June 20, 2007

Two students from SIU Med School receive awards --

Michael Bonkowski, a doctoral student in pharmacology and internal medicine at SIU School of Medicine, presented twice at the 36th annual meeting of the American Aging Association in San Antonio, Texas, in June.

He was selected as the American Federation for Aging Research Dorothy Dillon Eweson Lecturer on the Advances in Aging Research.  The lecture series brings issues of aging and age-related diseases and conditions to the forefront of medical association conferences.  Bonkowski was given a $1,000 travel stipend to present his research.

He also received the first place award for his presentation “Interactions between caloric restriction and the Methuselah Prize mouse” in the Student Data Blitz competition.  The $500 award supports his attendance at the association’s 2008 meeting.

Bonkowski earned his master’s in animal sciences specializing in endocrinology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2003) and his bachelor’s at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1999).  He is the son of Michael and Nancy Bonkowski of Burbank.  He and his wife, Jennifer, live in Petersburg.

Nicole Dunlap, a third-year medical student at SIU School of Medicine, received the student research program travel award to make her presentation at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Toronto in May.  The presentation, entitled, “Delineation of Phenotypes and Genetic Markers in Young Overweight Children Using a Family Based Association Study,” originated last summer as research completed through SIU’s Mentored Professional Enrichment Experiences (MPEE).  Dunlap’s MPEE mentor was Dr. Katherine Kaufer Christoffel at Northwestern University Children’s Memorial Research Center in Chicago.

Dunlap earned her bachelor’s at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2000).  She is the daughter of Brenda Foster of Champaign.

-30-