{"id":130094,"date":"2025-01-23T18:31:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T23:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&p=130094"},"modified":"2025-11-09T14:36:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T19:36:33","slug":"annual-medical-student-research-symposium-celebrates-student-research","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/news-events\/articles\/2025\/annual-medical-student-research-symposium-celebrates-student-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Annual Medical Student Research Symposium Celebrates Student Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Medical student Nora Khalil explaining her research project.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnnual Medical Student Research Symposium Celebrates Student Research\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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January 23, 2025<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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The annual Medical Student Research Symposium, sponsored by the Medical Student Research Program, was held on Tuesday, Jan. 14, in Hiebert Lounge. The event showcased research done by 84 medical students across all class years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medical students have a variety of research options, including the Medical Student Summer Research Program (MSSRP) and the relatively new Learn, Experience, Advocate, Discover and Serve (LEADS) Research track in which students are competitively selected in the fall of their first year of medical school and work with faculty mentors on research projects over their initial two years. Third-year students can choose a four-week research block as an elective and fourth-year students can choose 4-, 8-, or 12-week research electives. A year-long research option is also offered, which adds a year to medical school. MD\/PhD students pursue dual degrees, and their program includes extensive research and clinical experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNearly all medical students will be doing some kind of research during their time here,\u201d said Assistant Dean of Research Matthew Layne<\/a>, PhD. \u201cThis event is meant to celebrate all medical school student research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Layne\u2019s objectives in assuming the post of assistant dean in 2021 was to promote student research and increase participation. To that end, a new website<\/a> was created to connect students to research opportunities, researchers and labs. Layne said that there has been a substantial increase in student research over the past three years with 91.5% of students participating in some form of research as compared with 77.9% three years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne thing we\u2019re encouraging is the quality of the research \u2013 that students are working on research that is making an important contribution to their field.” <\/p>– Matthew Layne, PhD<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Full house at the Medical Student Research Symposium as students presented their research<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The school\u2019s efforts are in response to students\u2019 growing interest in research, and the reality that some programs and specialties are placing greater emphasis on research in an applicant\u2019s portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s becoming almost essential for some of the more competitive sub-specialties,\u201d said Dean Kennedy<\/a>, a third-year medical student. Kennedy was one of six students chosen by the Medical Student Research Advisory Committee to present their research to the symposium. He is leaning toward otolaryngology and chose an elective that gave him a month to concentrate on research on the link between sudden hearing loss and cardiovascular risk factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kennedy would like to incorporate research into his future clinical practice, \u201cto not only help patients today, but try to find the solutions for the patients of tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second-year medical student Julia Glace<\/a> found her transition into research straightforward and seamless. Glace was accepted into the summer MSSRP and used the new medical research website to find a mentor and a project. She presented her research on in utero exposure to substances by pregnant people living with HIV to the symposium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cResearch was something I didn\u2019t have a ton of experience with before coming to medical school,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is becoming less optional these days in terms of residencies, so I thought it would be a really good way to start a research career and it worked out really nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Symposium presenter Nikki Zangenah, a fourth-year medical student, opted to add a year to medical school to concentrate on her research examining the adverse events associated with anifrolumab, a monoclonal antibody used for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested in pursuing a career in academic medicine, so research was something I wanted to explore further and improve my skills,\u201d said Zangenah. \u201cThere are a lot of benefits to doing research. It keeps you current on new medications and exposes you to the characteristics of diseases that you might not see in your own practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the combination of medicine and research on the medical campus and engineering on the Charles River campus that drew Linzheng Shi<\/a> to BU. Shi is in his sixth year of the combined MD\/PhD program. He was chosen to present what will become his doctoral thesis, combining whole-blood circulation with extracorporeal lungs to study immunity against pneumonia. Shi finds daily inspiration doing cutting-edge research that could someday be integrated into medical treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s super exciting. Every day you wake up and do something new with your time, every day for the rest of your life,\u201d he said. \u201cMedicine is constantly evolving, and there\u2019s no point in being stagnant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Students selected to present research at the symposium include: (l-r) Matthew Layne, PhD, assistant dean of research, Dean Kennedy, Julia Glace, Nikki Zangenah, Christopher Lietz, Linzheng Shi and Shannon Fisher, MD, PhD, MSSRP director. Missing from photo student presenter Samantha Watts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other students chosen to present their research work included second-year students Christopher Lietz<\/a> on targeting cancers by germ layer of origin, and Samantha Watts on bridging neuroimaging reporting gaps in cognitive impairment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judges at the symposium selected eight students to receive Serchuck Poster Awards as the top research poster presentations. The award honors the late Jerome Serchuck, a longtime MSSRP donor who passed away in March 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poster winners included: first-year student Kylie Tang; second-year students Ryan Conrad<\/a>, Omar John<\/a>, Sriman Narain<\/a>, Samuel Roytburd<\/a>, Sandya Subramanian<\/a>, Mingqian Tan<\/a>; and MD\/PhD student Rose Zhao.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Event showcased the work of 84 students across all class years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23948,"featured_media":129681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"Student Activities","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[356,357,94,358],"bu-publication":[367],"medicine-article-category":[],"medicine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[378,384],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[390],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/130094"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23948"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130094"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/130094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139626,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/130094\/revisions\/139626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130094"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=130094"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-article-category?post=130094"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-topic?post=130094"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=130094"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=130094"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=130094"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=130094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}