- College of Medicine Faculty News Students
Can a mobile phone app help adolescent girls suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome live a healthy lifestyle? How does sleep interruption affect children staying in the hospital? Can an educational program help doctors feel more comfortable treating transgender patients? Do lupus patients have confidence in alternative medicine?
These were some of the questions explored at the UCF College of Medicine’s eighth-annual FIRE research conference on Thursday, February 23. The research showcase is the culmination of the Focused Inquiry and Research Experience (FIRE) module, a mandatory research project that medical students complete within their first two years of study. During the mini-conference, first-year students present their research proposals to peers and faculty while second-years present their findings. The students’ oral and poster presentations are judged by faculty and students.
This year, 116 students shared highlights of their research in oral presentations and poster exhibitions on topics ranging from alternative medicine, innovation, disease prevention and risk factors to making emergency rooms accessible for autistic children.
Students work with research mentors including College of Medicine core and volunteer faculty, faculty from other UCF colleges and physicians and scientists from around the globe.
Many students selected topics based on personal interests or experiences. Megan Derazin, a student who serves in the Army Reserve, chose to study the military experience and its correlation with chronic pain conditions. Her presentation received third place for first-year students in the Students’ Choice category.
“The veteran population is susceptible to so many medical conditions that it is important that we investigate how their service and their sacrifice can have a negative impact on their quality of life,” Derazin said. “I am so passionate about this, because when I leave med school I am going to be serving these individuals who give so much and I want to make sure they know they are not being overlooked.”
Several projects were based on innovative medical solutions. Second-year student Colby Skinner tested the application of dehydrated amniotic membrane, a compound with anti-inflammatory properties, to improve recovery after robot-assisted surgery to remove all or part of the prostate.
Skinner was the conference’s top winner, receiving four awards for his research, which found that patients who had amniotic membrane applied to the remaining tissue after surgery generally had faster returns to urinary continence and potency.
“It was an incredibly rewarding experience to be able to put into action and understand the clinical application of some of the things we’re learning about in the classroom,” Skinner said after collecting his awards. “And I’m really thankful that the faculty and students were so interested in what I had to say and I’m glad that I could make it accessible and understandable.”
Some projects extended across borders to study global populations. First-year medical student Jaclyn Marrinan did a secondary statistical analysis of human papillomavirus (HPV) risk factors among South African women living with HIV who take hormonal contraceptives. Marrinan is a former junior epidemiologist with the World Health Organization and spent eight months in Sierra Leone in 2015 working in WHO’s Ebola response team.
“I’m really interested in improving reproductive health safety during times of crises and conflict,” Marrinan said. “The Ebola response made me realize focusing on one outbreak meant that some of these basic health services can fall to the wayside. So seeing that firsthand in West Africa really made that a topic of interest for me.”
Marrinan, who won a first place Students’ Choice and second place Faculty Choice award for her presentation, will present her research at the International Papillomavirus Conference in Cape Town, South Africa next week.
Dr. Steven Ebert, director of the FIRE module, said he was pleased with the wealth of research presented this year and the diversity of topics.
“We have a wide range in terms of the quality and the depth of the studies, but overall I would say the quality is exceptional and it’s getting better and better every year.”
Dr. Ebert, who is a cardiovascular disease researcher at the College of Medicine’s Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, underscored the importance of research skills and a passion for discovery as the essence of the FIRE module.
“For these and all medical students, I think it’s important to have curious minds, to ask questions and to not just come up with an automatic response or a textbook-type response,” he said. “When they have to diagnose a patient, in some cases it may be straightforward, but in other cases they will have to do some research and run tests, to determine not only the problem, but also its underlying cause and the best medical treatment and therapies.”
For the first time, the FIRE conference had a plenary speaker. Dr. Reshma Jagsi, a professor and deputy chair of the Department of Radiation and Oncology at University of Michigan, spoke on the improving the quality of breast radiotherapy through translational research. Dr. Jagsi said she was impressed with the students’ presentations and praised the College of Medicine for introducing research to students at such an early stage of their medical journey.
She told the students, “I am extremely impressed, both by the work you have put into your research and also by the vision of your leadership, who are so smart to engage you in one of the most exciting things that most of us get to do in our daily lives – research.”
The award winners are:
Student Choice – Poster Presentations
First Place: Carlos Delgado, “Cultural Differences in Interpretation of Lower Extremity Misalignment.” Mentor: Christopher Iobst, M.D., Nemours Children’s Hospital
Second Place: Katharyn Brennan, “Pilot Testing the iPhone App: Taking Charge of My PCOS.” Mentor: Judith Simms-Cendan, M.D., UCF College of Medicine
Third Place: Colby Skinner, “Does Dehydrated Human Amnion/Chorion Membrane Hasten Trifecta and Pentafecta Achievement After a Nerve-Sparing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy.” Mentor: Tracey Woodlief, Ph.D., Florida Hospital
Student Choice – First-Year Student Oral Presentations
First Place: Jaclyn Marrinan, “The Influence of Hormonal Contraception on High-Risk HPV and High-Grade Cervical Lesions Among Women Living with HIV-1 in South Africa.” Mentor: Hellen Kelley, B.Sc., M.Sc., London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Second Place: Priyanshi Patel, “The Effect of Comorbid Cystic Fibrosis and Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on Types of Hospitalizations in the Pediatric Population: A Retrospective Review.” Mentor: Floyd Livingston, M.D., Nemours Children’s Hospital
Third Place: Megan Derazin, “Chronic Overlapping Pain Conditions and Military Exposure (COPC’s & ME).” Mentor: Georgine Lamvu, M.D., Orlando VA Medical Center
Student Choice – Second-Year Student Oral Presentations
First Place: Colby Skinner, “Does Dehydrated Human Amnion/Chorion Membrane Hasten Trifecta and Pentafecta Achievement After a Nerve-Sparing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy.” Mentor: Tracey Woodlief, Ph.D., Florida Hospital
Second Place: Dane Lyman, “Sleep Interruption During the Hospitalization of the Pediatric Patient Causes Health Risks, Costs, and Proposed Remedies.” Mentor: Paul Rosen, M.D., Nemours Children’s Hospital
Third Place: Angela Sterling, “Making the ED More Autism Friendly.” Mentor: Jennifer Setlik, M.D., Nemours Children’s Hospital
Sven Eriksson, “A Transgender Medicine Educational Intervention Improves Students’ Knowledge, Comfort, and Attitudes.” Mentor: Lori Boardman, M.D., Florida Hospital
Faculty Choice – Poster Presentations
First Place: Colby Skinner, “Does Dehydrated Human Amnion/Chorion Membrane Hasten Trifecta and Pentafecta Achievement After a Nerve-Sparing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy.” Mentor: Tracey Woodlief, Ph.D., Florida Hospital.
Second Place: Garrett Stoltzfus, “Review of Factors Affecting Pediatric Patient Experience in Allergy Related Outpatient Visits.” Mentor: Paul Rosen, M.D., Nemours Children’s Hospital
Third Place: Jacob Sambursky, “Testing for HPV Strains 16 & 18 Helps Predict the Presence of Anal High-Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions (HSIL.” Mentor: Joseph Terlizzi, M.D., Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Agnieszka Boron, “Comparison of Septal Leaflet Detachment Versus Chordal Detachment Techniques in Closure of Hard-to-Expose Ventricular Septal Defects. Mentor: Kamal Poumoghadam, M.D., Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital
Faculty Choice – First-Year Student Oral Presentations
First Place: Priyanshi Patel, “The Effect of Comorbid Cystic Fibrosis and Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on Types of Hospitalizations in the Pediatric Population: A Retrospective Review.” Mentor: Floyd Livingston, M.D., Nemours Children’s Hospital
Second Place: Jaclyn Marrinan, “The Influence of Hormonal Contraception on High-Risk HPV and High-Grade Cervical Lesions Among Women Living with HIV-1 in South Africa.” Mentor: Hellen Kelley, B.Sc., M.Sc., London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Third Place: Daniel Kwak, “A Retrospective Study to Explore Genetic Modifiers of Breast Cancer Risk for BRCA1/2 and Non-BRCA1/2 Mutation Carriers.” Mentor: Rebecca Moroose, M.D., Orlando Health
Faculty Choice – Second-Year Student Oral Presentations
First Place: Colby Skinner, “Does Dehydrated Human Amnion/Chorion Membrane Hasten Trifecta and Pentafecta Achievement After a Nerve-Sparing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy.” Mentor: Tracey Woodlief, Ph.D., Florida Hospital
Second Place: Mary Catherine Brown, “Perioperative Disability Evaluation and Assessment Among Certain Muscle-Splitting Surgeries.” Mentor: Thomas Looke, M.D., Ph.D., Florida Hospital
Third Place: Yi Luo & Michael Mankbadi, “Correlation of Standard Pathologic Characteristics with Oncotype Dx 21-Gene Recurrence Score for Node-Negative, ER Positive Breast Cancer.” Mentor: Rebecca Moroose, M.D., Orlando Health