Scholars

Amanda Francis, DO

Dr. Francis comes from a proud Navy family and calls both Virginia and South Carolina home. She graduated from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA with a Bachelor of Science degrees in both Psychology and Biology. She then went on to New York University, in New York City, where she received her master’s degree in Community Public Health. She received her medical education from the New York Institute of Technology School of Osteopathic Medicine (formerly known as NYCOM) and began her residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at NYU Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. In 2014, after transferring to Atlantic Health System, in Morristown and Overlook Hospitals (in Northwestern New Jersey) she graduated from her residency program in June of 2016. Upon graduation she received the senior resident award from the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons for Laparoscopy

Dr. Francis is a Clinical Academic Scholar and feels privileged to have the opportunity to see and care for patients at the RMG Ob&Gyn offices in the Clinical Academic Building, the Monroe office, in addition to seeing patients with the residents at the Eric B. Chandler Clinic.

Dr. Francis cultivates several professional interests including: Family Planning, Minimally Invasive Surgery; in addition to, Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, Microbiology and Biochemistry. She is currently engaged in a project looking at the female urinary microbiome.

Dr. Francis is well-rounded, enjoys outdoor activities; she loves to travel with her husband and to visit her family & friends currently spread across the U.S.

Publications

Vallabh-Patel V., Saiz C., Salamon C., Francis A., Pagnillo J., Culligan P. Prevalence of Occult Malignancy Within Morcellated Specimens Removed During Laparascopic Sacrocolpopexy: Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, 22: 190-3, 2016

Abstracts

Francis, A. Jasani, S., Bachman, G. Contraceptive challenges and the transgender individual. Women’s Midlife Health (under review)

Sona Jasani, MD

Dr. Jasani was born and raised in New Jersey. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rutgers University with a double major in Biological Sciences and Art History. She received her MD degree with Distinction in Medical Education from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and was awarded the Innovation in Clinical Medical Student Education Award from the Northeast Group on Education Affairs for her research project examining the use of fine art in enhancing clinical observation skills of medical students. While in her medical school training, she was inducted into the Arnold P. Gold Humanism in Medicine Honor Society. She went on to complete her residency at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. During her residency, she realized her passion for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and conducted a pilot study examining the utility of yoga to decrease anxiety in infertility patients. She is currently involved in various research, educational and clinical initiatives. During her free time she is interested in art, cooking and spending time with her husband and son. She is currently an Academic Faculty Scholar since July 2016.

Publications

Jasani S., Heller B., Jasulaitis S., Davidson M., Hirshfeld-Cytron J. Impact of a structured yoga program on anxiety in infertility patients: a feasibility study. JFIV Reprod Med Genet 4:183, 2016. Jasani S., Saks N. Utilizing Visual Art to Enhance the Clinical Observation Skills of Medical Students. Med Teach. July 2013; 35(7):1327-31. Santolaya, J.L., Galan, I., Stefano, V.D., Jasani S. et al. Candidate Biomarkers for Acute Rejection of Pregnancy After in-utero Cell-based Therapy in Pre-Immune Embryos via Ultrasound-Guided Celocentesis. Am J Reprod Immunol. Aug. 2012; 68(2):181-4.

Abstracts

Jasani, S., Bachmann G., Ayers C., Lu CW. “Moving outside of the lab to animal preservation zoos and aquariums: An underutilized resource in the advancement of reproductive immunology.” Accepted as a Poster Presentation. American Society for Reproductive Immunology Nov. 2016 36th Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD. Jasani S., Heller B., Jasulaitis S., Davidson M., Hirshfeld-Cytron J. “The Impact of Yoga on Anxiety in Infertility Patients.” Poster Presentation. American Society for Reproductive Medicine Oct. 2015 71st Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD. Burks CA., Jasani, S., Pelts EJ., Mathews J., Liebermann, Hirshfeld-Cytron J. “Is Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) a Reliable Predictor of Ovarian Reserve in Obese Women.” Poster Presentation during the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Oct. 2015 71st Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD.

Resident Education

“Hormonal Influences on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury” Resident Journal Club. Sept. 2016 “Sexual Assault and Care for Survivors” Grand Rounds Presentation Feb. 2016

Veronica Rojas, MD

Veronica Rojas was born and raised in New York. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University with a major in Human Development. She attended Stony Brook University School of Medicine, and completed her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Winthrop University Hospital in Long Island. During residency she became interested in Gynecologic Oncology, and her research interests revolve around the care and treatment of women’s cancer. During spare time, she enjoys spending time with family, including her son and puppy.

Abstracts:

Rojas V, Hirshfield KM, Ganesan S, Rodriguez-Rodriguez, L. Targeting mTOR Pathway in Rare and Recalcitrant Tumors. American Association of Cancer Research Annual Meeting. New Orleans, Lousiana. April 2016. Poster presentation.

Rodriguez-Rodriguez L, Hirshfield KM, Rojas V, Ali SM, Dipaola RS, Elvin, JA, Gibbon, Isani S, Leiser A, Miller, VA, Riedlinger GM, Wagriech A, Ganesan S. Delivery of Point-of-care Management to Patients with Gynecologic Malignancies using Comprehensive Genomic Profiling. American Association of Cancer Research Annual Meeting. New Orleans, Lousiana. April 2016. Poster presentation

Lazarou G, Rojas V, Garbus J, Chalas E. Aligning Education, Gynecologic Quality Improvement, and Patient Safety to Reduce Ca UTIs at Winthrop University Hospital. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists District II Annual Meeting, New York, NY October 2013. Poster Presentation

Quinones M, Rojas V, Villella J, Chan K, Jimenez E, Chalas E. Perioperative Thromboembolism Prophylaxis: How much is Enough? Society of Gynecologic Oncology Annual Meeting, Tampa, Florida March 2014. Poster Presentation

Rojas V, Villella J, Chalas E. Evaluation for Health Care Disparities in Hispanic and Non- Hispanic Whites with Cervical Cancer using National Cancer Database. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, District II Annual Meeting, New York, NY October 2014. Poster Presentation

Chalas E, Rojas V, Villella J, Chan K, Jimenez E, Rosario-Garcia J Toskos H. Evaluation for Health Care Disparities in Hispanic and Non- Hispanic Whites with Cervical Cancer using National Cancer Database. Society of Gynecologic Oncology, Annual Meeting, Chicago IL. March 2015. Poster Presentation

Rojas V, Villella J, Chan K, Jimenez E, Rosario-Garcia J Toskos H, Chalas E. Evaluation for Health Care Disparities in Hispanic and Non- Hispanic Whites with Cervical Cancer using National Cancer Database. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Annual Meeting. San Fransisco, CA. May 2015. Poster Presentation

Aarthi Srinivasan, MD

Dr. Srinivasan was born and raised in India. She graduated from Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in India and relocated to the United States. She attended the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk, Virginia where she received her MS degree in Clinical Embryology and Andrology. She then completed her residency in OB/GYN from St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Michigan in 2015. Dr. Srinivasan is currently an academic faculty scholar since July 2015.

Research Interests

She is currently working at the perinatal translational research laboratory and is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in the onset of labor at term.

Publications

Srinivasan, A., & Wright, D. (2014). Pallister-Killian syndrome. The American journal of case reports, 15, 194.

Srinivasan, A., & Millican, S. (2014). Laparoscopic management of an abdominal pregnancy. Case reports in obstetrics and gynecology, 2014.

Wang, X. K., Agarwal, M., Parobchak, N., Rosen, A., Vetrano, A. M., Srinivasan, A., ... & Rosen, T. (2016). Mono-(2-Ethylhexyl) Phthalate Promotes Pro-Labor Gene Expression in the Human Placenta. PloS one, 11(1), e0147013

Abstracts

Srinivasan, A., Kulkarni, L., Wright, D. (2016).Splenic artery aneurysm rupture in pregnancy. Accepted for poster presentation at the 2016 ACOG Annual Clinical meeting at Washington DC.

Oral Presentations

Srinivasan, A., Kowalczyk, C., Hogan, C., Przeslawski, L., Hagglund, K. (2015). Stress levels in women undergoing infertility treatment. Oral Presentation at the Michigan State ACOG Junior Fellow Research Day at Lansing, Michigan

Resident Eduucation

2016- Organized OBGYN Jeopardy for residents and medical students in OBGYN rotation focusing on objectives of CREOGS and Written board exam

Awards

2002-2004 – Certificate of Merit for high scores in Medical School exams 2010-2011 - Golden Apple award for medical student teaching 2011-2012 - Medical Student Teaching award

Past Scholars

MiHae Song, MD

Mihae was born and raised in New York. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Neuroscience. She then completed her medical degree at SUNY Downstate, where she unexpectedly discovered her interest in Women's Health and moved to New Jersey to complete a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Robert Wood Johnson. She will be going to University of Minnesota for her fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology. During her free time, she is interested in photography, traveling, and training for a half marathon!

Publications

Song M., Di Paola R., Cracchiolo B.M., Gibbon D.G., Hellmann M., Nieves- Neira W., Vaidya A.P., Wagreich A., Shih W., Rodriguez-Rodriguez L. Phase II trial of paclitaxel, 13-cis retinoic acid, and interferon-alfa-2b in the treatment of advanced stage or recurrent cervical cancer. Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2014 Nov;24(9):1636-41.

Glod J.*, Song M.*, Sharma A., Tyagi R., Rhodes R.H., Weissmann D.J., Roychowdhury S., Khan A., Kane M.P., Hirschfield K., Ganesan S., DiPaola R.S., and Rodriguez-Rodriguez, L. Next generation sequencing as aid to diagnosis and treatment of an unusual pediatric brain cancer. J. Pers. Med. 2014, 4(3), 402-411

Abstracts

M. Song, C. S. Kim, J. Butt, W. Shih, M. P. Kane and L. Rodriguez-Rodriguez. Revisiting the methods to calculate carboplatin dose in women with gynecologic cancers. Featured poster presentation at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO), 2015 in Chicago, Illinois.

Rodriguez-Rodriguez L., Song M., Muthukumaran N., Gounder M., Gibbon D., Nieves-Neira W., Vaidya A., Hellmann M., Goodin S., Buckley B. Selenium counteracts carboplatin drug resistance through Rad51-AP1 induction: A Phase 1 trial in women with gynecologic cancers. Poster presentation at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in San Diego, California.

Chen C., Narayanan S., Song M., Torzilli P. Intermittent daily load increases collagen cleavage in injured cartilage. Orthopaedic Research Society, Chicago, IL, 2006, P. 1438

Oral Presentations

M.Song, R. Di Paola, B.M. Cracchiolo, D. G. Gibbon, M. Hellmann, W. Nieves-Neira, A.P. Vaidya, A. Wagreich, W. Shih, L. Rodriguez-Rodriguez. Phase II trial of paclitaxel, 13-cis retinoic acid, and interferon-alfa-2b in the treatment of advanced stage or recurrent cervical cancer. Oral presentation at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO), 2014 in Tampa, Florida.

Monica J. Tschirhart, MD

Dr. Tschirhart graduated from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX May 2000. She then completed medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center at the Houston Medical School, Houston, TX in May 2008. Her residency was completed at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in 2012.

Dr. Tschirhart was an academic faculty scholar from 2012 -2013. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Oklahoma University Medical School and is interim OB/GYN Medical Student Clerkship Director.

Research Interests

Placental Trophoblast with Genomic Trisomy Chromosome

Oral Presentations

Using Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cell Model to Study Specific Features of Trophoblasts With Genomic Trisomy of Chromosomes 13 and 18. American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) October 2012

Abstracts

Changes in Trophoblast Development in Trisomies 13, 18, 21. Annual New Jersey Stem Cell Research Symposium in Bridgewater, NJ September 2012.

Awards

2012-2013 OB/GYN Teaching Award OB/GYN Board Diplomat Certification in OB/GYN

Caroline Lynch, MD

Dr. Lynch graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. She completed medical school at the University of Washington - School of Medicine in Seattle. Her residency was completed at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, 2013.

Dr. Lynch was an academic faculty scholar from 2013-2014. She is currently in a palliative care program at Duke University.

Research Interests

Evaluation of Dosing of Methotextrate on Placental Stem Cells

Journal Club

2014 – Comparison of Conventional Cervical Cytology versus Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) among HIV Infected Women in Kenya

013, Autism and Induction of Labor

OB/GYN Clinical Boot Camp Coordinator

2014 - Boot camp faculty director for students interested in OB/GYN. This two-week course provides didactic lectures, hands-on experience and simulation with the Noelle model.

Medical School Conferences

Attended the Rutgers J Stem Cell Research Symposium Attended the Rutgers Center for integrative Medicine

Awards

Recognized by the Dean’s office for innovative “Clinical Boot Camp for fourth year medical students.

Ndeye-Aicha Gueye, MD

Dr. Gueye graduated from Rutgers and stayed at Rutgers to complete medical school and residency. She has numerous awards for medical student teaching. Dr. Gueye received the Gold Award for Mentoring and was inducted into The AOA Medical Honor Society. She is currently pursuing her Reproductive Endocrinology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic.

Research Interes

Uniparental Disomy in Human Blastocyst

Publications

N.A. Gueye , O. Bendarsky, B. Devkota, R. Pfundt, N. Treff, R.T. Scott . Uniparental disomy (UPD) in the human blastocyst is exceedingly rare. Manuscript submitted for publication. Oral Abstract Presentation at International Federation of Fertility Societies and the America Society for Reproductive Medicine.

Brug P., Gueye N-A, Bachmann G. Vulvar Endometriosis Presenting with Dyspareunia: a case report. J Reprod Med 2012 Mar-Apr; 57(3-4):175-7.

Abstracts

N.A. Gueye , O. Bendarsky, B. Devkota, R. Pfundt, N. Treff, R.T. Scott . Uniparental disomy (UPD) in the human blastocyst is exceedingly rare. Oral presentation at the 69th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Conjoint with IFFS, Boston, MA.

N.A. Gueye, J. Su , R. Scott III, M. Lebiedzinski, N. Treff, R.T. Scott. Telomere DNA length is not predictive of embryonic reproductive potential. Fertil Steril 2012; 98: S163. Poster presentation at the 68th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in San Diego, CA. Manuscript pending submission

Journal Club

2013 – Efficacy and safety of global endometrial ablation after cesarean delivery: a cohort study and Endometrial Ablation: Postoperative Complications

Awards

OB/GYN Diplomate

Meir Olcha, MD

Meir was born in Israel and grew up in New Jersey. He attended Rutgers University where he graduated cum laude with a major in Biological Sciences. He received his MD degree at UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School where he stayed for residency. Meir has been involved in various research projects leading to abstracts, oral presentations, and peer-reviewed publications. In additional to his academic pursuits, he also has been involved in multiple community service events, including the Annual Student Doctor Day Program. His interests have been focused on reproductive medicine. He enjoys spending his spare time with his wife and two children.

Publications

P. Kramata, Y. -P. Lu, Y. -R Lou, J. Cohen, M. Olcha, S. Liu, and A.H. Conney. Effect of administration of caffeine or green tea on the mutation profile in the p53 gene in early p53-positive patches of epidermal cells induced by chronic UVB-irradiation of hairless SKH-1 mice. Carcinogenesis. 2005 Nov 1; 26(11): 1965-74.

Abstracts

J.M. Franasiak, M. Olcha, D.T. Taylor, N.R. Treff, R. T. Scott. “Embryonic Aneuploidy Does Not Differ Amongst Major Ethnicities as Determined by Genotyping”. Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ; Reproductive Endocrinology, Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey, Morristown, NJ. Pacific Coast Reproductive Society Annual Meeting. March 2015

M. Olcha, E.J. Forman, K.H. Hong, M.D. Werner, A. Ruiz, R.T. Scott. “Aneuploidy Rates Within Age Groups Do Not Differ Within The Typical Therapeutic Range Of Gonadotropin Exposure”. Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ; Reproductive Endocrinology, Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey, Morristown, NJ. ASRM 69th Annual Meeting. October 2013

M. Olcha, M. McWeeney, S.J. Levin. “Knowledge and Attitudes of Colorectal Cancer Screening in an Underserved Population”. UMDNJ Community Oriented Primary Care Poster Session, New Brunswick, NJ. 26 July 2007.P.

Kramata, Y. -P. Lu, Y. -R Lou, J. Cohen, M. Olcha, S. Liu, and A.H. Conney. Mutation profile of the p53 gene in early mutant p53-positive patches of epidermal cells in SKH-1 mice chronically irradiated with UVB-light and treated orally with caffeine or green tea”. Proc. Am. Assoc. Cancer. Res. 46, 1016, #4301 (2005, Anaheim, Orange County, CA).

Oral Presentations

Olcha, J.M. Franasiak, D.T. Taylor, N.R. Treff, R. T. Scott. “Markers of Ovarian Reserve Do Not Differ Amongst Major Ethnicities as Determined by Genotyping. Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ; Reproductive Endocrinology, Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey, Morristown, NJ. PCRS Annual Meeting. March 2015

M. Olcha, K.M. Ferry, E.J. Forman, K.H. Hong, N.R. Treff, R.T. Scott. “Trophectoderm Biopsy For Aneuploidy Screening Results in Lower Initial hCG Levels With Altered Predictive Values: Low Initial levels Still Have High Delivery Rates and Normal Pregnancy Outcomes”. Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ; Reproductive Endocrinology, Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey, Morristown, NJ. ASRM 68th Annual Meeting. October 2012