Current Members

Luka Pocivavsek, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Surgery

Luka Pocivavsek is a vascular surgeon who specializes in peripheral vascular, cerebrovascular, and aortic disease. His interests range from fundamental physics of membranes to clinical surgical applications. His current research focuses on studying the geometry and biomechanics of surgical anatomies and biological interfaces. Projects include aortic fragility, seal zone stability between graft stents and the aortic wall, stress focusing phenomena induced by surgical interventions, adhesion and renewal of surfaces, and the wrinkling, folding, and collapse behaviors of interfaces.

He received his MD and PhD from The University of Chicago, as well as a BS in physics and BA in history from Duke University. He completed his surgical residency at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where he received their Center for Medical Innovation Research Grants and Innovation Institute First Gear Fellowships. He was also the recipient of the American College of Surgeons Resident Research Scholarship. Afterwards, he did his fellowship in vascular surgery at The University of Chicago and was honored at the Department of Surgery’s annual Charles B. Huggins Research Symposium in 2019. He is also the co-founder of Aruga Technologies, a medical device company that integrates new surface technology inspired by nature into the design of synthetic vascular grafts.

Kathleen Cao, PhD

Kathleen is the SurgBioMech research staff scientist and lab manager. She received her PhD in chemistry from the University of Chicago and BS from University of California, Irvine. She is the coordinator for establishing collaborations with beamline scientists at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. She plans to perform synchrotron x-ray experiments focused on studying living tissue interfaces and anastomotic geometries. In collaboration with Prof. Ka Yee Lee in the Department of Chemistry, she will also investigate the biophysics and biomechanics behind the morphology and collapse behaviors of lipid interfaces.

Nhung Nguyen, PhD

Nhung was a post-doctoral scholar (2020-2022) who received her PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is interested in applying the principles of continuum mechanics and finite element modeling to understand how systems of various materials behave under complex loading scenarios. In the SurgBioMech lab, Nhung conducted computational biomechanics of surgical applications thus contributing to the understanding of the mechanical characteristics of soft tissues and cells, applications in disease detection, and other clinical applications such as surface renewal in arteries. Her research toolsets include: continuum mechanics, finite element modeling, constitutive model developments, and damage and fracture analysis. She is now an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Surgery at University of Chicago.

Julius Kim

Julius is an undergraduate student majoring in Chemistry and Economics. As a pre-medical student who is passionate about surgery and research, he joined the Pocivavsek Lab to learn more about the contemporary obstacles in vascular surgery. He is currently studying Type 1a endoleaks for patients who have had an EVAR by analyzing medical image data, particularly CT scans. Outside of the lab, he is a member of the Men’s Varsity Tennis Team, a co-founder of UChicago’s Empower Through Health Chapter, and a board member of UChicago’s American Red Cross.

Willa Li

Willa is a medical student at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. She received her undergraduate degree in Chemical & Physical Biology at Harvard University, where she conducted research in cancer biology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Her research with the Pocivavsek Lab so far has focused on using 3-D modeling techniques to characterize local stress distributions in coarctation of the aorta. Outside of the lab, she is passionate about access to education and works with the Pritzker School of Medicine to better understand diversity and inclusion within medical education. In her spare time, she enjoys dancing, biking, and spending time with friends, family, and her cats.

Kayla Polcari, MD

Kayla is a general surgery resident and received her MD and Master’s from University of Miami and her BS from University of Notre Dame.

Blessing Nnate

Blessing is an undergraduate at the University of Chicago majoring in the Biological Sciences and minoring in Creative Writing. She has a strong interest in pursuing medicine, specifically surgery. Within the SurgBioMech Lab, Blessing collaborates with others on the EVAR study and the study concerning wrinkling patterns of membrane substrates. In her spare time, she is an active member of the Organization of Black Students and is in the Local Partnership sector of Global Health Alliance, where she assists local organizations in increasing access to healthcare for low income families.

Anna Gaffeny

Anna Gaffney (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Biophysics, conducting research under joint mentorship of Dr. Luka Pocivavsek and Dr. Ka Yee Lee. She is from Marysville, MI, and received her BS in Biophysics in 2020 at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. During her undergrad, she conducted experimental research studying the liquid-liquid phase behavior of lipid vesicles in relation to composition and temperature. For her current thesis work, she studies how lipid monolayers at the air-water interface collapse under compression. She combines experimental lipid monolayer research (through fluorescence and atomic force microscopy conducted in the Lee Lab) with computational lipid monolayer modeling (through finite element simulations of elastic continuum mechanics in the Pocivavsek Lab), to characterize the morphology and mechanical stability of lipid monolayers undergoing collapse. In her free time, she enjoys reading, exploring nightlife, and playing with her 2 cats.

Joesph Pugar, PhD

Joe is a post-doctoral scholar who received his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Carnegie Mellon University (2023) and B.Sc. in chemical engineering from University of Pittsburgh (2017). His interests are in soft materials and data science, more specifically using machine learning to drive materials science, discovery, and sustainability. In the SurgBioMech lab, he’s leading data science research and the investigation into the role of shape and topology in the modeling and prediction of aorta disease state. Joe is also interested in technology translation and entrepreneurship, being a co–founder and CEO of an arterial implant company he spun out of Pitt as an undergraduate. In his free time, Joe is an outdoorsman and loves road trips; he has made trips to 10 national parks in the past two years.

David Jiang, MD

David is a general surgery resident and received his MD from University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and his BS from University of Maryland.

Tanvi Subramanian, MD

Tanvi is a general surgery resident and received her MD from Washington University and her BS from Northwestern University.

Kelly Twohig, MD

Kelly is a general surgery resident and received her MD from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and her BS from University of Illinois.

Alyssa Varsanik

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