Each year since the UI’s Office of the Vice President for Research began the Dare to Discover campaign, Internal Medicine has been proud to have at least one of its members featured on their banners. In 2016, Dr. Dale Abel and Dr. Colleen Campbell each appeared, and in 2017 Dr. Eli Perencevich’s work in reducing healthcare-associated infections was on display. Last year, the OVPR shifted the campaign’s focus from faculty to undergraduate researchers and a member of Dr. Abel’s lab, Angela Olvera, and her work on mitochondrial stress earned her a banner.
This year, another Abel Lab member, Jesse Cochran, will be on a banner inside the University Capitol Centre in downtown Iowa City alongside about 40 other undergraduates getting front-line exposure to cutting-edge research at the University of Iowa. Mr. Cochran has steadily amassed a number of recognitions, including a Rex Montgomery Biochemistry Scholarship. He is also serving as a Latham Fellow this year, working on ways to better communicate scientific advancement to the broader community. When Mr. Cochran won one of OVPR’s Excellence in Undergraduate Research Awards last year, Dr. Abel said, “Importantly he not only asks about ‘what to do’ but also ‘why to do.’ He never feels his job is done when he finishes data collection, but also shows very strong interest in analyzing the data and discussing the interpretations and conclusions.”
Congratulations to Mr. Cochran on this further recognition from OVPR! We are pleased the rest of the Iowa City community will get to know this promising young researcher.