Sam Short, MD

Sam Short, MD
Internal Medicine Resident
University of North Carolina

Hemostasis & Thrombosis, Adult Medicine, Clinical/Translational Research – specifically, the intersection of vascular health, inflammation and thrombosis and how that connects long-term with cardiovascular disease 

2022 HTRS Student Research Award Recipient
​​​​​​Mentor:  Mary Cushman, MD, MSc, University of Vermont  
Project Title:“Improving Stroke Risk Prediction in Atrial Fibrillation: Refinement of CHA2DS2-VASc Score with Novel Biomarkers of Stroke Risk” 

I love to travel – to national parks and on prolonged backpacking trips, specifically. I grew up in Seattle, Washington and state parks are close to my heart. So far, I’ve been to 28 national parks and backpacked in the North Cascades, Olympics, Yosemite, Adirondacks, Glacier, and Yellowstone, as well as national parks in Canada, Norway, and Iceland – all are favorites for different reasons. Hiking near volcanoes and glaciers makes you feel like you’re on a different planet and also...really small.
 

I’m a big music enthusiast, which stems from playing the bass (upright and electric, most genres). My favorite bands include Beach House, Steely Dan, Carly Rae Jepson, and The Who. I just recently saw Death Cab for Cutie – a 20-year reunion tour of their album “Transatlanticism.” .

To keep sane in residency and furnish my first house, I’ve recently taken up woodworking. I’m currently building cabinets for my bathroom, which might even be passable on the second or third attempt!  

Entering medical school, the only field I had actually ruled out was hem/onc, given family experiences with cancer. I wanted the journey to be my own. I loved complex cell physiology in undergrad and cardiovascular disease in my post-grad role as a renal research assistant, and this made me lean toward a cardiovascular field. Then, the foundational mentorship of Mary Cushman, MD, MSc, University of Vermont Medical Center, during my medical school training provided an "about face" to hematology. Her gentle encouragement and guidance to introduce me to the field, the intriguing interactions between so many organ systems on a vascular level, and then translating that to the multidisciplinary role that classical hematologists fill in a clinical setting all seemed incredibly rewarding. This, along with the great and persistent research needs for the field, made this feel like a natural fit for me.  

Being a trainee during COVID and seeing the clinical relevance of thromboinflammation was particularly eye-opening; I was fortunate to be able to contribute to the body of intense research into this early in the pandemic. My initial paper as a first author focused on the association of D-dimer and death among ICU patients with COVID, which was also educational and impactful to my career choice. Further, the mentorship of Neil Zakai, MD, MSc for this project was equally key -- especially his eye to the complex interpretation of nonspecific markers such as D-dimer to try to make timely clinical recommendations.

Identifying eager mentors who are glad to go to bat for you at any time has been key to my career development. It’s important to find a mentor who is willing to push the envelope with you because they know it’s better for you – to respectfully disagree with you so you can come up with a better solution. When you do, every opportunity to work together becomes precious.