Students Receive Serchuck Awards at Research Symposium

COM_med symposium

This year’s annual Medical Student Research Symposium featured research posters by 49 students, 39 of whom participated in the Medical Student Summer Research Program (MSSRP) during summer 2017.

Topics ranged from basic and clinical sciences, or a combination of both.

The MSSRP offers competitive scholarships to BUSM students to complete a seven-week, full-time mentored research project during the summer with a BUSM faculty member.

This year four BUSM students received Serchuck Awards for outstanding research posters. The award honors Mr. Jerome Serchuck and Mrs. Joan Serchuck, longtime donors to the summer research program. The Serchucks have given to the program since its establishment in 2000 when 15 members of the Class of 2003 undertook research in various BUMC departments. The program continues to flourish as a direct result of their initial contribution and ongoing support. The first Serchuck Award was given in 2007.

The awards are organized into four categories: best basic science poster, best clinical science poster, best Medical Education or Public Health poster, best QI poster.

Serchuck Awardees for 2018
(All students are BUSM Class of 2020)

BEST BASIC SCIENCE

Frederick Chua, “Sex-Related Differences in Aortic Stiffness with Aging in Mice”
Mentor: Kathleen Morgan, PhD | Dept: Health Sciences

Honorable Mention
Rohit Maruthi, “Targeting Drug Resistance in BRAF Mutant Human Melanoma Cells”
Mentor: Rhoda Alani, MD | Dept: Dermatology

BEST CLINICAL SCIENCE

Maria D’Amico, “Which Patients Receive an Addiction Consult? A Preliminary Analysis of the INREACH (Inpatient Readmission post-Addiction Consult Help) Study”
Mentor: Zoe Weinstein, MD, MS | Dept: General Internal Medicine

Honorable Mention
Camilla Gomes, “Demographics of Patients with Undiagnosed Malignancy Presenting to the Trauma Acute Care Surgery Division of an Urban Tertiary Care Center”
Mentor: Tracey Dechert, MD | Dept: Surgery

BEST MED ED or PH

Aneesh Patel, “Determining Likelihood of Medication for Opioid Use Disorder Engagement in Emerging Adults following Nonfatal Opioid-related Overdose”
Mentor: Sarah Bagley, MD | Dept: Medicine

Honorable Mention
Rachel Rivero, “Socioeconomic Parameters Predispose Injury Victims to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Who Knew?”
Mentor: George Kasotakis, MD, MPH | Dept: Surgery

BEST QI

Celia Greenlaw, “Clinical Implementation of a Parent Questionnaire to Identify Seizures in High-risk Children”
Mentor: Laurie Douglass, MD | Dept: Pediatrics, Division of Child Neurology

Honorable Mention
Lulu Li, “Standardized, Patient-specific Opioid Prescribing After Inpatient Orthopedic Surgery”
Mentor: Paul Tornetta, MD | Dept: Orthopedic Surgery

Six students presented their research findings. One of the students was Alessandro Colletta who said, “Doing this research through MSSRP has been a riveting experience. It was a great opportunity to merge my interests in the fields of immunology and neurology while continuing to do work in basic research, which has always been a passion of mine.

“In this lab, thanks to the help of Dr. Rosene and Katlyn Trecartin, I further honed my abilities of designing experiments, and improved my science writing and presentation skills,” Colletta continued. “The MSSRP symposium was a fantastic stage for me to share my research with my peers in a conference-like setting.”

View the Facebook album to see images throughout the day.