Curriculum Vitae

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Last updated: October 21, 2024

Pavel Zhelnov, MD, quit a career in orthopedic spine surgery due to dermatitis, transitioned to health policy & evidence synthesis, and is exploring machine learning & Web3.

Curriculum Vitae

a) CONTACTS

I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

This website drzhelnov.github.io is my personal website.

My email is ... pavel [at] zheln [dot] com.

ORCiD | LinkedIn | GitHub | Twitter

b) DEGREES

2023–2027

PhD in Health Policy, Management and Evaluation

(enrolled full-time)

Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation

University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Provisional thesis title: Avoidably WAsted REsearch (AWARE)

Landing page: https://researchwaste.info/

Supervisor: Dr. Andrea Tricco, MSc, PHD

Link to Graduate Student Directory

Study program:

Health Systems Research – Organization and Management Studies

Collaborative Specialization in Global Health

Co-registered as a graduate student at the Knowledge Translation Program of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital (Unity Health Toronto)

Here is a summary of my first year of studies (GPA: 3.87 out of 4.00):

Canada’s Health System and Health Policy (HAD5011H), Weight 0.50, Grade A-
Introduction to Theories of Organizational Behaviour and Applications to the Health Care Sector (HAD5773H), Weight 0.50, Grade A
Introduction to Health Services and Systems Research Theory and Methods (HAD6760H), Weight 0.50, Grade A-
Biostatistics II (CHL5202H), Weight 0.50, Grade A
Introduction to Knowledge Synthesis for Knowledge Users (CHL5434H), Weight 0.50, Grade A+
Applying Health Services and Systems Research Methods (HAD6770H), Weight 0.50, Grade A-
Introduction to Qualitative Methods for Health Systems and Policy Research (HSR1001H), Weight 0.50, Grade A-
Seminar in Organizational Behaviour (HAD5750H), Weight 0.50, Grade A
Machine Learning with Applications in Python (INF2179H), Weight 0.50, Grade A

2019–2020

Pavlov University

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Achievements:

Completed 60 units toward the Candidate of Sciences in Medicine degree (Doctor of Philosophy – PhD Equivalent) in Traumatology and Orthopedics
Passed first-year qualifying exams
GPA: 4.7 out of 5.0 / 3.7 out of 4.0 (A-/Distinction)
Withdrew for family reasons

2017–2019

Diploma of Postgraduate Education in Traumatology and Orthopedics

Pavlov University

Saint Petersburg, Russia

GPA: 4.8 out of 5.0 / 3.8 out of 4.0 (A-/Distinction)

2011–2017

Specialist Diploma in General Medicine – Combined Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master’s Degree Equivalent

Pavlov University

Saint Petersburg, Russia

GPA: 4.6 out of 5.0 / 3.6 out of 4.0 (B+/Distinction)

c) CERTIFICATES

2021–2023

TOEFL iBT

Total: 108

Reading: 29 / Listening: 27 / Speaking: 26 / Writing: 26

2019–2024

Certificate to Practice Traumatology and Orthopedics in Russia

Pavlov University

Saint Petersburg, Russia

2017–2022

Accreditation to Practice Primary Care Medicine in Russia

Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation

Moscow, Russia

2010

Diplôme d’études en langue française (DELF)

Niveau B2

d) HONORS

National:

2017

2nd place winner

7th International Medical Congress of Junior Researchers “Saint Petersburg Readings” (Traumatology and Orthopedics), Saint Petersburg, Russia

Local/Institutional:

2017

1st place winner

Traumatology and Orthopedics

78th Conference “Current Problems of Experimental and Clinical Medicine”, Saint Petersburg, Russia

2016

3rd place winner

Traumatology and Orthopedics

77th Conference “Current Problems of Experimental and Clinical Medicine”, Saint Petersburg, Russia

2012

3rd place winner

Latin Studies

Students’ Conference “Students’ Science”, Saint Petersburg, Russia

e) EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Current:

2024

Research Assistant Team Lead

University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Research Fellowship with Professor Patrick Keilty and the GLAM Incubator, Faculty of Information.

Project page: Graph-Based Archival Description at the Archives of Ontario

Key Responsibilities:

Create a proof of concept that explores the possibilities and potential benefits of a graph-based data model for archival description, using the International Council on Archives’ new Records in Contexts (RiC) standard and Linked Open Data (RDF data format). The overall objective of this project is to develop a data model, to select and model a small-scale sample of data drawn from the Archives of Ontario’s datasets, and to thereby test the possibilities and potential benefits for internal staff and public end-users.
Advise another Research Assistant on the team on daily activities, provide project management, evaluate technology options, and assist with the development of functional requirements, data mapping, and data conversion.

Key Achievements:

Open Source code and data – GitHub repo

Supported the team’s successful development of a new data model and URI format within the alotted time frame.
Adapted the existing Python code to convert freehand-drawn Draw.io diagrams to fully featured RDF graphs.
Wrote from scratch Python and Shell code to enable the creation of maps in RDF Mapping Language (RML) using the above diagramming tool.
Successfully converted a large sample of the Archives of Ontario data to the new format while providing scalability for a full dataset conversion.
Presented the results to the external stakeholder, enabling the transferability and sustainability of the code and data.

2020

Independent Researcher/Tutor

Self-Employed

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Saint Petersburg, Russia (Remote)

Key Responsibilities:

Run own research/educational projects.
Seek funding and hire collaborators.
Manage own finances and time, including switching between currencies and time zones.

Key Achievements:

Launched a web-based open evidence synthesis portal all by self, started a crowdfunding campaign.
Published systematic progress reports for 15 consecutive self-funded weeks.
Participated in the PRISMA 2020 development process, with two standalone (independent from the main PRISMA process) manuscripts being prepared for publication.
Provided paid Medical English courses to two practising physicians and launched a half-free, half-subscription-based blog for Russian-speaking English learners.
Produced 3 pocket clinical practice guidelines on diverse conditions, digested and adapted for clinicians, published in an industry journal:
Researched and compiled 245 original research summaries for a major medical publisher’s blog over a period of 2.5 years with a total of over 200,000 impressions.
Engineered and developed a software stack for finding and summarizing relevant, high-quality health research. This technology is currently tested in production (Technology Readiness Level 5) and is being prepared for a public release. Contact Pavel.

2023

Freelance Medical Writer

Technological Platforms

Upwork | Freelancer

Mexico City, Mexico

Key Responsibilities:

Monitor and apply for relevant projects.
Plan and conduct applied research and write reports for healthcare industry stakeholders or blog posts for various audiences.
Track and report work hours, including self-managing own agile work flow with Jira.
Communicate effectively with clients from different time zones, industry areas, and linguistic backgrounds.

Key Achievements:

Negotiated with 4 clients, completed 3 jobs, secured 1 long-term partnership offer.
Have completed a large research report for pharma that involved a literature review as well as editing and analysis of interview transcripts.
Built on experience with a previous project (Zheln.com) to lay out service options for clients.

2021–2022

Orthopedic Traumatologist Physician

Administrative Department for the Implementation of Functions of a National Medical Research Center

Priorov National Medical Research Centre of Traumatology and Orthopaedics

Moscow, Russia

Key Responsibilities:

Review national clinical practice guideline projects in traumatology and orthopedics before they are sent to the Health Ministry for final review.
Analyse statistical reports from trauma and orthopedic institutions across 30+ regions of Central Russia and compile an annual report to the Health Ministry.
Self-manage own schedule when working remotely to join meetings and meet the deadlines, including switching between time zones.

Key Achievements:

Demonstrated profound knowledge of current practices in grading the certainty of evidence and choosing the strength of recommendation.
Made advanced use of current data and text management software in applied health research
Showed good comprehension, delivered the required information in a timely manner and well-presented format, and was easy to work with.
Curated development of and/or coauthored 20+ national clinical practice guideline projects from draft to regulatory approvement.

2020

Startup Co-Founder

Project021.org

(currently not operational)

Historical Dev Blog is online

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Key Responsibilities:

Collaborate with four other co-founders to create a technical design document for a social crowdsourcing network for global researchers.
Participate in the team meetings twice a week as part of a Scrum Agile process.
Design and run the market research strategy.

Key Achievements:

Contributed to the creation of the landing page and the minimum viable product web site.
Designed, conducted, and published a rapid market-scoping review and a survey targeting a population of 12,800 potential users.

2019–2020

Emergency Orthopedic Trauma Surgeon

Department of Orthopedic Trauma #2

Dzhanelidze Research Institute of Emergency Medicine

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Key Responsibilities:

Provide emergency department management to patients with orthopedic injuries presenting to a major trauma center.
Operate on patients with orthopedic and spinal emergencies.

Key Achievements:

Streamlined management of the incoming flow of patients with spine problems by designing and, in collaboration with the IT team, implementing an extension to the institutional electronic health records system.
Treated 500+ orthopedic cases, with 100+ specialist spinal cases.

2018–2020

Medical Reviewer

Foreign Travel Department

Class-Assistance Ltd.

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Key Responsibilities:

Review medical and financial documentation related to foreign travel insurance cases.
Translate medical records and related invoices to Russian from English and, in part, several other languages (e.g., Turkish, Bulgar, German, French).

Key Achievements:

Designed and volunteered to provide comprehensive time tracking reports that improved managerial decision-making.
Volunteered to research various legal, procedural, and scientific documentation that increased transparency of the medical review services delivered by the Department.
Gained operational knowledge about health systems in 30+ countries worldwide.
Completed authorized translations of 300+ medical records (144,000 words) from English-speaking countries.

2017

Crowd Transcriptionist

TranscribeMe.com

Key Responsibilities:

Transcribe 1-minute-long chunks of voice recordings in American, British, or Australian English.

Key Achievements:

Transcribed 45 minutes of audio overall, including voice recordings of very low quality and comprehensibility.

2015

Ward Nurse

Department of Neurosurgery #2

City Hospital No. 26

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Key Responsibilities:

Provide nursing care to patients with neurosurgical disorders of traumatic and non-traumatic origin, including the critically ill.
Perform and assist physicians with performing routine neurosurgical ward procedures.

Key Achievements:

Learned to be gentle and caring with socially disadvantaged and mentally challenged patients and to provide palliative and end-of-life care, including working with the patients’ family.
Gained firm basic medical procedural skills.

f) SCHOLARLY AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Membership in Professional Associations:

2024–now

Affiliate

SDGs@UofT

University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2021–2023

Member

Association for Interdisciplinary Meta-Research and Open Science

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

2020–2023

Member

Russian Society for Evidence-Based Medicine

Moscow, Russia

Chair: Professor Olga Yu. Rebrova, PhD

Key Responsibilities:

Monitor, translate to Russian, conduct an evidence review, and publish medical news for general audiences and health care professionals on the Society’s web resources.
Contribute to the development of national clinical practice guidelines in traumatology and orthopedics as a work group member on behalf of the Society.
Advocate evidence-based practice and follow the Society’s ethical code while practising as a physician.

Key Achievements:

Brought the Saint Petersburg Section of the Society’s web site back into operation after 8 years of suspension.
Created a Telegram news channel for the Society, that has reached 480+ subscribers in 18 months.
Created a private chat for the Society members to communicate (previously, there was none), through which several research initiatives have arisen.
Have piloted the Society’s role as a national clinical practice guideline developer and contributed to 3+ ongoing projects, making the development process openly available on GitHub for the first time (discontinued later).

Other Activities:

2021–now

Evidence Synthesis News Channel

Telegram @evidence_synthesis

Key Achievements:

A one-of-a-kind resource in Russian.
Currently at 34 subscribers.

2021

Evidence Ambassador

World Evidence-Based Healthcare Day

Key Achievements:

Participated in an awareness campaign by posting social media and blog posts both in English and Russian.
Received recognition with the Zheln project included on the Evidence Ambassadors list on the campaign’s website.
Took part in several allied webinars as a visitor.

2013–2021

Founder of an Online Students’ Learning Resource

VK.com/PDFpdf

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Key Achievements:

Created a social media learning resource for Russian-speaking medical students.
Have been raising evidence-based practice awareness since 2016.
Currently at 500+ subscribers.

g) GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH PROJECT SUPERVISION

2018–2020

Student Lead

Spine Surgery Group of the Students’ Research Society

Department of Traumatology and Orthopedics

Pavlov University

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Supervisor: Professor Denis I. Kutyanov, MD, PhD

Key Responsibilities:

Mentor undergraduate and postgraduate students who come to take part in the research conducted by the Department.
Ensure that the Department’s planned research activities are on schedule.
Help convene the public events organized by the Department.

Key Achievements:

Led a 30-minutes-long local interactive seminar involving 20+ student participants about information search for evidence synthesis and publicly shared it on YouTube.
Managed a group of 5 undergraduate and postgraduate students for 3 years, leading to the group’s participation in 3 scientific conferences, publication of 6 conference abstracts and 1 article in a peer-reviewed journal (accepted), multiple bedside clinical teaching sessions.
Advised 2 PhD students on research design and subject-specific issues, with both students having successfully defended their theses.
Helped convene 3 two-day congresses for health practitioners in trauma care, with 1000–2000 international participants each.

h) RESEARCH PROJECTS, PUBLICATIONS, AND FUNDING

Summary:

13 evidence synthesis projects.
4 research methodology/software projects.
Clinical study experience.
Policy-making and knowledge-translation experience:
- Administrative and editorial contributions to 34 national clinical practice guidelines in orthopedic surgery;
- Task force member in 12 guidelines;
- 22 guidelines approved for use as active regulations according to Russian Federal Law;
- Used as reference for the development of federal universal health care reimbursement standards and quality assurance criteria.
Written translation experience.
15 publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Over 90% Open Access to published work.
Funding: own projects all volunteer work, self-funded, or crowdfunded; collaborations mostly supported by collaborators’ research grants or self-funded.

Current:

2024

(collaborator on a scoping review and empirical study in progress)

Konstantinidis M et al. Conducting pairwise and network meta-analyses in Updated and Living Systematic Reviews: a scoping review.

Konstantinidis M et al. Characteristics and statistical properties of meta-analyses in updated and living systematic reviews: An empirical study. OSF Registries. 2024. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/CBKUV

Funding: None

2023

(collaborator on a scoping review in progress)

Papers in Peer-reviewed Journals:

1. Stratton C, Taylor A, Konstantinidis M, McNiven V, Kannu P, Gill P, Stedman I, Veroniki AA, Offringa M, Potter B, Wong-Rieger D, Adams J, Hodgkinson K, Elliott AM, Neville A, Faughnan M, Dyack S, Zhelnov P, Daly-Cyr J, McGowan J, Straus S, Smith M, Rosella L, Tricco AC. Barriers and facilitators to designing, maintaining, and utilizing rare disease patient registries: a scoping review protocol. JBI Evid Synth. 2024 Oct 21. doi: 10.11124/JBIES-24-00091. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39428992.

Funding: None

2023

(PhD dissertation in progress)

Avoidably WAsted REsearch (AWARE): Knowledge to Action. https://researchwaste.info/

Former Open Science Framework repository: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/E87V2

2023

(collaborator on a scoping review in progress)

Colacci M, Straus S, Tricco A, Zhelnov P. Protocol for a Scoping Review of Bias in Medical Applications of Machine Learning. OSF Registries. 2024. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/4VA9Z

2022

(methods paper on hold)

Papers in Peer-reviewed Journals:

2. Meloncelli N, Young A, Christoffersen A, Rushton A, Zhelnov P, Wilkinson SA, Scott AM, de Jersey S. Co-designing nutrition interventions with consumers: A scoping review. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2022 Sep 2. doi: 10.1111/jhn.13082. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36056610.

The first published scoping review featuring the ‘2-week’ methodology (Clark et al., 2020)

Funding: None

Other publications:

Meloncelli N, Young A, Christoffersen A, Zhelnov P, Rushton A, Wilkinson S, Scott AM, de Jersey S. The use of co-design for dietary interventions: protocol for a 2 week scoping review [Internet]. OSF; 2022. Available from: osf.io/y47gq

2020

(publication pending due to copyright issues)

Zhelnov P, Alikov Z, Kutianov D, Dulaev A, Iskrovskiy S. A Russian translation for: Vaccaro AR, Oner C, Kepler CK, Dvorak M, Schnake K, Bellabarba C, Reinhold M, Aarabi B, Kandziora F, Chapman J, Shanmuganathan R, Fehlings M, Vialle L; AOSpine Spinal Cord Injury & Trauma Knowledge Forum. AOSpine thoracolumbar spine injury classification system: fracture description, neurological status, and key modifiers. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2013 Nov 1;38(23):2028-37. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0b013e3182a8a381.

With permission from the lead author Dr. Alexander Vaccaro and the AO Foundation

Funding: Self-funded

2020

(on hold due to low yield)

Zhelnov P. Translating PRISMA 2020 into Russian [Internet]. OSF; 2020. Available from: osf.io/qdmu6

In collaboration with Dr. Matthew J. Page of the PRISMA 2020 Update Core Group

Funding: Crowdfunding initiated; <$50 donations so far

2022–2024

(complete)

Papers in Peer-reviewed Journals:

3. Kazakova A, Zhelnov P, Sidorov R, Rogova A, Vasileva O, Ivanov R, Reshetnikov V, Muslimov A. DNA and RNA vaccines against tuberculosis: a scoping review of human and animal studies. Front Immunol. 2024 Oct 3;15:1457327. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1457327. PMID: 39421744; PMCID: PMC11483866.

Funding: This research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation under grant # 22-25-00516.

Other publications:

Muslimov A, Zhelnov P. Nucleic-acid tuberculosis vaccines: a scoping review protocol. OSF Preprints. 2022. doi: 10.31219/osf.io/g2s4y.

2022–2024

(complete)

Papers in Peer-reviewed Journals:

4. Suponin A, Zhelnov P, Potanin A, Chekalov A, Lomazov A, Vladimirova K, Lepik K, Muslimov A. Therapeutic Vaccines for Follicular Lymphoma: A Systematic Review. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2024 Feb 21;17(3):272. doi: 10.3390/ph17030272. PMID: 38543058; PMCID: PMC10974604.

Funding: This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (agreement No. 075-10-2021-113, unique project ID RF—-193021X0001).

Other publications:

Zhelnov P, Suponin A, Potanin A, Lomazov A, Vladimirova K, Lepik K, Muslimov A. Therapeutic vaccines for follicular lymphoma: a systematic review protocol. OSF Preprints. 2023. doi: 10.31219/osf.io/evj59

2021–2023

(resigned)

National clinical practice guideline program in traumatology and orthopedics

Listed as a task force member:

Funding: Employment

2021–2022

(retired)

Bardavelidze G, Zhelnov P, Bykov V. Patient-reported outcomes of preserved tibial insertions in pediatric anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with a semitendinosus-gracilis tendon autograft: a retrospective cohort study [Internet]. OSF; 2021. Available from: osf.io/q2cpm

Funding: Self-funded

2020

(discontinued)

Zhelnov P, Parfenenkova A, Zosen D, Karandasheva K, Lepik K, Muslimov A, Chekalov A, Anoshkin K, Trofimov M. Pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals for engineered negligible senescence in humans: a scoping review of clinical and basic research [Internet]. OSF; 2021. Available from: osf.io/7mfj8

Funding: None (so far); a preliminary LoI submitted for a $25,000 SENS Research Foundation grant

2020–2022

(discontinued)

Zhelnov P. Zheln.com: A protocol for a universal living overview of health-related systematic reviews [Internet]. PROSPERO; 2021. CRD42021224418. Available from: crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021224418

Funding: Crowdfunding initiated; <$50 donations so far

2019–2021

(no active support)

Zhelnov P. Sebzer: A citation export tool for eLIBRARY.RU (Russian Science Citation Index) [Internet]. Systematic Review Toolbox; 2019. Available from: http://systematicreviewtools.com/tool.php?ref=Sebzer

Funding: None

2020

(preprint published)

Zhelnov P. Global researchers in need, and what there is to support them: a Rapid Electronic Scoping Updatable Extensible Review (RESCUER) [Internet]. OSF Preprints; 2020. Available from: osf.io/4rxnm

Funding: None

2020

(report published)

Zhelnov P. Updating PRISMA: A prospective piloting case study [Internet]. OSF; 2020. Available from: osf.io/mkcb5

Acknowledged in the PRISMA 2020 Statement

Funding: None

Other publications:

Zhelnov P. Updating PRISMA: A piloting case study [Internet]. OSF; 2020. Available from: osf.io/hf4jb

2020

(template published)

Zhelnov P. PRISMA-S: PRISMA Search Reporting Extension (Checklist in R Markdown) [Internet]. OSF; 2020. Available from: osf.io/h6syk

Funding: None

2018–2021

(complete)

Papers in Peer-reviewed Journals:

5. Dulaev AK, Kutyanov DI, Iskrovskiy SV, Menshova NT, Zhelnov PV. [Recommendation base for the delivery of specialized medical care to patients with spine and spinal cord injury in Russia: scoping review]. Khir Pozvonochnika. 2021 Dec;18(4):41–54. Russian. doi: 10.14531/ss2021.4.41-54.

Funding: The work was performed under the research project of the state task of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 2020–2022 (Improvement of national clinical guidelines for the treatment of patients with spine and spinal cord injury, No. A-A20-120021890131-4).

Other publications:

Dulaev A, Kutianov D, Iskrovskii S, Menshova N, Zhelnov P. Content and quality of recommendations on tertiary management of patients with spinal injuries in Russia: A systematic scoping review [Internet]. OSF; 2020. Available from: osf.io/7vx5n

2016–2020

(complete)

Papers in Peer-reviewed Journals:

6. Dulaev AK, Kutianov DI, Zhelnov PV, Brizhan SL. [Healthcare resources to care for spinal conditions: international experience (a systematic scoping review)]. Genii Ortop. 2020 Dec;26(4):607-615. Russian. doi: 10.18019/1028-4427-2020-26-4-607-615.

Funding: None

Other publications:

Dulaev A, Kutianov D, Zhelnov P, Brizhan’ S. Adminstration of health care to patients with diseases of the spine: the experience of the foreign countries (a scoping review) [Internet]. OSF; 2020. Available from: osf.io/5jgn4

2016–2020

(complete)

Papers in Peer-reviewed Journals: