growth and success as the Research Committee Co-Chair.