SIU Med School Announces Research Symposium Awards

Nine medical and graduate students and resident physicians received top awards in the 16th annual Trainee Research Symposium at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

Sponsored by the School and SIU's chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha, the symposium offers medical students, graduate students and residents in Springfield an opportunity to gain experience in making formal presentations of their research findings. A total of 21 oral presentations were given and nine poster presentations were displayed.

The top three projects in each category, as judged by a panel of faculty, received monetary prizes. The projects were judged on several criteria -- preliminary data and research approach, research design, project creativity, originality and the project's potential scientific or medical significance. Faculty advisors provided assistance for each project.

The first-place medical student winner was Todd Gerberi, a junior from Sterling, for his project, "Oral D-Methionine Protects Against Cisplatin-Induced Ototoxicity as Effectively as Intraperitoneal D-Methionine in Rats." His faculty advisor was Kathleen Campbell, Ph.D., professor of surgery. The second-place medical student winner was Kelli Balangee, a sophomore from McLeansboro, for her project, "Long Term Outcome of Hyperhidrosis Patients With and Without Thoracscopic Sympathectomy." Her faculty advisor was Dr. Stephen Hazelrigg, professor of surgery, and Theresa Boley, assistant professor of surgery. Third place went to Stephanie Sea, a sophomore medical student from Decatur, for her project, "In Search for the Smoking Gun: The Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus and Its Effects on Tinnitus." Her faculty advisor was Dr. Carol Bauer, associate professor of surgery.

The first-place graduate student winner was Parul Sikand, a pharmacology student from India, for her project, "Protein Kinase C (PKC) Sensitizes TRPV1 Mediated Synaptic Transmission at the First Sensory Synapse." Her faculty advisor was Louis Premkumar, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology.

The second-place winner was Fanting Wu, a medical microbiology/ immunology/cell biology graduate student from Shanghai, China, for her project, "Sumoylation-Associated Growth Inhibition and Sensitization of Drug Response is Mediated Through the Apoptosis Pathway in a Caspase-Related Manner." His faculty advisor was Yin-Yuan Mo, Ph.D., assistant professor of medical microbiology/immunology/cell biology. Third place went to Torrie Turner Jones, a medical microbiology/immunology/cell biology graduate student from Morton, for her project, "Cortical Rat Neurons Show Age-Related Respiratory Differences." Her faculty advisor was Gregory Brewer, Ph.D., professor of medical microbiology/immunology/cell biology.

The first-place resident physician winner was Dr. Heather Beal , an obstetrics/ gynecology resident from Centralia, for her project, "Endometrial Cells Indentified in Cervical Cytolpogy in Women > 40 Years of Age: Criteria for Appropriate Endometrial Evaluation." Her faculty advisor was Mary McAsey, Ph.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology. The second-place winner was Dr. Sameer Bavishi, a surgery resident from Danville, for his project, "Serum Titanium Levels in Patients with Modular Versus Nonmodular Hip Prostheses." Her faculty advisor was Dr. D. Gordon Allan, associate professor of surgery. A third-place award went to Dr. Ed Joy, a surgery resident from Oaklawn, for his project "Cemented vs. Press-Kit Fixation in NedxGen Cruciate-Retaining Total Knee Replacement: A Prospective Evaluation." His faculty advisor was Allan.

Judges for this year’s symposium were Dr. James LaGuardia, assistant professor of neurology; Dr. Laura Rogers, associate professor of internal medicine; Robert Struble, Ph.D., associate professor of pathology, psychiatry and neurology; McAsey; Dr. Bradley Schwartz, associate professor of surgery; Dr. Gayle Woodson, professor of surgery; Andrzej Bartke, Ph.D., professor of internal medicine and physiology; Mary Pauza, Ph.D., assistant professor of medical microbiology/immunology/cell biology; Sophia Ran, Ph.D., assistant professor of medical microbiology/immunology/cell biology; and Jeremy Turner, Ph.D., assistant professor of surgery.

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NOTE TO EDITOR: Todd Gerberi is the son of Michael and Kathleen Gerberi of Sterling; Kelli Belangee is the daughter of Eddie and Teresa Belangee of Dahlgren; Stephanie Sea is the daughter of Doug Sea of Chapin and Ronda Mitchell of Decatur.