Pediatric neurosurgeon joins USA COM faculty

Matthew Pearson, M.D., recently joined USA Health as a board-certified pediatric neurosurgeon and will serve as an associate professor of neurosurgery at the USA College of Medicine.

“Our department is excited to have Dr. Pearson join the neurosurgery team at USA Health,” said Anthony Martino, M.D., professor and chair of neurosurgery. “He brings a great deal of experience and skill that will benefit patients and their families in our region.”

During his tenure at Vanderbilt University as an assistant professor of pediatric neurological surgery, Pearson developed two programs at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital: the pediatric neuro-oncology program – treating approximately 45 operative brain and spinal cord tumors per year – and the multi-disciplinary pediatric surgical epilepsy program – offering subdural grid electrode mapping, hemispherectomy and vagus nerve stimulation.

Pearson also developed the comprehensive pediatric neurosurgery program at Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Pensacola, Florida. This program treats all aspects of neurosurgical issues for pediatric patients in the Florida panhandle.

He earned a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. After an internship in general surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, he completed his residency in neurological surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. His fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery was completed at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

He is double board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery.

Medical students present at national meeting on internal medicine

Four medical students from the USA College of Medicine gained valuable experience by presenting posters at the American College of Physicians’ annual Internal Medicine Meeting, held April 28-30 in Chicago. 

Elizabeth Beddingfield

Elizabeth Beddingfield, a rising fourth-year student, presented a case on excipient lung disease. Injecting crushed tablets intravenously can cause significant lung disease due to the harmful effects of excipients, which are the starches, binders and coatings that are included alongside a drug’s active ingredients. The case also illustrated the value of re-questioning patients when their disease presentation and severity do not match their reported exposure history, she said.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to present at the national ACP conference,” Beddingfield said. “As a medical student, it gave me a glimpse into my future as a healthcare professional and allowed me to interact with those who, one day in the future, will be my colleagues.” 

Malvika Lall, M.D.

Malvika Lall, M.D., who recently graduated with the Class of 2022, discussed pseudo-pseudo Meigs' syndrome as a rare side effect of Leflunomide, an immunosuppressive drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions. The syndrome is characterized by pleural effusion, a buildup of fluid between the lungs and chest cavity; ascites, a condition in which fluid collects in the abdomen; and elevated cancer antigen (CA-125) with no evidence of tumor. 

Lall soon will begin residency training in internal medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. 

Sureena Monteiro-Pai

Rising fourth-year student Sureena Monteiro-Pai’s case suggested that adrenal insufficiency should be included in the differential for any patient presenting with new-onset seizures and electrolyte abnormalities. The case also demonstrated how excessive beer consumption may exacerbate underlying disease and worsen electrolyte abnormalities, she said.

“At the ACP conference, I was able to network, learn from lectures given by physicians from around the nation, and explore career options,” Monteiro-Pai said. “This was extremely beneficial to my education, and I plan to attend future conferences.”

Cayla Van Alstine

Cayla Van Alstine, also a rising fourth-year student, presented a clinical vignette depicting a diagnostically challenging case of autoimmune encephalitis and the utility of point-of-care ultrasound in timely diagnosis and treatment.

Phung presents on vascular anomalies at international scientific meeting

Thuy Phung, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pathology at the USA College of Medicine and director of molecular genetic pathology and dermatopathology at USA Health, presented at the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA) World Congress 2022, held May 10-13 in Vancouver, Canada. Almost 800 delegates from more than 50 countries attended the international scientific meeting, virtually and in person.

Phung presented data from a clinical study to assess the diagnostic correlation between clinical assessment, diagnostic imaging and histopathologic evaluation of verrucous venous malformation. The vascular anomaly disorder is challenging to diagnose in children, especially in the early stage of the disease.

She also served as moderator of a scientific session on combined vascular malformations as well as on the Scientific Committee for ISSVA World Congress to judge and select abstracts for the meeting program.  

“It was an honor to represent the University of South Alabama and the Department of Pathology at ISSVA World Congress, which is the most widely known international conference in the field,” Phung said.

MCI researchers study rare gynecologic melanomas

Gynecologic oncology fellow Annelise Wilhite, M.D., works in the lab at the Mitchell Cancer Institute.

Using molecular profiling, physician scientists at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute investigated molecular differences between vulvar and vaginal melanomas, two rare forms of cancer that often are studied as a single entity – vulvovaginal melanoma. 

They concluded that despite the differences in patient survival, which served as the impetus for the research, the two melanomas share similar molecular and immune characteristics, and should continue to be studied together.

Annelise Wilhite, M.D., gives a presentation at the Society
of Gynecologic Oncology's Annual Meeting on Women's
Cancer in Phoenix, Arizona.

Annelise Wilhite, M.D, a gynecologic oncology fellow at the Mitchell Cancer Institute, gave an oral presentation on this research during a master class at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer in Phoenix, Arizona, in March.

“We found that these tumors have similar molecular and immune profiles, which could be one reason they both respond poorly to this type of targeted therapy compared with the cutaneous melanoma patients,” Wilhite said. “Especially in light of the rarity of the disease, it makes sense to continue to study them as a single entity.”

Wilhite led the project under the mentorship of Nathaniel Jones, M.D., a gynecologic oncologist and assistant professor of interdisciplinary clinical oncology. Together, they worked with Caris Life Sciences to obtain molecular profiling on 183 vulvar and vaginal melanomas. They discovered that the samples shared similar molecular profiles, with relatively high rates of alternations in the KIT gene and low rates of BRAF gene mutations. “The two had a complete lack of TMB-H tumors and similar PD-L1 (protein) expression, and these are markers of response for immune-targeted therapy,” Wilhite said. “Their immune microenvironment was similar, predominated by myeloid dendritic cells and low rates of cytotoxic and helper T cells.” 

They found that vulvar melanoma patients have a better overall survival than vaginal melanoma patients, which is consistent with previous studies. However, the survival advantage disappeared when the researchers compared only those patients who received immune-targeted therapy. 

This type of immune-targeted therapy targets T cells to help them fight the tumor using the patient’s own immune system, and they often are successful in treating many types of melanomas, Wilhite said, adding that the lack of immune markers and lack of T cells could be responsible for the poor response to treatment among the vulvovaginal melanoma patients.  

“Our next steps will be trying to identify other ways to target vulvovaginal melanomas and their immune microenvironments,” she said. “There are ongoing studies looking at new agents that target other aspects of the immune system, and it will be interesting to see if these agents improve outcomes for vulvovaginal melanoma patients.”   

Other researchers and institutions involved in the project included the Caris Precision Oncology Alliance. The collaboration included gynecologic oncologists and melanoma specialists from institutions around the United States.

Meet a Med Student: Nicholas Viyuoh

Nicholas Viyuoh

Age: 25

Class of: 2023

Hometown: Mobile, Ala.

Undergrad institution: University of South Alabama

Degree earned: Bachelor of Science in biomedical sciences

Interests, hobbies: Fishing, water sports, tutoring, song writing and a little campfire guitar

Something unique about me: I have lived in 10 different states in 20 years, and still managed to come back to South for college and medical school as my father did before me.

Three of my favorite things: Social events (the more people the merrier, so COVID is kicking my butt twice as hard), traveling (COVID strikes again), and my friends and family (including our two dogs and three cats)

What I enjoy most about being a student at the USA College of Medicine: I have noticed the atmosphere at South revolves greatly around person-to-person interactions. There are tons of friendly faces around and some unique stories to go along with them. You can learn a lot about the area if you ask the right people, and it feels like almost everyone I talk to has something unique to offer, including the patients.