The LA CaTS Center partnered with the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (SSCI) for the 2025 Southern Regional Meeting (SRM). The meeting was held at the InterContinental Hotel in New Orleans on February 13-15, 2025. The LA CaTS Center and the Mississippi Center for Clinical & Translational Research (MCCTR) hosted a joint symposium titled “Frontiers in Health: Breakthroughs in Obesity, Cardiovascular, and Kidney Disease Treatments”. In addition, LA CaTS Center investigators presented their research at the SRM Poster Session in the IDeA Clinical & Translational Research section, along with MCCTR investigators.
A special thank you to SSCI & MCCTR for their partnership in this regional meeting.
Below is a recap of the LA CaTS symposium speakers, posters and awardees for this year’s meeting:
Symposium Speakers
- Donna Ryan, MD, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, “Breakthroughs in Obesity: It’s Not Just About Weight Loss”
- Michael Hall, MD, University of Mississippi Medical Center, “Obesity, Chronic Kidney Disease and Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: Mechanistic Links and Novel Therapeutic Opportunities”
- Licy Yanes Cardozo, MD, University of Mississippi Medical Center, “Obesity in women with PCOS: Implications and Mechanisms”
- Marie “Tonette” Krousel-Wood, MD, MSPH, Tulane University School of Medicine, “Moving the Needle: Translating Evidence-based Treatment for Cardiometabolic Diseases into Practice”
LA CaTS Poster Presenters
| Investigators | Institutions | Title |
| Rajesh Mohandas, MD | LSU Health New Orleans | Cerebral Microvascular Dysfunction and Neuroinflammation - A Novel Mechanism Mediating Cardiovascular Risk in Chronic Kidney Disease |
| Prasad Katakam, MD, PhD | Tulane University | |
| Eric Ravussin, PhD | Pennington Biomedical Research Center | Experimental approach to test predictions of body weight regulation models |
| Franck Mauvais-Jarvis, MD, PhD | Tulane University | |
| Shigeki Saito | Tulane University | Defining the Roles of Fibulin-5 in Pulmonary Fibrosis |
| Nicholas Skill | LSU Health - NO | Monitoring and targeting CD73 for gastrointestinal neuroendocrine neoplasms |
| Sungo Lee | LSU Health -S | Role of hydrogen sulfide in the glioma immune microenvironment |
| Bolormaa Vandanmagsar | PBRC | Defining the role of hepatic SLC25a25 on NASH development |
| Bilon Khambu | Tulane University | Response and role of Bone marrow-derived Hematopoietic Stem Cells (BMHSCs) to Chronic liver injury |
| Yilin Yoshida | Tulane | Role of comorbidities, sex hormones, inflammatory biomarkers, and socio-demographic factors in sex differences of COVID-19 outcomes |
| Vance Albaugh | PBRC | Intestinal Glucose Utilization Drives the Weight Loss Benefits of Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass |
| Maria Sanchez-Pino | LSUH-NO | Epigenetic signature of obese-induced MDSC: decoding the link with increased risk for Cancer |
| Larissa Sweeny | LSUH-NO | Understanding the Impact of Human Papillomavirus on Immune Response in Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Tumors |
| Timothy Allerton | PBRC | The Role of Hydrogen Sulfide in Adipose Tissue Microvascular Function in Obesity-Associated Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction |
| Prachi Singh | PBRC | Addressing health disparities in African Americans – exploring sleep and developing interventions |
| Yinghua Jiang | Tulane | Preclinical Screening of Therapeutic Compounds for Treating Ischemic Stroke Complication in A Mouse Model Mimicking Chronic HIV-cART state |
| Janet McCombs | Tulane | Engineering T cells to target Klebsiella pneumoniae infections |
| Amy Feehan | Ochsner | Developing a bile acid biomarker to predict the efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation in overt hepatic encephalopathy |
| Ana-Maria Dragoi | LSUHSC-S | The role of macrophages colonization by Neisseria gonorrhoeae (N.g) during gonorrhea development |
| Sruti Chandra | Tulane | Epigenetic analysis of regulation of the inflammosome-activating NLRP3 gene in monocytes from atrial fibrillation patients and controls |
| Louis Krane | Tulane | Assessing the Role of Transferable Exosomal PD-L1 in Renal Cell Carcinoma |
| Shengmin Yan | Tulane | The role of BID in NAFLD-related metabolic changes of hepatic macrophages |
| Kristin Hoddy | PBRC | Community opinion of technology supported dietary pattern interventions (CoopTech) |
| David McDougal (Lead PI) | PBRC | Evaluating glial acetate metabolism as a biomarker of hypoglycemic complications in patients with type 1 diabetes: A proof of concept study. |
| Peter Katzmarzyk (Lead PI) | PBRC | Obesity, Health Disparities and Cancer Risk in Louisiana |
| Jovanny Zabeleta (Co-PI) | LSUHSC-NO | |
| David Welsh (Lead PI) | LSUHSC-NO | Confluent Disparities in Modifiable Health Behaviors in People Living with HIV throughout Louisiana |
| Lauren Richey (Co-PI) | LSUHSC-NO | |
| John Apolzan (Co-PI) | PBRC | |
| John Vanchiere (Co-PI) | LSUHSC-S | |
| Catherine Burnette (McKinley) | Tulane | The Development of a Culturally Grounded Evidenced-Based Intervention for Native Americans of the Southeast: Promoting Cardiovascular Health and Well-Being While Addressing Health Disparities |
| Robert Siggins, R. | LSUHSC-NO | Alcohol Use in People Living with HIV: Impact on Mitochondrial DNA Damage and T-cell Immunosenescence |
| Claudia Leonardi, C. | LSUHSC-NO | Feasibility of Electronic Health Records to Study Social Determinants of Health Disparities in Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Louisiana. |
| Kara Marlatt | PBRC | The Role of Estrogen in Adipocyte Remodeling Following Surgical Menopause |
| Aaron Klinger | Ochsner | The role of extracellular vesicle carried miRNA on colorectal cancer metastasis |
| John Seal | Ochsner | Real-time Mass Spectrometry and Lipidomic Analysis in Liver Transplantation |
| Muralidharan Anbalagan | Tulane | Disruption of the circadian melatonin signal by dim light at night promotes bone lytic breast cancer metastases |
| Tewodros Godebo | Tulane | Arsenic and Other Toxicants in Private Wells and Human Health in Southern Louisiana |
| Jennifer Caldwell | PBRC | Characterizing the Role of Genetic Ancestry in racial disparities in cardiometabolic diseases in Louisiana Populations using multiethnic Array |
| Zhiping Liang | LSUH-NO | Niclosamide-derived novel anti-cancer agent as immune-modulator to synergize immune checkpoint blockade therapy for triple-negative breast cancer |
| Rebecca Solch-Ottaiano | Tulane | The Mediterranean Diet to Promote Brain Health in Aging Rats |
| Deborah Smith | LSUH S | Disparities in cervical cancer prevention among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic women |
| Nell Bond | Tulane | Interrogation of accelerated aging as a mechanism of immune modulation and post-Ebola syndrome (PES) phenotype in pediatric survivors of Ebolavirus disease |
| Derek Werthmann | Tulane | The Effect of Pesticide Exposure on Immunological Responses in Children against SARS-CoV-2 |
| Michael Celestin | LSUH-NO | Promoting Implementation of Interventions to Improve Tobacco Cessation in Healthcare (PITCH) for Rural Populations |
| Jacob Mey | PBRC | Development of a Novel Multi-diet Ketogenic Feeding Protocol |
| Maria Sanchez-Pino | LSUH-NO | Revealing the epigenetic signature in obesity-induced MDSC and its association with comorbidities and weight loss |
| Crystal Zheng | Tulane | Prevalence and Pathophysiologic Mechanisms of Amenorrhea Among Women Survivors of the 2014 – 2016 Ebola Outbreak in Sierra Leone |
| Matthew Calamia, PhD | LSU | Supporting the Mental Health Needs of Those Living with Traumatic Brain Injury & their Care Partners |
| Kimberly Hill, MS | Brain Injury Association of Louisiana | |
| Shelly Dolan, DNP, | LSU Health New Orleans | Getting their Hands Dirty: Urban Gardening as a Platform to Introduce Health Promotion Behaviors in Preschoolers |
| Andreas Hoffman | Greenlight NOLA | |
| Margarita Echeverri, PhD | Xavier University | Empowering Me: An educational initiative addressing domestic violence during COVID-19 |
| Mariana Montero. MBA, MSc | Golden Change, Inc. | |
| Keith Ferdinand, MD | Tulane University School of Medicine | Simple Text-Messaging And Social Support to Increase Hypertension Medication Adherence in New Orleans, LA (TEXT MY MEDS NOLA) |
| Daphne Ferdinand, PhD, RN | Healthy Heart Community Prevention Project, Inc. | |
| Chelsea Kracht, PhD | Pennington Biomedical | Modification of Early Childhood Education Center s Outdoor Setting for Toddler Health |
| Michelle Grantham-Caston, PhD | LSU Early Childhood Education Lab | |
| Tyra Gross, PhD | Xavier University | Evaluating Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCFE) Support in a Low Breastfeeding Population |
| Malaika Ludman, MPH | New Orleans Breastfeeding Center | |
| Celestine Carter, APRN, DNS Arlisha Mason, MSN, PhD | LSUHSC-New Orleans, School of Nursing | African-American Churches, Researchers, Providers and the Community Working Together to Reduce HIV in the New Orleans Area |
| Reverend Dr. James Turner Pastor Torin Sanders, PhD | LCSW NOLA Area African-American Churches HIV Coalition |
What is the SSCI?
SSCI is a regional academic society dedicated to the advancement of medically-related research. Its major focus, however, is on encouraging students and post-graduate trainees (residents and fellows) to enter academic medicine and to support junior faculty success in clinical investigation.