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Jurgis Alvikas, MD

    Education & Training

  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – BS
  • University of Illinois at Chicago – MD
  • UPMC – General Surgery Residency
Research Summary

My research is focused on thrombosis and hemostasis. In particular, I want to understand how a traumatic injury can alter a patient’s ability to form blood clots. These changes, which interestingly involve platelets as agents of both the hemostatic and the innate immune systems, can lead to inappropriate thrombotic diseases, such as deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. My goal is to better understand how these changes occur and to develop better ways to prevent potentially deadly thrombotic complications.

How was the Physician Scientist Incubator valuable to you in your research and overall career goals?

The BWF Incubator Program has been instrumental in my professional development and I truly would not be where I am without it.  The curriculum of the program covered not only the fundamental topics, like how to generate a hypothesis or how to create a research approach but also the less frequently addressed topics, such as career planning, how to build a professional network, or how to deal with the manuscript or grant rejections.

Representative Publications
  1. Alvikas J, Zenati M, Campwala I, Jansen JO, Hassoune A, Phelos H, Okonkwo DO, Neal MD. Rapid detection of platelet inhibition and dysfunction in traumatic brain injury: A prospective observational study. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2022 Jan 1;92(1):167-176. doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000003427. PMID: 34629458; PMCID:  PMC8677601.
  2. Alvikas J, Deeb AP, Jorgensen DR, Minervini MI, Demetris AJ, Lemon K, Chen X, Labiner H, Malik S, Hughes C, Humar A, Tevar A. Moderately Macrosteatotic Livers Have Acceptable Long-Term Outcomes but Higher Risk of Immediate Mortality. Transplant Proc. 2021 Jun;53(5):1682-1689. doi: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2021.03.024.  Epub 2021 Apr 27. PMID: 33931249; PMCID: PMC8628849.
  3. Alvikas J, Myers SP, Wessel CB, Okonkwo DO, Joseph B, Pelaez C, Doberstein C, Guillotte AR, Rosengart MR, Neal MD. A systematic review and meta-analysis of traumatic intracranial hemorrhage in patients taking prehospital antiplatelet therapy: Is there a role for platelet transfusions? J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2020 Jun;88(6):847-854. doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000002640. PMID: 32118818; PMCID: PMC7431190.
  4. Sekhon UDS, Swingle K, Girish A, Luc N, de la Fuente M, Alvikas J, Haldeman S, Hassoune A, Shah K, Kim Y, Eppell S, Capadona J, Shoffstall A, Neal MD, Li W, Nieman M, Sen Gupta A. Platelet-mimicking procoagulant nanoparticles augment hemostasis in animal models of bleeding. Sci Transl Med. 2022 Jan 26;14(629):eabb8975. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abb8975. Epub 2022 Jan 26. PMID: 35080915; PMCID:  PMC9179936.
  5. Plautz WE, Haldeman SH, Dyer MR, Sperry JL, Guyette FX, Loughran PA, Alvikas J, Hassoune A, Hoteit L, Alsaadi N, Zuckerbraun BS, Rollins-Raval MA, Raval JS, Mota RI, Neal MD; A TACTIC Publication. Reduced cleavage of von willebrand factor by ADAMTS13 is associated with microangiopathic acute kidney injury following trauma.  Blood Coagul Fibrinolysis. 2022 Jan 1;33(1):14-24. doi: 10.1097/MBC.0000000000001089. PMID:34889809; PMCID: PMC8728687
  6. Rieser CJ, Alvikas J, Phelos H, Hall LB, Zureikat AH, Lee A, Ongchin M, Holtzman MP, Pingpank JF, Bartlett DL, Choudry MHA. Failure to Thrive Following Cytoreduction and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy:  Causes and Consequences. Ann Surg Oncol. 2022 Apr;29(4):2630-2639. doi: 10.1245/s10434-021-11100-z.  Epub 2022 Jan 6. PMID: 34988834.