Throughout each quarter, we collect various accomplishments—from awards and appearances to publications and presentations and more—from Pritzker students to highlight and promote their outstanding work to the rest of the community.
Submit your own achievements for our next quarterly round up of student accomplishments through this page.
If you have an upcoming event, such as a media appearance or panel discussion, submit the information in advance so we might be able to help promote your participation in the event. You can also submit your peers' accomplishments, though we will seek their permission before publishing or promoting them.
Winter 2023 Student Accomplishments:
Santiago Avila, MS4, published a paper in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics entitled “Spanish Adaptation and Evaluation of Clinical Discussion Guides: Communicating the External Beam Radiotherapy Experience (CEBRE) en Español.” He was mentored on the project by Daniel Golden, MD, and Pilar Ortega, MD. Review the full paper here.
Kristen Chalmers, MS3, was invited to present her research “Trauma Responsive Abortion Care (On TRAC Study): The Abortion Experiences of Patients with a History of Trauma” at the Society of Family Planning Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD, in December. The research originated in her Summer Research Project under the guidance of Julie Chor, MD, MPH, and Candice Norcott, PhD. Kristen also published a manuscript entitled “Impact of Sexual Assault Survivor Identity on Patient Care in the Emergency Department” in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Her co-authors on the paper were Pritzker alumni Ramya Parameswaran, MD’21, PhD’18, and Nicole Dussault, MD’21, and faculty members Keme Carter, MD, Jeanne Farnan, MD’02, and Sonia Oyola, MD. The manuscript can be viewed here.
Stella Cho, MS1, published an op-ed entitled “The Realities of Immigrant Healthcare Served Hot from America’s Melting Pot” on KevinMD.com. The piece examined the correlation between poor health literacy and negative impacts on health outcomes and proposed solutions for improving interpreter services. Read the full op-ed here.
David Deshpande, MS1, published an op-ed entitled “Milwaukee's emergency medical services system needs more than Band-Aids to prevent disaster” in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The piece highlighted an a shortage of ambulances in Milwaukee and the city budget dynamics that led to it and proposed long-term solutions for the crisis. Read the complete op-ed here.
Symphony Fletcher, MS3, published an op-ed entitled “Youth need to be trained on how to respond to life-threatening emergencies they witness” in The Chicago Sun-Times. Read more here and view the full op-ed on the Sun-Times website.
Ibraheem Hamzat, MS2, was selected as a John Robert Lewis Fellow for 2023-2024 by the Faith and Politics Institute. The John Robert Lewis Scholars & Fellows Program gives 8 undergraduate scholars and 12 graduate student fellows the opportunity to examine Lewis’s nonviolent philosophy from a historical perspective, define its principles and strategies, and identify their applicability to modern times and movements, current issues, and everyday life.
Grace Hansen, MS3, had her PhD thesis published in Nature Genetics in February. The paper, “Genetics of sexually dimorphic adipose distribution in humans,” can be viewed here.
India Hilty, MS1, published an op-ed entitled “Denying access to parole in Illinois hurts the health of communities in and outside prison” in the Chicago Tribune. The piece highlighted the ways in which the lack of parole in Illinois exacerbates health inequities and potential solutions. Read the whole piece here.
Meredith Hollender, MS2, will present her research “Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) Lead to Improved Uptake of Services: A Cross-sectional Study” at the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Annual Meeting in Austin, TX in May. The projected started in the Summer Research Program under the guidance of Kimberly Stanford, MD, MPH.
Miguel Angel Jimenez, MS2, was selected as a Point Foundation BIPOC Scholar based on academic commitment, community engagement and impact, and demonstrated potential for leadership in LGBTQ+ communities. Separately, he had a paper entitled “Radiotherapy Is Associated With Improved Overall Survival in Adult Pineoblastoma: A SEER Database Analysis” from his work under the guidance of Dr. Debraj Mukherjee at Johns Hopkins University published in World Neurosurgery. View the article here. Additionally, Miguel gave a podium presentation on his Summer Research Project “Characterizing Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Access to Surgery for Pituitary Adenomas at High-Volume Hospitals in the United States: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis from the National Cancer Database” at the 32nd Annual North American Skull Base Society (NASBS) Meeting in Tampa, FL. He will present it as a poster at the 91st American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Scientific Meeting in Los Angeles in April. Migual is mentored on the project by Bakhtiar Yamini, MD.
Taytum Kahl, MS1, published an op-ed entitled “Menstruation Is an Afterthought in Research. Here’s Why That Needs to Change” in Ms. Magazine. The piece highlighted that COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials did not study the effects on menstruation and advocates for researchers to “stop viewing menstruation as an inconvenience when designing clinical trials, but rather, a critical part of women's health that should be assessed in the production of all new therapeutics.” Read the whole piece here.
Preetham Kastury, MS1, was selected for a 2023-2024 Schweitzer Fellowship in the Chicago Area Cohort. He will be working with Katherine Thompson, MD to create a community-based digital wellness/health curriculum targeted towards older adults on the South Side.
Carlin Lockwood, MS1, published a paper in the International Journal of Eating Disorders based on research conducted while she pursued a master’s degree in Human Nutrition at Columbia University. The paper, entitled “A systematic review comparing atypical anorexia nervosa and anorexia nervosa,” can be viewed here.
Evan Neczypor, MS2, received a 2023 Conquer Cancer Merit Award for his upcoming poster presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in June.
Megan Ren, MS3, had a peer-reviewed paper published in Health Services Research. The paper, entitled “Preconception, Interconception, and reproductive health screening tools: A systematic review,” seeks to identify the ways in which general outpatient clinicians can proactively screen for pre & inter-conception health needs. Megan was mentored on the project by Debra Stullberg, MD. Review the paper here.
Suraj Sheth, MSTP, published a paper in Nature Urban Sustainability entitled “Measuring health and human development in cities and neighborhoods in the United States.” The paper showed that “on average, larger cities have higher HDI (higher standard of living) but exhibit greater disparities between communities, and that increases in community HDI are associated with the simultaneous reduction of a diverse set of negative neighborhood effects.” Review the paper here.
Lauren Sheu, MS1, published a paper in Cancers from her undergraduate immunology research at Duke University. The paper, entitled “Ethanol Ablation Therapy Drives Immune-Mediated Antitumor Effects in Murine Breast Cancer Models” can be viewed here.
Maggie Shope, MS4, gave an oral platform presentation titled “A Need for Time and Training: Pediatric Program Directors’ Perceptions about Mentorship” at the plenary session of the Association of Pediatric Program Directors conference in Atlanta. The presentation highlighted a national survey of pediatric residency program leadership to describe existing mentorship programs in pediatric residencies conducted under the mentorship of Nicola Orlov, MD, H. Barrett Fromme, MD, and Sarah Gustafson, MD.
Abigail Sneider, MS3, published a paper in the Journal of Surgical Research entitled “Palliative Care and Characterization of Symptoms in Patients Undergoing Cytoreductive Surgery/Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy.” Prior to the publication, Abigail gave a poster presentation on this research at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in San Diego. The project started as her Summer Research Program under the guidance of Oliver Eng, MD.
Liam Spurr, MS3, published a paper in JCO Precision Oncology. The paper, entitled “STK11 Inactivation Predicts Rapid Recurrence in Inoperable Early-Stage Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer,” showed that mutations in the STK11 gene in early-stage lung cancer are associated with medical inoperability and poor outcomes after radiation therapy. Liam was mentored on the project by Sean Pitroda, MD. Review the paper here.
Anna Thorndike, MS2, had a peer-reviewed paper published in Frontiers in Public Health. The paper, entitled “Advancing health equity through partnerships of state Medicaid agencies, Medicaid managed care organizations, and health care delivery organizations” detailed her work in the Summer Research Program, on which she was mentored by Marshall Chin, MD. She will present this research as a poster presentation at the Society of General Internal Medicine Annual Meeting in May. The paper can be viewed here. Anna also had a peer-reviewed paper published in BMC Public Health last spring. The paper entitled “Unmet health needs and barriers to health care among people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco’s Mission District: a qualitative study,” described research she conducted prior to medical school, and she completed the manuscript during her M1 year. Review the paper here.
Lahari Vuppaladhadiam, MS1, published an op-ed entitled “‘Tripledemic’ of RSV, Flu, and COVID-19 reveals America’s broken child care system” in The Chicago Tribune. The piece highlights the challenges low-income families face when children get sick and advocates for reform of the child care system in the U.S. and for restoring federally-funded child care. Read the whole piece here.
Jason Zhang, MS3, will present his research “Effects of Oral Metformin on Choroidal Neovascularization, RPE/Choroidal Transcriptome, and Gut Microbiota” as an oral presentation at the 2023 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting in New Orleans in April. He is mentored on this project by Dimitra Skonda, MD.