The three are among the 2024 recipients of early-stage research grants from the Cary Council — which gives the awards in partnership with Southwestern Medical Foundation.
The council said it is catalyzing a new generation of community leaders and working to raise awareness for the important causes of medical research, patient care, and medical education in the Dallas community and beyond. Presented by the lead sponsor, the Michael and Abby Gregory Foundation, the three were recently honored at a ‘DocStars’ event. They’re working on:
- Improving the lives of patients after liver transplantation
- Reducing the risk of brain injury in critically ill children
- Empowering Dallas school students to save lives by transforming CPR education
Details on who they are below, and the full story can be found here.
Sarah R. Lieber, M.D., M.S.C.R. assistant professor, Department of Internal Medicine – Division of Digestive and Liver Disease at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Lieber’s clinical practice emphasizes patient-centered care for individuals with advanced liver disease who are in need of liver transplantation. Her research interests are focused on liver transplantation outcomes, aiming to understand why some patients flourish after transplant while others struggle profoundly. She intends to implement interventions to ensure that all patients thrive after receiving their gift of life. Dr. Lieber earned her medical degree at the University of Michigan Medical School and completed her residency in internal medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She received advanced training in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology through fellowships at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. Lieber also holds a master’s degree in clinical research from UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. She joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2020.
Ethan Sanford, M.D. – Pediatric Intensivist and Anesthesiologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center
Sanford is the Associate Program Director for Pediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) and regularly leads clinical teams in caring for some of the sickest children in the Dallas community. He works with multidisciplinary groups to determine best practices and continuously evaluate how we may better serve children at their greatest time of need. Sanford works with a group of bioengineers, mathematicians, and statisticians to guide the development of novel brain health monitors on ECMO. His work is aimed not only towards improving the survival of sick children but also to allow the best possible neurologic outcome after severe illness. Sanford received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed his pediatric and anesthesiology residencies and fellowships at Boston Children’s Hospital. He returned home to Texas to complete pediatric critical care training at UT Southwestern before joining the UT Southwestern faculty in 2020.
Anezi Uzendu, M.D., F.A.C.C. Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center
Uzendu specializes in interventional cardiology and cardiac arrest care and is passionate about improving outcomes after cardiac arrest. He has partnered with the American Heart Association on multiple projects to advocate for heart health and CPR awareness and also created virtual CPR training for Boston minority youth during the pandemic. He is bringing this expertise to a partnership with Dallas ISD to transform cardiac arrest and CPR education in schools, empowering students to save lives. Uzendu earned his medical degree at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. He gained advanced training through fellowships in cardiovascular medicine at The Ohio State University Medical Center and interventional cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Corrigan Minehan Heart Center. He also completed a research fellowship in cardiovascular outcomes at Saint Luke’s Mid-America Heart Institute. Uzendu joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2023.
