Dean of the MU School of Medicine Steve Zweig, MD, pauses to learn about second-year medical student Oluwabunmi Omiyale’s research.
More than 240 research projects were displayed during the 2021 Health Sciences Research Day.
Steve Barnes, MD, chair of the Department of Surgery, served as one of 59 judges who evaluated projects this year.
William Fay, senior associate dean for research at the MU School of Medicine, presents the Dorsett L. Spurgeon, MD, Distinguished Medical Research Award to Guangfu Li, PhD, DVM.
Guangfu Li, PhD, DVM, is this year’s winner of the Dorsett L. Spurgeon, MD, Distinguished Medical Research Award. The award is presented to an MU School of Medicine researcher for outstanding accomplishments early in his or her career. Li is an associate professor of Surgery, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and the Tom Miltenberger Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research.
The Excellence in Research Mentoring Award was presented to Katie Murray, DO, assistant professor of surgery, for her exemplary mentoring. Murray also serves as medical director of urologic oncology at Ellis Fischel Cancer Center and is a clinical urologist at Harry S Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital.
The Sinclair School of Nursing Dean’s Award was presented to Colleen Becker, MSN, RN, CCRN-K. The award was won for “Comparing Psychometric Properties of Three Pressure Injury Prediction Scales in Perioperative Patients.”
The School of Health Professions Dean’s Award was presented to Jacob Thomas. Thomas received this recognition for “Validation of Azure Kinect Temporospatial Parameters During a Sit to Stand Task.”
Aaron Voshage, second-year medical student, won first place for Category I Clinical with their project “Effect of Menstrual Cycle and Oral Contraceptive Pill Phase on the Hemodynamic Response to Sympathetic Activation.”
First place for Category I Basic was awarded to Connor Diaz, second-year medical student, for their project “A Mechanistic Role for Reck in the Regulation of Hepatocellular Inflammation.”
First place in Category II Basic was awarded to Hekmat Khoukaz, MD for the project “Pharmacological Targeting of Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 Decreases Vascular Stiffness, Smooth Muscle Cell Stiffness and Cytoskeletal F-Actin Stress Fiber Density.”
Debbie Taylor, senior coordinator of research, is thanked for her effort in planning the annual Health Sciences Research Day event.
The School of Medicine Dean’s Award was presented to Cynthia Tang, a graduate student in the Tom and Anne Smith MD-PhD Program, for her project “Cell-adapted Mutations of SARS-COV-2 During Virus Isolation and Propagation: Does SARS-COV-2 Experience Culture Shock?”.
