Katherine Killian, DO
Kat grew up in Tennessee and completed her BA in Japanese and World Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In undergrad, she participated in research focused on methods of Pseudomonas's virulency and exposing potential mechanisms involved in its survival and growth rate, specifically in Cystic Fibrosis patients.
Kat is spending her PIRRT research year working with Dr. Tim Oury and Dr. Timothy Perkins, investigating the role of the receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) in lung disease. This transmembrane protein receptor has been historically linked to several inflammatory mediated chronic diseases and is most abundantly expressed in the lungs. She has also been awarded a position in the Pittsburgh Innovation in Collaborative Training of Residents alliance, or PICTOR alliance program. She has been granted an R-38 in the basic translational track to pursue the role of RAGE in airway inflammation.
Kat plans on pursuing a career as a physician scientist focused on obstructive airway disease and pulmonary pathophysiology. In her free time she likes to spend time with her cats and her husband playing video games, table-top gaming, mushrooming, and gardening.
Yannis Hadjiyannis, MD
Yanni has a background in molecular genetics and cancer biology, working on the E2F family of transcription factors and PTEN signaling as an undergraduate. Prior to graduating from medical school at The Ohio State University, he performed a year of clinical and translational research as part of the NIH Medical Research Scholars Program (formerly the Howard-Hughes Medical Institute Program). He studied autoimmune polyendocrinopathy-candidiasis-ectodermal dystrophy (APECED), a rare monogenic autoimmune disorder caused by AIRE mutations characterized by loss of central immune tolerance and the development of autoreactive T cells.
Over the course of two PIRRT research years, Yanni studied regulatory dendritic cell therapy for transplant tolerance, supported by T32 AI089443 and a Burroughs Welcome Foundation Physician Scientist Incubator award. He presented his work at the World Transplant Congress in San Francisco, and received a Research in Emerging Areas Critical to Human Health LRP award from NIH for his work on transplant tolerance induction and cell therapy under the mentorship of Dr. Angus Thomson. He has published 8 papers since starting residency in 2022 and is interested in pursuing transfusion medicine for an eventual career investigating cellular biotherapies.
Laura Molina, MD, PhD
Laura completed the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2023, earning an MD and a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Pathology. Her research is focused on liver and biliary pathobiology with fellowship interests in pediatric pathology. Her PIRRT research year, supported by a combination of PICTOR/R38 HL150207 and departmental funds, focused on elucidating the relationship between bile ducts and hepatic arteries during liver development with Dr. Kari Nejak-Bowen. She studied the role of YAP in promoting hepatocyte-derived bile duct regeneration in models of biliary injury and exploring cross-talk with the vasculature, with 3 papers published since beginning residency. She was awarded the Experimental Pathologist-in-Training Award from the American Society for Investigative Pathobiology (ASIP) in 2025.
Laura is also engaged in clinical research in pediatric pathology with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She presented two posters on her clinical studies at the Society for Pediatric Pathology annual meeting in Dublin in 2024. She has been awarded two internal grants from the Department of Pathology supporting her ongoing clinical studies, one evaluating the current guidelines for cytogenetics and molecular testing for new diagnoses of neuroblastoma, and another to study the role of YAP in pediatric cholestasis.
Rasa Valiauga, MD, PhD
Rasa (she/her) was born in Lithuania and immigrated to the United States at age nine, settling in Wisconsin. She attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she dual majored in Neurobiology and Languages and Cultures of Asia and earned a certificate in Religious Studies. After graduation, she remained at UW–Madison to continue her research career, building on experience across five laboratories since high school, with roles ranging from intern to lab manager. Her work has spanned synaptic trafficking, primate models of presbyopia, murine neurodegeneration, and stem cell–based modeling of retinal disease. In 2018, Rasa matriculated into the MD/PhD program at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine, where her dissertation focused on the effects of diet on caspase-1–mediated neuroinflammation in the mouse brain. She plans to pursue combined anatomic and neuropathology (AP/NP) training and will work with Dr. Julia Kofler during her PIRRT year to study mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease, advancing her goal of becoming a physician-scientist leading a funded research program. Outside of medicine, Rasa is passionate about advocacy for marginalized and underrepresented groups, medical education, and institutional growth. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and dog, Koko, cooking and baking, reading, and exploring the outdoors.