Rachel Sigler, DO, MPH

Professional Background

Dr. Sigler is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, KS. Dr. Sigler was born and raised in Kansas City. She completed her undergraduate and Master of Public Health from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Dr. Sigler received her medical degree from A.T. Still University of Health Sciences Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. She then returned to Kansas City to complete her residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center. She went on to complete her fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Diego with a focus on transplant infectious diseases. Dr. Sigler completed an additional fellowship year in Transplant Infectious Disease at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, before returning home to practice at KU.

Research

Overview

Dr. Sigler’s primary interest is infections in immunocompromised hosts, in particular solid organ transplant and bone marrow transplant recipients. She has a special interest in identifying and preventing donor-derived infections. Dr. Sigler was lead author on one of the first published case-reports of accepting donor-positive heart transplants, helping to open the field of organ donation during the Pandemic. Her further work in the field has included studies on vaccine efficacy in solid organ transplant patients and disease prevention and prophylaxis.

Dr. Sigler is passionate about medical education and antibiotic stewardship in immunocompromised hosts as well. She led the development of a curriculum of simulations for all levels of learners to practice in the field of transplant infectious disease. She is passionate about promoting infectious disease specialty among early learners and has published on including early learners in this specialty rotation.

Selected publications:

Sigler R, Wooten D, Kumar RN, Hand J, Marschalk N, Go R, Prakash K, Stohs E, Schaenman J, Law N. Donor call simulation: A novel medical education tool to evaluate trainees' clinical decision-making in transplant infectious disease. Transpl Infect Dis. 2023 Dec;25(6):e14177. doi: 10.1111/tid.14177. Epub 2023 Nov 1. PubMed PMID: 37910560.

Gorsline CA, Tyler RS, Sigler RK, Wolfe CR, Harris CE, Kumar RN. "They paged me what?": A transplant infectious disease guide to donor calls. Transpl Infect Dis. 2023 Dec;25(6):e14172. doi: 10.1111/tid.14172. Epub 2023 Nov 8. Review. PubMed PMID: 37937964.

Sigler R, Chen V, Law N. Evolution of Clinical Care in COVID-Infected Solid Organ Transplant Recipients. Curr Transplant Rep. 2022;9(3):185-198. doi: 10.1007/s40472-022-00368-z. Epub 2022 May 31. Review. PubMed PMID: 35669887; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9154200.

Sigler R, Roberts E, Welford E, Keehner J, Wooten D. Evaluation of an Infectious Diseases Elective for Early Clinical Medical Students on Their Internal Medicine Clerkship. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2022 May;9(5):ofac120. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofac120. eCollection 2022 May. PubMed PMID: 35392459; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8982775.

Sigler R, Aslam S. SARS-CoV-2 vaccine clinical efficacy in SOT: What we know and our current gaps. Transpl Infect Dis. 2022 Apr;24(2):e13809. doi: 10.1111/tid.13809. Epub 2022 Feb 25. PubMed PMID: 35148028; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9019848.

Aslam S, Liu J, Sigler R, Syed RR, Tu XM, Little SJ, De Gruttola V. Coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination is protective of clinical disease in solid organ transplant recipients. Transpl Infect Dis. 2022 Apr;24(2):e13788. doi: 10.1111/tid.13788. Epub 2022 Feb 24. PubMed PMID: 34989104; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9131390.

Sigler R, Shah M, Schnickel G, Pretorius V, Dan J, Taremi M, Aslam S. Successful heart and kidney transplantation from a deceased donor with PCR positive COVID-19. Transpl Infect Dis. 2021 Oct;23(5):e13707. doi: 10.1111/tid.13707. Epub 2021 Aug 5. PubMed PMID: 34322981; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8420301.