“The idea has always been to get people talking,” Chad Grueter, PhD, said. As part of its evolution, the long-running Internal Medicine Research Seminar Series recently added a new format to its roster. Traditionally, the hour-long series featured two researchers presenting their current work for 20 minutes each and an additional 10 minutes for questions and conversation.

Questions, ideas, and new collaborations were encouraged, and often sparked, but Grueter, after a conversation with Ryan Boudreau, PhD, decided to push the form even more. An open call for five-minute-long presentations was sent to department researchers with the purposely vague title of “Data Blitz.” Grueter said, “They were free to interpret that however they wanted.” To some that could be a deep dive on one area of focus and where they are headed, to others it could be an overview of the variety of their projects and what questions they could use help answering.

Six researchers answered the call and prepared to briefly discuss their work with about 30 of their colleagues over some catered pizza. Although there were some spots of overlap between the presenters, attendees got a good sense of the scope, depth, and talent in the department’s research portfolio. They heard presentations from:

Jennifer Streeter, MD, PhD
William Thiel, PhD
Renata Pereira, PhD
Ryan Boudreau, PhD
Rebecca Dodd, PhD

The questions each received after their presentations showed promise for new avenues, either for the researcher or for the audience member asking. In one instance, a question to Streeter about the capacity of TriNetX, a de-identified registry useful for exploring viable questions, seemed to offer promise for the questioner’s own research. In another, a “let’s talk more” hinted at a potential collaboration.

The format, having proved successfully engaging, will be repeated later this year. The next “Data Blitz” will feature trainees.