56th Annual Medical Student Research Conference Award Winners

The Carver College of Medicine has sponsored a Research Week for more than five decades, including the one just concluded last month. With 57 oral presentations, 76 poster presentations, and a keynote, the college celebrates the research that our medical students conduct and refine in a multitude of ways.

Recognizing excellence among the medical students work takes a number of different forms. There are six Foundation Awards, including the Donald D. Heistad Prize for Best Poster Presentation, the François M. Abboud Prize for Best Platform Presentation, and the Melvin Marcus Clinical Research Award, among others. There are also a number of awards sponsored by each of the departments.

Congratulations and thank you to all of this year’s participants, judges, winners, and to these students’ mentors for helping shape the future of health care research! Below are award winners with mentors from our department.


Edward Heath Award (U of I Foundation Award)

Ashley Radig, M2

“Role of DHHC1 in insulin secretion and mitochondrial function in pancreatic beta cells”

Mentor: Yumi Imai, MD – Internal Medicine – Endocrinology and Metabolism


John Stokes Award for Research in Internal Medicine

Kuangda Shan, M4

“Endoscopic Dilation is a Safe and Effective Therapeutic Procedure for Patients with Eosinophilic Esophagitis”

Mentor: Yehudith Assouline-Dayan, MD – Internal Medicine – Gastroenterology and Hepatology


Excellence in Internal Medicine Research

Jayden Bowen, LOA

“Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 regulates many aspects of neutrophil function”

Mentor: Julia Klesney-Tait, MD, PhD – Internal Medicine – Pulmonary, Critical Care & Occupoational Medicine


Excellence in Internal Medicine Research

Madalyn Rasor, M3

“PEG-Asparaginase Induced Liver Injury: Case Report and Systematic Review of the Literature”

Mentor: Arvind Murali, MBBS – Internal Medicine – Gastroenterology and Hepatology


A full list of winners is here. (pdf)

The complete abstracts are available here. (pdf)

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