{"id":107312,"date":"2026-04-24T10:13:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/?p=107312"},"modified":"2026-04-24T10:13:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:13:24","slug":"symposium-showcases-variety-depth-of-gms-student-and-post-doctoral-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/2026\/04\/24\/symposium-showcases-variety-depth-of-gms-student-and-post-doctoral-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Symposium Showcases Variety, Depth of GMS Student and Post-Doctoral Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sharing research is a deep and meaningful experience for trainees and faculty.<\/em><\/h4>\n

Originally from Texas, now in her fourth year as an MD\/PhD student, Brittny G<\/span>arcia<\/a>\u00a0thought she\u2019d made her peace with New England winters. Despite this year\u2019s relentless snowstorms and bitter cold, which may have made her long for warmer places, she didn\u2019t second-guess her decision to choose Boston University\u2019s combined program\u2014four years toward a medical degree sandwiching four years of PhD research.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI really fell in love with the mission of the Medical Campus, the research being done here and the mentors,\u201d said Garcia who was one of six students and post-doctoral researchers selected as Research Talk Awards winners at the second Annual Graduate Medical Sciences (GMS) Research Symposium. Held on April 9 in Hiebert Lounge, an estimated 200 students, faculty and staff attended the symposium that featured presentations by the Research Talk Awards winners and nearly 100 poster displays showcasing the wide range of work being done by post-doctoral fellows, MD\/PhD, PhD and master\u2019s students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis event gives you an idea of the breadth and depth of the research on the Medical Campus and the strength of the programs in general,\u201d said\u00a0<\/span>Thomas Clarke<\/a>, PhD, an assistant professor of pathology & laboratory medicine and one of the volunteer judges selecting the top poster presentations.<\/p>\n

\"People
The audience at the GMS Research Symposium, including GMS Associate Dean C. James McKnight, PhD, MA, (center) listened to award winners present their research.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clarke said the symposium helped students become better communicators but it also was an opportunity for faculty to learn about the research and techniques of the various labs on the Medical and \u00a0Charles River campuses, plus at VA Boston Healthcare and Boston Medical Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see techniques that you\u2019re maybe thinking about incorporating into your research that other labs are already doing, and it can spur collaborations,\u201d said Clarke.<\/p>\n

Fourth-year biomolecular pharmacology PhD student\u00a0<\/span>Andre Krunic<\/a>\u2019s Research Talk Award presentation was honed at department seminars and the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting last year. His research exploring the use of microRNAs for early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer\u2019s disease was published recently in the journal Alzheimer\u2019s and Dementia.<\/p>\n

The first year of a PhD program is spent in the classroom, rotating into various labs intent on finding a good match for their research interests. Other than an affinity for neuroscience, Krunic said he was initially undecided about what research he\u2019d specialize in.<\/p>\n

\"Man
Research Talk Award winner Andre Krunic, 4th year PhD.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen I first came here, I wasn\u2019t set on Alzheimer\u2019s disease (as the focus of his research). However, when I joined the lab and learned about the novel approaches we were researching to prevent Alzheimer\u2019s disease, such as using microRNAs, I started to become really invested in the field,\u201d said Krunic.<\/p>\n

The reputation of the Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Research Center and BU\u2019s affiliation with the Framingham Heart Study helped to attract Krunic to the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cBU is really an excellent place to do Alzheimer\u2019s and dementia research,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The famed Framingham study, the longest running longitudinal study in the U.S., also proved to be a big draw for Bahar Bakhshi, MS. Originally from Iran, Bakhshi is in her third year as a PhD candidate in molecular & translational medicine. Her research investigates how to better utilize data from continuous glucose monitoring to predict diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really interested in diet and other lifestyle interventions. I\u2019m hoping to build a career that leverages these different tools to come up with better ways of self-monitoring for individuals who are at risk for chronic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease,\u201d said Bakhshi.<\/p>\n

\n

GMS Research Symposium Poster Award Winners<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0MASTER\u2019S DEGREE<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022Gillian Earthman (MS in Medical Sciences [MAMS], 2nd year)<\/p>\n

\u2022Hongyuan Ren (MAMS, 2nd year)<\/p>\n

\u2022Blaine Stevens (MAMS, 2nd year)<\/p>\n

EARLY CAREER PhD AND MD\/PhD<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022Madeline Labott (Molecular & Translational Medicine PhD, 3rd year)<\/p>\n

\u2022Adriana Chiaramida (Pharmacology PhD, 2nd year)<\/p>\n

LATE CAREER PHD AND MD\/PhD<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022Joelle Johnson (Virology, Immunology & Microbiology, 4th year)<\/p>\n

\u2022Nadia Mirza-Romero (Biochemistry & Cell Biology, 5th year)<\/p>\n

\u2022Davis Reina-Guerra (Anatomy & Neurobiology, 5th year)<\/p>\n

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022Hoi Lam Li<\/a>, PhD, (Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences)<\/p>\n

\u2022Ioanna Yiannakou<\/a>, PhD, (Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology)<\/p>\n

GMS Research Symposium Talk Award Winners<\/strong><\/p>\n

EARLY CAREER PhD AND MD\/PhD<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022Brittny Garcia<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(Virology, Immunology & Microbiology MD\/PhD, 4th<\/sup>\u00a0<\/span>year [including 2 years in MD program])<\/p>\n

\u2022Diana Yeritsyan (Biochemistry & Cell Biology<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>PhD, 2nd year)<\/p>\n

LATE CAREER PHD AND MD\/PhD<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022Andre Krunic<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(Pharmacology PhD, 4th year)<\/p>\n

\u2022Rose Zhao<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(Pharmacology, MD\/PhD 6th<\/sup>\u00a0<\/span>year[including 2 years in MD program])<\/p>\n

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022Noorul Huda<\/a>, PhD, (Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics)<\/p>\n

\u2022Sarah Walachowski<\/a>, PhD, (Pulmonary Center)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This story was originally published on the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine news site.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sharing research is a deep and meaningful experience for trainees and faculty. Originally from Texas, now in her fourth year as an MD\/PhD student, Brittny Garcia\u00a0thought she\u2019d made her peace with New England winters. Despite this year\u2019s relentless snowstorms and bitter cold, which may have made her long for warmer places, she didn\u2019t second-guess her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20706,"featured_media":107313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20706"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107312"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107315,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107312\/revisions\/107315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}