The abstracts and poster presentations for the Research Showcase were judged by an independent panel of faculty reviewers. Outstanding submissions were selected from across the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences academic medical enterprise: medical school students, medical residents, PhD candidates in Integrated Biomedical Sciences, and students in Health Sciences, including biomedical laboratory sciences; clinical research and leadership; health, human function, and rehab sciences; and physician assistant studies. Below are the recipients of these awards.
2024 Awardees
MD Awards
Kevin Jaatinen
Title: Sequencing of Blood RNA from INOCA Patients Identifies Changes in Innate, Invariant, and Acquired Immune Pathways
Mentor: Tim McCaffrey, PhD, professor of medicine, GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Cleo Whiting
Title: Primary Hyperhidrosis and Sensitive Skin Syndrome: A National Pilot Survey
Mentor: Adam Friedman, MD, chair, Department of Dermatology, GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Rishika Bheem
Title: Clinical Utility of Fungal Blood Cultures for Diagnosis of Candidemia
Mentor: Rana Hamdy, MD, MPH, director, Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, Children’s National Hospital
Eliza Brufsky
Title: An Innovative Approach to Alleviating Fatigue in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients
Mentor: Margaret Rosenzweig, PhD, School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh
Jacob Bjork
Title: Associations between Prenatal Adversity and Neonatal White Matter Microstructure on Language Outcomes at Age 2 Years
Mentor: Rachel Lean, PhD, Washington University Neonatal Development Research (WUNDER) Lab
Tyler Muser
Title: Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells Treated with Chlorophyll Have Augmented Production of ATP
Mentor: Edward Wood; Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford
Tugce Erguven
Title: Effects of Preoperative Breast MRI on Surgical Management in Women Aged 40 Years and Younger with Breast Cancer
Mentor: Rachel Brem, MD, professor of radiology, GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Ryan Antar
Title: Income Disparities in Survival and Receipt of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Lymph Node Dissection for Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer
Mentor: Michael Whalen, MD, associate professor of urology, GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Kellan Godwin and Swarnapali Keppetipola
Title: Strategic Planning in a Student-Run Free Clinic: Utilizing a Pragmatic Policy and Medical Education-Oriented Approach to Long-Term Clinic Management
Mentor: Maria Portela, MD, MPH, assistant professor of emergency medicine, GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Scarlett Bergam
Title: WhatsApp-Based Sexual and Reproductive Health Education for Adolescents with Perinatally-Acquired HIV: Lessons Learned from an mHealth Pilot
Mentor: Brian Zanoni, MD, MPH, pediatric infectious disease, Emory University
Aparna Nanduru
Title: Investigating Associations Between Pulmonary Function Tests (PFTs) and Dyspnea Index Scores Among Patients with Lung Symptoms in India
Mentor: Sai Praveen Haranath, MBBS, MPH, pulmonology, Apollo Hospitals, Jubilee Hills, India
We are indebted to the help of the following faculty judges who reviewed the submitted abstracts and/or posters: Laura Abate, Janice Blanchard, Ruth Beuter, Stacy Brody, Kirsten Brown, Jill Catalonotti, Susan Ceryak, Aileen, Chang, Marc Chodos, Andrew Choi, Nicole DeVaul, David Diemert, Leigh Frame, Mardi Gomberg, Anand Gourishankar, Aiste Gulla, Emmeline Ha, Thomas Harrod, Galadriel Hovel-Miner, Libby (Elizabeth) Ireson, Raman Javan, Susan Kartiko, Richard Katz, Natalie Kirilichin, Ioannis Koutroulis, Patricia Latham, David Leitenberg, , Maureen Lyon, Paul Marvar, Tim McCaffrey, Matt Magyar, Elissa Malkin, Michele Mietus-Snyder, Courtney Paul, Seva Polotsky, Travis O'Brien, Megan Quintana, Claudia Ranniger, Lisa Schwartz , Nicholas Shworak, Neal Sikka, Robert Sterling, Anjali Talwalkar, Maranda Ward, Michael Whalen,
Very special thanks goes to Dr. Susan Ceryak who organized the judging process.
Integrated Biomedical Sciences Awards
1st Place [tie]
Veronica Amuso
Title: Dermal Fibroblast-mediated Macrophage Recruitment Supports Acute Skin
Wound Healing
Mentor: Brett Shook, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine
Hannah Smith
Title: Sex-Dependent Effects of Angiotensin Type 2 Receptor Expressing Medial
Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC) Interneurons in Fear Extinction Learning
Mentor: Paul Marvar, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology and physiology
Third Place
Brita Ostermeier
Title: Platelet-NK Cell Complexes (PNKCs) are Elevated in People Living with HIV and Exhibit Activated Phenotypes
Mentor: Sanjay Maggirwar, PhD, MBA, chair, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine, and professor of microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine
Fourth Place
Sarah Kleb
Title: The Role of G Protein-Coupled Receptor 84 in Skin Wound Healing
Mentor: Brett Shook, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine
Fifth Place
Claudia Melo (Bosque lab)
Title: Evaluating the Effects of Stimulating the Fc-region on NK Cells
Mentor: Alberto Bosque-Pardos, PhD, MBA, associate professor of microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine
Sixth Place
Sydney Woods (Polter lab)
Title: Serotonergic Dysregulation and Social Dysfunction Following Early Life
Stress
Mentor: Abigail Polter, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology
Pre-Candidacy Honorable Mentions
Joshua Terao
Title: AC484 a Small Molecule Inhibitor of PTPN1 and PTPN2 Enhances Lymphocyte Activation
Mentor: Alberto Bosque-Pardos, PhD, MBA, associate professor of microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine
Elton VanNoy
Title: Enhancing the Efficacy of B7H3 CAR T-cell Therapy against High-Grade
Glioma through the Use of DNA Methylation Inhibitors in Manufacturing
Mentor: Dalia Haydar, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics
Resident Awards
First Place
Zoon Tariq, MD
Title: Utility of Microbiology versus Surgical Pathology in Diagnosis and Management of Helicobacter pylori Infections in the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area
Mentor: Rebecca Yee, PhD, assistant professor of pathology
Second Place
Sarah Azari, MD
Title: Reduced Morbidity of Buccal Mucosal Graft Donor Site Closure
Mentor: Daniel Stein, MD, interim chair, Department of Urology and assistant professor of urology
Third Place
Maryssa Miller, MD
Title: Standardizing Advanced Care Planning in the Primary Care Clinic: A Quality Improvement Project
Mentor: Courtney Paul, MD, assistant professor of medicine
Honorable Mention
Rafiq Shahid, MD
Title: Differences in performance of DNA Mismatch Repair Immunohistochemistry and Microsatellite Instability PCR Test in Cancers of Colorectum, Endometrium and Other Organs
Mentor: Antonia Sepulveda, PhD, chair, Department of Pathology and Ralph E. Loewy Professor of Oncology
Thank you to Eric Heinz, MD, PhD, associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine; Celeste Jilich, MD, instructor of obstetrics and gynecology; Susan Kartiko, MD, PhD, assistant professor of surgery; John Nohren, MD, assistant professor of medicine; Katherine Tsavaris assistant professor of medicine; K. Vaziri, MD, professor of surgery; and David Yamane, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine, who served on the panel of judges.
Health Sciences Awards
Undergraduate/Graduate Students
First place
Amani Ali and Alexander Delong
Title: The Black Male Dementia Caregiver Study: An Analysis of the Relationship between Informal Caregiving, Sleep, Depression, and Cognitive Functioning
Mentor: Robert W. Turner II, PhD, assistant professor of clinical research and leadership
Second Place
Sophia Slack
Title: Caregivers’ Resilience and Advocacy in the Care of Individuals in Disordered States of Consciousness
Mentor: Trudy Mallinson, PhD, associate dean for health sciences research and associate professor of clinical research and leadership
Third Place
Kaye Stenberg
Title: Genetic Counselors’ Professional Identity — A Scoping Review
Mentor: Lisa Schwartz, EdD ’10, associate professor of biomedical laboratory sciences
Honorable Mention
Kandie Ibarra
Title: Effect of Suborbital Rocket Transport on Blood Product Viability
Mentor: Francisco Rentas, PhD, adjunct assistant professor of biomedical laboratory sciences
Honorable Mention
Josephine Decker
Title: Brain Health Registry Study Partner Portal: Novel Infrastructure for Digital, Dyadic Data Collection
Mentor: Robert W. Turner II, PhD, assistant professor of clinical research and leadership
Doctoral Students
First Place
Joshua McFarland
Title: The Impact of Physician Assistants on Resource Utilization in a Community Emergency Department
Mentor: Skip Gill, DSc, professor of health, human function, and rehabilitation sciences
Second Place
Emily White
Title: Neuromuscular Control Strategies of Older vs. Younger Adults while Learning a Novel Cognitive-Motor Dual-Task
Mentor: Karen Goodman, DPT, assistant professor of health, human function, and rehabilitation sciences
Third Place
Allison Dalton
Title: Putting the Patient at the Center: An Exploration of Patient Experience Data in Clinical Drug Development
Mentor: Karen Schlumpf, EdD ’24, MPH ’01, assistant professor of clinical research and leadership