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Zel (Xiaoran) Zhang, MD, MS

    Education & Training

  • UPMC – Neurological Surgery Resident
  • University of Pittsburgh SOM – MD
  • UCLA – BS/MS
How was the Physician Scientist Incubator valuable to you in your research and overall career goals?

The Physician Scientist Incubator program is invaluable in my development as a surgeon-scientist.  The classes helped me focus my research goal and improve the rigor of my science.  Statistical bootcamp help me understand the pitfalls of study design.  Career coaching helped me understand my value to the institution.

Representative Publications
  1. Zhang X, Jaman E, Habib A, Ozpinar A, Andrews E, Amankulor NM, Zinn PO. A Novel 5-Aminolevulinic Acid-enabled Surgical Loupe System- A Consecutive Brain Tumor Series of 11 Cases. Operative Neurosurgery. 22 (5), 298-304.  
  2. Agarwal P, Beale OM, Zhang X, Sandlesh P, Jaman E, Amankulor NM. Machine Learning Identification of Immunotherapy Targets in Low-Grade Glioma Using RNA Sequencing Expression Data. World Neurosurg 2022.  
  3. Jaman E*, Zhang X*, Allen J, Saraiya RG, Tollefson S, Hamilton DK, Amankulor NM. Percutaneous Fixation for Metastatic Spinal Disease Provides Effective Symptom Palliation with Low Rates of Hardware Failure. Surg Neuro Int. 13. 2022. 
  4. Zhang X, Kim WJ, Rao AV, Jaman E, Deibert CP, Sandlesh P, Krueger K, Allen JC, Amankulor NM. In vivo efficacy of decitabine as a natural killer cell-mediated immunotherapy against isocitrate dehydrogenase mutant gliomas. Neurosurgical Focus. 52 (2), E3. 2022  
  5. Jaman E, Zhang X, Sandlesh P, Habib A, Allen J, Saraiya RG, Amankulor NA, Zinn PO. History of Atopy Confers Improved Outcomes in IDH Mutant and Wildtype Low-Grade Glioma. Journal of Neuro-Oncology. Oct 2021 

*Co-first authors