The 2024 Graduate Medical Education Research Symposium was held in April, drawing crowds as UNMC residents and fellows displayed their research posters and gave oral presentations.
UNMC College of Medicine Dean Bradley Britigan, MD, could be seen roaming through the event, speaking with many poster presenters.
“It is always gratifying to see the innovative and creative research produced by our house officers,” Dr. Britigan said. “I congratulate them, and our Office of Graduate Medical Education, on an impressive event.”
House officers presented their research in areas such as clinical outcomes, basic science, education, business, health policy and humanities.
There were nearly 120 research abstracts – in both oral and poster formats – presented at the event, almost 40% more than when the symposium first premiered in 2018.
Chandra Are, MBBS, associate dean for graduate medical education, said he was excited to see the research work produced by the house officers – who, he pointed out, are well-positioned to develop promising research avenues.
See a photo album from the event.
“Being in the trenches of patient care, house officers have a reliable ‘finger on the pulse’ to produce solid, clinically relevant ideas for research with near-term benefits,” Dr. Are said. “The sixth annual GME Research Symposium provided a valuable forum to highlight these projects. We could not be prouder of our residents and fellows, who went above and beyond patient care to generate such high-quality research projects.”
The award winners at the event (see photos) included:
Oral presentations:
- Thomas Auen, DO, pathology: “An Autopsy Case of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in a Pediatric Decedent with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex”
- Ali Hakim, MD, general surgery: “Diabetes and Claudication: Reduced Pain Perception; Worse Walking Impairment and Quality of Life”
- James McCluskey, MD, internal medicine-pediatrics: “Impact of Nebraska Medicaid Expansion on Human Immunodeficiency Virus Outcomes”
- Michael Osterholt, MD, primary care-sports medicine: “Comparison of Injuries Sustained on Grass and Artificial Turf by USL1 Men’s Soccer Team. Part 2: Total Athlete Exposure”
- Peter Pellegrino, MD, anesthesiology-pain medicine: “Sympathetic Vasomotion Correlates with the Magnitude of Hemorrhage in Conscious Rabbits”
- Elhaum Rezaii, MD, neurosurgery: “Pregnancy and Motherhood in Neurosurgery Residency Training and Beyond”
Poster presentations:
- Christian Clodfelder, DO, and Mark Westbroek, MD, pediatrics: “Atypical Bacterial Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt Infection in an Immunocompetent Child: A Diagnostic Odyssey”
- Spencer Cooper, DO, family medicine: “Not All Anemias in Training Room Need Iron Replacement”
- Erin Dennis, MD, epilepsy: “Implementation of a Standardized Protocol to Improve Ictal Examinations and Patient Safety in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit”
- Ketav Desai, MD, hematopathology: “Effect of Biallelic TP53 Mutations in Changing the Subclassification of Myelodysplastic Neoplasm”
- Jennifer Fernandez, MD, dermatology: “Racial and Ethnic Differences in Time to Definitive Surgery for Melanoma: A Retrospective Study from the National Cancer Database”
- Tyler Kallman, MD, orthopaedic surgery and rehabilitation: “Changes in Anterior Tibial Translation Are Not Associated with Degradation in Weightbearing Cartilage of the Knee Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction”
- Nathaniel Leonardi, DO, nephrology: “MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry Used in Diagnosis of Nocardiosis in a Patient With a Renal Transplant”
- Jennilee Luedders, MD, allergy and immunology: “Age Differences in Vocal Cord Dysfunction”
- Sandeep Puri, MBBS, pediatric gastroenterology: “Quality Improvement: Reduce Trending of Serum Lipase in Pediatric Acute Pancreatitis Patients”
- Pranav Renavikar, MBBS, pathology: “Academic Institutional Review of Outside Pathology by Experienced Genitourinary Pathologists Results in Improved Patient Outcomes in Significant Number of Cases”
- Kristina Sevcik, MD, pathology: “The Optimized Parameters of Red Blood Cell Exchange by Apheresis in Transfusion-Dependent Thalassemia, A Small Case Series”
- Vivek Sharma, MD, oral and maxillofacial surgery: “Mandibular Reconstruction Using Custom TMJ Concepts Prosthesis After Resection of Conventional Ameloblastoma From Left Mandible: A Case Report”
- Jacob Vasa, MD, family medicine: “Paternity Matters: Does Paternal Involvement Have an Effect on Prenatal Care?”
- Debra Wekesa, MD, internal medicine: “Outcome of Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Policy Allowing for Waiting Time Modification for Candidates Affected by Race-Inclusive eGFR Calculations”
- Landon Withrow, MD, internal medicine: “Exploring the Efficacy of Pulmonary Artery Pressure Monitoring in Rural LVAD Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study on Clinical Outcomes”