Bharath Bhushan, MD

Associate Professor

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Department:

Medicine

Classification:

Faculty

AWARDS & HONORS

• Resident of the Month (Internal Medicine, WVU-SOM), May 2016

• Samuel J. Roessler Memorial Scholarship for Research, 2011

• Graduation with Highest Distinction in Chemistry, 12/2009

• Phi Beta Kappa (inducted 11/2008)

• Dean’s List at UNC-CH (all semesters attended, 2006-2009)

• Carolina Pre-Medical Association Most Dedicated Member Award, 2007

Bharath Bhushan, MD is an Associate Professor in the Hospital Medicine Division of the Department of Medicine at West Virginia University. Dr. Bhushan grew up in Ohio and North Carolina. He attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he completed his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry before attending The Ohio State University College of Medicine where he obtained his Medical Degree. After this, Dr. Bhushan completed his internal medicine residency at West Virginia University before staying on as faculty. Some of his personal interests outside of medicine include the visual arts, cognitive science, machine learning, and anthropology. He enjoys playing tennis, reading, painting, and spending time with family.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

American College of Physicians— West Virginia, Poster Presentations

• Presented two clinical vignette posters at conference in August 2015

o Page Kidney: A Rare Cause of Acute Kidney Injury

o Uncontrolled Pain: An Under-recognized Cause of SIADH

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Department of Pediatric Surgery

• June 2011 – August 2011

• Medical Student Research Fellow, funded by Roessler Scholarship

• Publication: Yang J, Watkins D, Chen CL, Bhushan B, Zhou Y, Besner GE. Heparin-binding

epidermal growth factor-like growth factor and mesenchymal stem cells act synergistically to

prevent experimental necrotizing enterocolitis. J Am Coll Surg. 2012;215(4):534-45.

• As a part of Dr. Besner’s team I designed and conducted a summer project (full-time) studying

the effects of HB-EGF and mesenchymal stem cells on a rat pup model of necrotizing

enterocolitis. This involved conducting literature review, experimental design, various laboratory

techniques (stem cell culture preparation, pup umbilical vein cannulation, pup delivery &

maintenance, gel electrophoresis, immunohistochemistry, data analysis), and presentation of

progress at weekly lab meetings. My work lead to a research paper, poster presentation, and peerreviewed

journal publication.

• PI: Dr. Gail E. Besner, MD - (614) 722-3900

UNC Hospital Department of Plastic Surgery

• September 2009 – March 2010

• Undergraduate Research Assistant

• At Dr. van Aalst’s lab I was responsible for developing a consistent methodology for producing

poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) and polycaprolactone nanofiber scaffolds, specifically for the use of

growing umbilical cord derived stem cells. Duties outside of the lab also included weekly

attendance to meetings during which I presented my own progress and participated in reviewing

work of other lab members.

• PI: Dr. John van Aalst, MD, FACS - (919) 843-1087

UNC Hospital Center of Excellence for Bipolar Research

• Spring 2007 – Fall 2008 (5 semesters including Summer of 2007)

• Undergraduate Research Assistant

• At CERT-BD, I was a research assistant at Dr. Soare’s lab at the Psychiatry Hospital (UNC). I

worked in a dry-lab environment, mostly with software for manipulating and analyzing brain

MRI images. Tasks included masking certain areas of the brain that were of importance to our

research, normalization of image files, 3D surface extraction, tracing of sulci on 3D surfaces,

matching patients for control and experimental sets, image manipulation for publishing, editing

linux bash scripts, and general file management.

• Supervisor: Mark Nicoletti, MS - (919) 966-7263