Student Spotlights

Honor Offers Insights—Asif Rahman recently received a Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP) 2018 Chair’s Choice Award, which will support his attendance at the society’s annual meeting this year, next year and in 2020. He was nominated for the honor by Dr. Jonathan Alpert, professor and chair of Einstein and Montefiore’s department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, who is also a chair of the SOBP. The society promotes research investigations of and fosters leadership in psychiatry. It also aims to educate young investigators and clinicians about the basis of psychiatric disorders. At this year’s SOBP meeting, the theme for which is “Biomarkers, Biomodels, and Psychiatric Disorders,” Asif will have the opportunity to meet clinician-scientists and expand his horizons in the field of psychiatry. He is a first-year medical student.

Talking Science Intelligibly —Talking about science is a part of every researcher’s life. While investigators undergo extensive training in grant writing, student mentoring, and data analysis, how efficient are they when it comes to presenting their work in ways that resonate with a lay audience? Einstein graduate student Dayle Hodge moderated a panel discussion at the New York Academy of Science on November 30, focused on the importance of engaging the public through effective science outreach.  He and four guest panelists discussed the complexities affecting science communication and provided both effective and poor examples of such interactions. They also shared their own experiences working with the public, offering helpful tips for being effective communicators. Dayle, who is an M.D./Ph.D. candidate in Einstein’s Medical Scientist Training Program, recently defended his thesis for research completed in the laboratory of Wenjun Guo, Ph.D. He is a member of the class of 2019. Dr. Guo is associate professor of cell biology.

Representing Einstein—The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Pediatric Trainees elected second-year medical student Catherine Coughlin to the position of District II Medical Student Assistant District Representative for 2016-2017. This designation afforded her training so she can represent Einstein, New York State, and the AAP on a national scale as the new District II Medical Student Representative for 2017-2018. As a first-year medical student, Catherine was the Delegate to the AAP for Einstein’s Pediatric Group. She spent the summer of that year researching and writing a curriculum designed to educate medical students on how to identify adolescent sex trafficking victims. Her new position within AAP will provide Catherine with access to the organization’s extensive networking and funding resources, giving her the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of medical students, residents, and fellowship partners. “As an aspiring pediatrician, I know I can be more than a physician for my patients—I am an advocate, a teacher, a researcher, and an ally,” she said.

Aiding HIV Vaccine Research—Sean O’Keefe received a 2017 Alpha Omega Alpha Carolyn L. Kuckstein Student Research Fellowship, which supports research by a medical student for a minimum of eight to ten weeks, up to two years. The fellowship will fund Mr. O’Keefe’s participation in immunobiology research aimed at developing a vaccine against HIV, which causes AIDS—a syndrome that afflicts more than 1 million Americans and currently has no cure. Using mice, Mr. O’Keefe will assess their response to virus infections based on the specific antibodies they produce. This information could prove helpful in the vaccine development and ultimately lay the ground work for future research demonstrating the efficacy of a vaccine.  Mr. O’Keefe, who is a rising second-year medical student, is conducting his studies with supervision from Dr. William Jacobs and Dr. Betsy Herold.

Dismantling Myths—Second-year medical student Riku Moriguchi was awarded a scholarship from the Japanese Medical Society of America (JMSA). Funding for the $12,000 scholarship comes from the Nishioka Foundation, which sponsors individuals of Japanese descent who are pursuing a career in medicine. The scholarship supports Mr. Moriguchi’s proposed project in which he plans to address a cultural myth in Japanese communities whereby medical education is perceived to be reserved only for students with high grades and standardized test scores. Working with a JMSA mentor, he plans to raise student awareness in Japanese-language schools around the greater New York City area that medicine can be pursued by anyone with the interest and determination to study hard. He will visit these schools and discuss his own experience pursuing medicine.

Fight for Sight Fellowship Award—Fight for Sight, a charity organization that supports eye and vision research, awarded Davis Uzochukwu Anugo a 2017 Summer Student Fellowship, a highly competitive national summer fellowship in the field of eye and vision research. The honor is all-the-more impressive because Mr. Anugo is a medical student and was competing against Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. students for the prestigious fellowship. The award funds a research project in which he will investigate the role of Fidgetin-like 2 protein in the process of wound healing in the corneal epithelium, which is the outer, protective layer of the cornea. He also will investigate the role of the protein in regenerating the corneal nerve. Mr. Anugo is a third-year medical student. His mentors on the project are Drs. Roy Chuck and Cheng Zhang. Dr. Chuck is professor and chair of ophthalmology and visual sciences at Einstein; Dr. Zhang is assistant professor in the department and director of neuro-ophthalmology, with special interest in pediatric ophthalmology and ocular pathology.

Sarnoff Fellowship Awarded—Sarah Marx has been selected to receive a fellowship from the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation. Through the fellowship, Ms. Marx will conduct academic research for a year. As part of the program, fellows choose from a selection of laboratories throughout the country and conduct a research project of their design under the tutelage of preeminent cardiovascular researchers. Ms. Marx is the first Einstein student in 15 years to receive this fellowship. Recipients enjoy a generous stipend, as well as travel funds to attend the Sarnoff annual scientific meetings and American Heart Association scientific sessions. Ms. Marx is a third-year medical student.

Sharing Research—Sara Nik, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in developmental & molecular biology, attended the first European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Conference on Hematopoietic Stem Cells: From the Embryo to the Aging Organism. Held at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany, the three-day workshop brought together leading experts in the field of hematopoiesis (the formation of blood cells) to discuss advances in their field. Ms. Nik presented a poster illustrating the thesis research she is conducting under the mentorship of Dr. Teresa Bowman. It described the role of the spliceosome, a large macromolecular "machine" within cells that is crucial for regulating gene expression. The poster showed how dysfunction of the spliceosome can lead to defects in blood cell formation that can lead to blood cancers such as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Dr. Bowman is assistant professor of developmental & molecular biology and of medicine.

Fellowship in Tropical Medicine—The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) has awarded fourth-year medical student Elizabeth Dupont the 2016 Benjamin H. Kean Travel Fellowship in Tropical Medicine. The unique fellowship—named to honor the acclaimed tropical medicine expert Benjamin H. Kean, M.D.—is the only medical student award in the United States dedicated to nurturing a career path for physician-scientists in tropical medicine. The award includes airfare and up to $1,000 in living expenses for a clinical training or research project that takes place in an area where tropical diseases are endemic. Ms. Dupont was among 21 outstanding fellows from 19 medical schools who were selected for this honor. She will travel to Mali, West Africa, where she will spend a year investigating, "Rotavirus Vaccine Impact on Diarrheal Disease Burden in Mali." ASTMH is the largest international scientific organization of experts dedicated to reducing the worldwide burden of tropical infectious diseases and improving global health.

Issue of Leadership Training—In a paper “The Iatrogenic Crisis of Leadership Training: Status of Residency Programs,” published in the July/August 2016 edition of Physician Leadership Journal, fourth-year medical student Rabbi Peter Kahn discusses the lack of leadership training in United States residency programs, with only a few programs offering stand-alone educational tracks dedicated to leadership. Mr. Kahn, a recipient of a master’s degree in theology from Harvard and an master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins, can attest to the value of such training and advocates for the current residency system to provide urgently needed leadership in the form of separate leadership tracks. He also encourages all medical students, house staff and physicians to develop managerial training courses at their institutions.