Loyola University Medical Center

Gottlieb Memorial Hospital

MacNeal Hospital

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CREST Research Program

Most OB/GYN residents will perform little if any research in their career; however, they will all be consumers of research in order to update their practice patterns. Typically, research education is not standardized and is often variably supervised during residency, due to the traditional one-to-one matching of resident to mentor.

The CREST program is designed to fill gaps in this important educational process.

CREST Program Overview

In the Loyola OB/GYN residency program, research education is directed as a cohort, defined by the year of residency (first year, second year, etc.) Each resident team is matched with two clinical research facilitators and this team meets monthly for approximately one hour for all four years of residency. The study team will select, design and implement one (or more) clinical research projects. Highly functioning teams are likely to answer multiple research questions, ensuring first author publications and/or presentations for each team member.

The CREST program allows each resident to experience the synergy necessary for modern clinical research and facilitates many other professional traits that the Loyola program teaches (teamwork, collegiality, cooperation). Because each class of residents is a research team, no one is working alone, and the likelihood of a successful study is higher.

Projects move from quite simple to more complex as the skills and enthusiasm of the cohort study team progresses. Thus, each resident will have several high-quality publications (with concomitant presentations) on their CV upon completion of the Loyola residency training program.

The CREST program has been in effect for 10 years. As a result, there have been 55 scholarly products since the program's inception in 2008. The average number of scholarly products per resident class is 6.38.

Following are a few of the peer reviewed publications that are a result of the CREST program:

  • Antenatal Testing Education: Assessing Health Education and Health Knowledge in a High-Risk Pregnant Population. Shaker J, Feffer M, Winder A, Dawoud MM, Media J, Murphy MJ, Pope H, Lal AK.AJP Rep. 2026 Jun 26;16(2):e123-e127. PMID:42368722
     
  • Improving Pelvic Organ Prolapse Education with the iPOP Model. Burgos A, Chen YB, Gevelinger M, Adams W, Pham T, Acevedo-Alvarez M.Int Urogynecol J. 2026 Jun;37(6):1799-1807. PMID: 41957143
     
  • Physicians' Perceptions of Intravenous Estrogen for the Management of Acute Abnormal Uterine Bleeding. Peiffer A, Kistner M, Otto A, Schultz E, Wesolowski M, White P, Yang LC.Cureus. 2025 Dec 18;17(12):e99562.PMID: 41555986
     
  • Salvage treatment in recurrent endometria cancer of the pelvis and peritoneal cavity.  McAlarnen LA, Ryan K, Adams W, Gliniewicz A, Winder AD, Liotta MR, Potkul RK, Small W Jr, Harkenrider M.  Gynecol Oncol Rep 2019; May 10(29):1-6.  PMID 31517010
     
  • Examining the Utility and Cost of Routine Type and Screen Prior to Minimally Invasive Hysterectomy. Tjaden A, Codispoti N, Yang L, Pham T. JSLS. 2021 Jul-Sep;25(3). PMID:34354335
     
  • Association of Living in A Food Desert with Pregnancy Morbidity. Tipton M, Wagner S, Dixon A, Westbay L, Darji H, Graziano S. Obstet Gynecol. 2020 Jul;136(1):140-145. PMID:32541293
     
  • Perception of posthysterectomy cystoscopy training in obstetrics and gynecology residency programs. Jacobs K, Hernandez L, Thomas Tn, Waddell L, Kavic S, Graziano S. Female Pelvic Med Reconstr Surg. 2015 Mar-Apr;21(2):66-9. PMID:25349938
     
  • Surgical pain control with ropivacaine by atomized delivery (Spray); A randomized controlled trial. Collins G, Gadzinski J, Fitzgerald G, Sheran J, Wagner S, Edelstein S, Mueller E. J Minim Invasive Gynecol. 2015 Aug 1.PMID:26241686
     
  • Assessment of bowel function in the peripartum period. Graziano S, Murphy D, Braginsky L, Horwitz J, Kennedy V, Burkett D, Kenton K. Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2014 Jan;289(1):23-7. PMID: 23764932
     
  • Use of Electronic Health Record-Based Tools to Improve Appropriate Use of the Human Papillomavirus Test in Adult Women. Broach V, Day L, Barenberg B, Huang S, Kenton K, White P. J Low Genit Tract Dis. 2013 Aug 16. PMID: 23959296
     
  • Ambulation of hospitalized gynecologic surgical patients: a randomized controlled trial.Liebermann M, Awad M, Dejong M, Rivard C, Sinacore J, Brubaker L. Obstet Gynecol. 2013 Mar;121(3):533-7. PMID: 23635615
     

Current Research Projects:

  • SMILE (The association between social media usage, and perception of labor, interventions and maternal mental health)
  • MAPSI (Information seeking behavior in menopausal patients and its association with severity of menopause symptoms by MENQOL)
  • Goal-Oriented Approaches to Learning in Surgery: Measuring the Impact of Pre-Operative Goal-Setting on Resident Confidence and Communication in Gynecologic Surgery
  • Patient Perspectives on Labor Intervention and New Strategies for Patient Education and Reducing Discrepancy
  • Postoperative Pain Scores of Patients Who Undergo Hysteroscopies Under General Anesthesia
  • Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation for Pain Relief in the Gynecologist’s Office