American College of Surgeons: Continuous Quality Improvement

Past and Current Clinical Scholars

Karl Bilimoria, MD, MS (Presentations and Publications 35K PDF),was the first ACS Clinical Scholar in Residence. During his two years at the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Bilimoria performed numerous studies focused on examining and improving the delivery of care for surgical oncology patients. He used the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) for many of these notable studies. In addition, Dr. Bilimoria worked extensively on the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) to assess hospital surgical quality, and he developed multiple additional initiatives for ACS NSQIP. Dr. Bilimoria continues to be heavily involved with the American College of Surgeons (ACS), ACS NSQIP, and the Clinical Scholars in Residence program.

Dr. Bilimoria earned his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. He subsequently undertook a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; attended medical school at Indiana University, Indianapolis; and completed his general surgery residency at Northwestern University, Chicago. He is currently a surgical oncology fellow at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. His long-term clinical interests are in melanoma and sarcoma, while his research will continue to focus on surgical quality improvement and health services research.

Angie Ingraham, MD (Presentations and Publications 10K PDF)was an ACS Clinical Scholar in Residence from July 2008 to June 2010. Her research focused on patient- and hospital-level outcomes following emergency general surgery procedures using data from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. She also worked with leaders in surgery to study outcomes following traumatic injuries using the National Trauma Data Bank. Finally, Dr. Ingraham supported various ACS programs and collaborated with numerous ACS staff members; specifically, she assisted with the development of the Trauma Quality Improvement Program, served on the Definitions Committee of the ACS NSQIP, and coordinated the development and publication of the ACS NSQIP Best Practice Guidelines and Case Studies.

Dr. Ingraham studied biology at Truman State University, Kirksville, MO, and completed medical school at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. She is currently a surgery resident at the University of Cincinnati (OH). Dr. Ingraham is interested in pursuing a fellowship in trauma/critical care/acute care surgery after her general surgery training.

Mehul Raval, MD (Presentations and Publications 10K PDF),has been actively involved in several projects at the ACS during his tenure as a Clinical Scholar in Residence from July 2008 to June 2010. Recently, Dr. Raval performed an assessment of multi-specialty representation and case-mix adjustment in the ACS NSQIP. He has helped coordinate the initial testing of the ACS NSQIP Pediatrics module, assisted with the formation of an Illinois ACS NSQIP collaborative, and conducted a national survey of surgeons involved in the ACS NSIQP. Dr. Raval has also developed online compliance reports for the ACS Bariatric Surgery Center Network. Additionally, Mehul has completed research projects using the NCDB and the Kids’ Inpatient Database to study trends in the delivery of pediatric surgical care.

Dr. Raval completed his undergraduate education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his medical education at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC. He also completed a Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship. He is currently a categorical general surgery resident at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL with a long-term interest in pediatric surgery.

Warren Chow, MD, MS, (Presentations and Publications 85K PDF), is the James C. Thompson Geriatrics Surgical Fellow at the ACS. He started the Clinical Scholars in Residence program in July 2010. For his research, he is evaluating the performance of NSQIP hospitals in surgical care for geriatric patients using risk-adjusted outcomes. He is currently developing quality improvement strategies for geriatric surgery, including “Best Practice Guidelines.” Dr. Chow has been exploring advanced statistical methods for modeling outcomes in ACS NSQIP.

Dr. Chow received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. He completed his graduate engineering studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Chow is a general surgery resident at the University of California, Los Angeles, and has an interest in vascular surgery.

Ryan Merkow, MD, (Presentations and Publications 50K PDF), began his first year as a Clinical Scholar at the American College of Surgeons in July 2010 after completing three years of general surgery residency at the University of Colorado, Denver. He is currently working on several surgical quality improvement initiatives, including developing the ACS NSQIP Procedure Targeted program, ACS Risk Calculator project, National Quality Forum initiatives, and working with the Food and Drug Administration to evaluate and improve bariatric surgical quality in the United States.

Dr. Merkow completed his undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and medical education at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. He is currently a categorical general surgery resident at the University of Colorado Denver. His career plans and interests are in surgical oncology, surgical outcomes, and health services research.

Clinical Scholars Program

Revised October 17, 2011