The Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine hosted more than 260 medical trainees in its first annual Research Day on May 15 at the Suburban Collection Showcase in Novi, Mich. – within 60 miles of the three MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine education sites, 16 of 22 base hospitals and 26 of 29 hospitals that are affiliated with SCS. The event was hosted by the college’s Statewide Campus System (SCS) and the Research, Innovation and Scholarly Engagement (RISE) team.
The 260-plus participants came from 33 institutions as fellows, post-docs, residents, OMS, D.O.-Ph.D. students, graduate students or undergraduate students. All presentations were reviewed by 49 faculty judges from both the college and 15 partner institutions.
Along with the diversity among participant medical backgrounds and titles, Brian Schutte, Ph.D., co-director of the college’s D.O.-Ph.D. program, was glad to discover there was great diversity within the research topics chosen as well. “Presentations spanned basic science, translational research, clinical research, medical education, quality improvement and case studies,” he said.
According to Dr. Schutte, the most difficult part of the conference was selecting awards, given not only the wide variety of topics from trainees as mentioned, but also the depth of their research. Research Day included oral presentations and poster presentations, but particularly challenging was the amount of narrowing down of the oral presentations. “From the 200 abstracts submitted, we had to choose eight oral presenters,” he said. “The oral presenters were at diverse stages of training with two medical students, two D.O.-Ph.D. students, three residents and one fellow and with diverse affiliations, with two of the three MSUCOM campuses represented, as well as three different partner institutions.”
All eight oral presenters at the event received a $500 cash prize. In addition to these oral presentation awards, the first-place presenter received an additional $1,000 award and $500 was awarded for the second and third place presenter.
For poster presentations, the winner received $1,000, second place received $750, and third place was awarded $500. Dr. Schutte was proud to see his program represented with the high participation of students. “First of all, of the 40 Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, only seven have a D.O.-Ph.D. program. And with 39 students in our program, we are by far the largest D.O.-Ph.D. program in the country…and over half of the D.O.-Ph.D. students were able to attend.”
“This was a wonderful event, highlighting the breadth and scope of some of the research underway in the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, giving our presenters an opportunity to share their research, learn from others and grow their curiosity for medicine and science,” said Andrea Amalfitano, D.O., Ph.D., dean of the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. “I’m excited to see what next year’s Research Day will bring.”
Patricia Obando, Ph.D., assistant dean for SCS and Designated Institutional Official, agrees and confirmed the importance of the event as a platform for medical students and graduate trainees to share their work and network. “This is the first time undergraduate and graduate medical trainees have shown their work at the same event hosted by the college, and we are hoping to continue offering this event on a yearly basis. We thank Dean Amalfitano for his significant support to make this event a success.”
Congratulations to the following individuals on their awards:
Poster Award Winners—Grad & Grad Professionals
1st Place:
Michael Wischer
A Genome-Wide Screen in Fetal Liver-Derived Alveolar-Like Macrophages to Define Regulators of the Lipopolysaccharide Co-Receptor CD14
2nd Place:
Josh Baker
A Pilot Longitudinal Fixel-Based Analysis of Diffusion Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data: A TRACK TBI Study
3rd Place:
Elgal Samir
The Association of Hidradenitis Suppurativa with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Black/African American Patients
Oral Presentation Winners—Grad & Grad Professionals
1st Place:
Elliot Ensink
Pyruvate Kinase Isoforms Influence Cystine Starvation Induced Ferroptosis in Pancreatic Cancer
2nd Place:
Lyndsey Reich
Poster Presentation Winners—GME: Residents & Fellows
1st Place:
Cara Cawley
2nd Place:
Andrew Roney
Skin Injury Progression Following Dermal Nitrogen Mustard Exposure in C57BL/6 and Mast Cell Deficient Mice
3rd Place:
Jennifer Hinman
Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Metabolism Involvement in Age-Associated Neurodegeneration
Oral Presentation Winners—GME: Residents & Fellows
1st Place:
Chris Jacob
Development and Evaluation of a Virtual Reality Simulation Environment for Cardiology Education: A Pilot Study
2nd Place:
Jamie Beckman
Combined Phacoemulsification and Endoscopic Cyclophotocoagulation: A 72-Month Follow-Up for Treatment of Patients with Mild to Moderate Glaucoma