News

Summer 2016 Student Achievements

Each quarter, we gather the various achievements—publications, presentations, awards, and more—of our students to showcase their accomplishments. This article encompasses honors from the Summer quarter of 2016 through July 26, 2016. Achievements from July 27 onwards will be included in the Autumn Student Achievements article.

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Ren Belcher, MS3 presented his poster on “Cognitive Decline is Attenuated in Very Preterm Infants Receiving State-Provided Early Intervention,” which was co-authored by Sarah Kennedy, MS3, during the Pediatric Academic Societies Conference this past May. This research was related to S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of Bree Andrews, MD.

Lindsay Chun, MS3 presented her poster titled “Characterizing the Postsurgical Pain Experience: A Pilot Study” during the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Conference this past April. This research was related to the SRP work performed under the guidance of David Dickerson, MD.

Ellen Daily, MS3 presented her poster titled “Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Adjuvant Versus Salvage Radiotherapy after Radical Prostatectomy for High-Risk Disease” during the 2016 American Urological Association Annual Meeting this past May. This research was related to the S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of Sangtae Park, MD.

Arjun Dayal, MS4 gave an oral presentation with Usama Qadri, MS4 on his research, “Going the Extra Mile: Predictors of Higher Milestone Achievement in Emergency Medicine Using Longitudinal Multicenter Dataset,” during the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Annual Meeting this past May. This research was related to work performed under the guidance of Vineet Arora, MD.

Maggie Dennin, MS3 presented on her poster titled, “Reducing Pediatric Emergency Department Visits: A Systematic Literature Review of Asthma Education in Schools” during the 2016 Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Conference this past May. This research was related to S&D work performed under the guidance of Anna Volerman, MD.

Elizabeth Donnelly, MS4 presented her poster titled “Seeing is Believing: The Relationship between Vision-Related Quality of Life and Age in Hospitalized Patients” during the Society of General Internal Medicine Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL this past May. This research was related to S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of Valerie Press, MD. Elizabeth was also a recipient of the SGIM’s Young Scholars in GIM Scholarship from the Society of General Internal Medicine, which supported her registration for the annual meeting.

Hunter Eason, MS3 gave a presentation with William Moser, MS3 titled “The Value of Utilizing Multiple Learning Methodologies in Medical Imaging Education – A Survey of Non-Radiology Medical Trainees” during the 2016 Association of University Radiologists this past April. This research was related to S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of Christopher Strauss, MD.

Anupriya Gangal, MS4 presented her poster titled “A Rare Case of Middle Turbinate Nasal Schwannoma” during the 2016 American Rhinologic Society this past April. This research was related to the S&D work performed under the guidance of Robert Naclerio, MD.

Megan Gunsaulus, MS4 presented her poster titled “The Effects of Short Post-delivery Hospital Stay on Infant Health Outcomes at a Small Urban Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana” during the Consortium of Universities for Global Health in San Francisco, CA this past April. This research was related to S&D work performed under the guidance of Sola Olopade, MD.

Phillip Hsu, MS2 was awarded the 2016 BSD Diversity Research and Small Grants Award by the Biological Sciences Division. This grant will go toward advancing the Bridgeport Free Clinic's mission to provide healthcare for the uninsured Asian immigrant population in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood. In particular, the grant will fund training for medical interpreters, cultural competency training for volunteers, and medical supplies. He received the award this past May under the guidance of Karen Kim, MD, MS.

Aamir Hussain, MS3 was awarded the 2016 Bridge Builder Award by the University of Chicago. He received the award this past April. The Bridge Builder award recognizes students who have worked to establish or support connections between student groups or individuals. The areas of collaboration can include collaborative events, exploration of diverse cultures, education about issues that have challenged the campus, or other multicultural offerings. Aamir also presented his research on “Ambulance Utilization and Patient Cost Perceptions” on his own as well as “The Prevalence of Emergency Department Visits that are Potentially Treatable in Non-ED Settings” with Nathan Trueger, MS3 at the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine. This research was related to S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of David Meltzer, MD, PhD.

Sarah Kennedy, MS3 presented her poster titled “State-provided Early Intervention Services for Preterm Infants: Why Zip Code Matters” with Ren Belcher, MS3 during the Medical-Legal Partnership Summit this past April. This research was related to the S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of Bree Andrews, MD.

Kathryn Kinasz, MS4 presented her poster on the “Medical Students' Knowledge and Attitudes about Eating Disorders” during the International Conference on Eating Disorders this past May. Kate also spoke at the panel entitled, From Mentee to Mentor: Navigating Research Mentorship during the Early Career Stages. This research was related to S&D, and SRP work performed under the guidance of Daniel Le Grange, MD, PhD.

Cody Lee, MS2 gave a podium presentation on research, titled “Extra-articular, Intra-epiphyseal Drilling for Osteochondritis Dissecans of the Knee: A Study of Three-Dimensional Modeling to Characterize a Safe and Reproducible Surgical Approach” during the Mid-America Orthopaedic Association 2016 Annual Meeting in Bonita Springs, FL this past summer. This research was performed under the guidance of Pritzker Alumni senior author, Steven Chudik, MD.

Linda Liu, MS3 presented her poster titled “A Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy, Effectiveness, and Safety of Novel Oral Anticoagulants Compared with Vitamin K Antagonists for Stoke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation” during the Heart Rhythm Conference, 2016 this past May. This research was related to S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of Gaurav Upadhyay, MD.

Sarah Lyon, MS4 gave an oral presentation on her research, “Whole-Proteome Analysis and Immuno-histochemical Staining of Craniosynostotic Tissue Suggests a Link between Inflammatory Signaling and Osteoclast Activation in Cranial Suture Patency,” during the 2016 Joint Meeting American Association of Plastic Surgeons and Plastic Surgery Research Council this past May. This research was related to S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of Russell Reid, MD, PhD.

Christopher Mattson, MS4 presented his poster titled “Development of a Formal Personal and Professional Development Program for Undergraduate Medical Students” during the 2016 Society for General Internal Medicine Annual Meeting this past May. This research was related to the S&D work performed under the guidance of Wei Wei Lee, MD.

Katherine Palmer, MS3 gave three presentations with Mariam Alaka, MS3 on their research, “Retrograde Amnestic Effect of Midazolam,” “Effect of duration of Anesthesia on Post-operative Memory Formation,” and “Duration of Anesthesia and Pre-operative Memory Formation” during the IARS 2016 Annual Meeting and International Science Symposium this past May. This research was related to S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of David Glick, MD.

Janaki Patel, MS4 gave a presentation with Allison Louis, MD'16 on their poster titled, “Envisioning Opportunities: Identifying vision care needs among inpatients with Diabetes” during the 2016 Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) Annual Conference this past May. Both also were awarded a Third Place Showing at the conference with their poster titled, “Blind Sided: Missing Poor Visual Acuity and Decreased Self-Efficacy in Hospitalized Patients with Diabetes.” This research was related to S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of Valerie Press, MD.

Ellie Proussaloglou, MS3 presented her poster titled “Preferred Cost Communicator and Financial Distress (FD) in Patients with Cancer” during the 2016 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, this past May. It was also selected as one of a handful of posters for inclusion in the conference Poster Walk. Ellie was also awarded the 2016 Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Merit Award for this research. The Merit Award is a nationwide award intended to support the research activities of early career oncologists. This research was part of the S&D work performed under the mentorship of Jonas de Souza, MD.

Frank Qian, MS2 recently was awarded a Summer Research Fellowship by the Chinese American Medical Society in support of his research on “Blood Biomarkers and their Relationship with Incident Type 2 Diabetes” in the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study conducted at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Frank also published his research titled “Serum Cholesterol Levels within the High Normal Range are Associated with Better Cognitive Performance among Chinese Elderly” in The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging this past June. This research was related to the collaborative efforts of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This research was performed under the guidance of Frank B. Hu, MD, PhD. Frank also published his research, titled “Fiber Intake in Adolescence and Breast Cancer Risk: an Evaluation of the Evidence” in The Palate magazine as part of a larger publication with fellow medical students this past April. The work was performed under the guidance of Sonia Oyola, MD.

Michael Rydberg, MS4 gave an oral presentation on his research, “Cost-Effectiveness of Extended Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in Radical Prostatectomy,” during the American Urological Association (AUA) National Meeting this past May. This research was related to the S&D work performed under the guidance of Sangtae Park, MD.

Claire Smith, MS3 presented her poster titled “Intraoperative Surgeon-Trainee Communication with an Awake Patient” during the Association for Surgical Education Annual Meeting, this past April. This research was related to the S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of Nancy Schindler, MD. Claire also recently published a poem, titled “Lab” in Mid-American Review this past July.

Jared Sokol, MS3 presented his poster on the “Novel GJA8 Mutation in Transmembrane Domain IV Associated with Hereditary Cataract” during the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, Research: A Vision of Hope this past May. This research was related to S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of Eric Beyer, MD, PhD.

Rachel Stones, MS3 presented her poster titled “Preconception Care at Community Health Clinics” during the 2016 Society of Teachers in Family Medicine Annual Spring Conference this past April. This research was related to the S&D work performed under the guidance of Debra Stulberg, MD.

Shilpa Vasishta, MS4 gave an oral presentation with Arjun Dayal, MS4 on their research titled, “The Influence of Gender on Resident Evaluation: The Examination of a Longitudinal, Multicenter, Direct Observation Evaluation Dataset” during the 2016 Society of Academic Emergency Medicine this past May. This research was related to S&D work performed under the guidance of Vineet Arora, MD. Shilpa also received 1st Place for the Resident Research Award, as a third year medical student. 

Jackie Wang, MS4 presented her poster titled “Adding Another Voice to the Living Donor Kidney Transplant Discussions at the CIBA Symposium of 1966” during the Ethical, Legal, and Psychosocial Aspects of Transplantation Conference in Rome, Italy this past April. Jackie also presented her poster titled, “In Their Own Words: Living Kidney Donors Who Develop Kidney Failure” at the 2016 American Transplant Congress in Boston, MA this past June. This research was related to the S&D and SRP work performed under the guidance of Lainie Ross, MD, PhD.

Margaret Wang, MS4 was awarded the 2016 Fulbright-Fogarty in Public Health and the UJMT Fogarty Global Health Fellowship by the Fogarty International Center. Fogarty has partnered with the Fulbright Program, the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government, to promote the expansion of research in public health and clinical research in resource-limited settings for medical and graduate students.

Joshua Waytz, MS3 was awarded the Prize for Ethics for his poster titled “Life Expectancy Estimates in Older Adults with Prostate Cancer: Three Perspectives” from the 2016 AGS Annual Scientific Meeting Presidential Poster Session. This research was part of the SRP and S&D work performed under the mentorship of Valerie Press, MD.

Jacob Young, MS4 recently co-authored and published research, titled “Single Dose GLP Toxicity and Bio-distribution Study of a Conditionally Replicative Adenovirus Vector, CRAd-S-pk7, Administered by Intracerebral Injection to Syrian Hamsters” in the Journal of Translational Medicine as part of a larger publication with fellow medical students this past April. Jacob also co-authored a manuscript titled, "Sports Related Concussions: Diagnosis, Complications, and Current Management Strategies", which was published in Neurosurgical Focus this past June. A third co-authored article, titled “Intramedullary Spinal Cord Tumors: A Review and Discussion of Surgical Rationale,” was recently published in the World Spinal Column Journal this past June. The research conducted for these articles was part of the SRP and S&D work performed under the guidance of Maciej Lesniak, MD.