The fifth annual Trainee Research Day at Rush University was jam-packed with cutting-edge research, celebrations and learning. The event was held on Thursday, Feb. 19 and featured sessions highlighting the impactful work of Rush trainees. This year’s research day included both oral and poster presentations as well as a final lecture given by Christine Kennedy, PhD, RN, FAAN, John L. & Helen Kellog Dean College of Nursing during an award ceremony and reception.
Presentations covered a range of topics in health care. Second-year medical student Shrishti Shrivastava focused her research on brachytherapy for central nervous system salvage therapy.
“My research is focused on a new technology for treating recurrent central nervous system tumors,” Shrivastava says. “Generally, this technology is called brachytherapy, where they put a source of radiation next to the tumor, and it’s supposed to help reduce rates of local recurrence and be safer to use in the brain.”
Shrivastava did her summer research fellowship at Rush. She, like many others, was excited to share her work with the rest of the community.
“I put a lot of hard work into this over the past year, so I am really grateful to be here presenting,” she says.
The trainees’ work doesn’t stop there. Second-year medical student Jessica Dorcelien presented on experiences of major discrimination among older Black adults. She based her research off the Minority Aging Research Study – a study designed for older African Americans with the goal of learning how to prevent common problems associated with aging, including poor memory and weakness. Dorcelien used that study to implement a new survey that looks at discrimination across different settings including employment, housing and education. The goal of Dorcelien’s research was to get an idea of what experiences the participants had and understand how it impacts their lives.
“It was a topic that I’m really passionate about,” Dorcelien says. “I’ve had great mentors throughout this process, and so finally getting to see all the information presented so concisely, I really enjoy it, and I’m excited for the rest of the research we have to do.”
Neel Matiwala, MD, clinical resident, focused his research project on a case report of a patient who had refractory hepatic graft versus host disease. Graft versus host disease happens when white blood cells in the donated stem cells or bone marrow attack your own tissues.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking as we’re getting our presentation skills ready,” Matiwala says. “But as a resident, it’s really exciting to get to connect with the medical students and see what work is going on with the other care provider teams and their education systems.”
Trainee Research Day is held at Rush University each spring. Hear from participating trainees in this video. You can also find abstracts from each participant in the Trainee Research Day Abstract Book.
