The Carver College of Medicine has sponsored the Carver College of Medicine Student Medical Research Conference for more than six decades, the most recent of which took place on September 17-19. With 72 oral presentations, 74 poster presentations, and a keynote, the college celebrates the research that our medical students conduct and refine in a multitude of ways.
Recognizing excellence among the medical students work takes a number of different forms. There are six Foundation Awards, including the Donald D. Heistad Prize for Best Poster Presentation, the François M. Abboud Prize for Best Platform Presentation, and the Melvin Marcus Clinical Research Award, among others. There are also a number of awards sponsored by each of the departments.
Congratulations and thank you to all of this year’s participants, judges, winners, and to these students’ mentors for helping shape the future of health care research! Below are award winners with faculty mentors from our department.
Donald D. Heistad Prize for Best Poster Presentation
Vooha Kuma, M2
“Investigating the Role of Cardiac Sodium-Glucose Co-Transporter 1 (SGLT1) in Diabetic Cardiomyopathy”
Mentor: Ferhaan Ahmad – Internal Medicine – Cardiovascular Medicine
John Stokes Award for Research in Internal Medicine
Dat Lam, M2
“Successful maturation of stem cell derived islet from RUES2 cell line in the presence of fatty acids”
Mentor: Yumi Imai – Internal Medicine – Endocrinology andMetabolism
Excellence in Internal Medicine Research
Ryan Gannon, M4
“An ex-vivo approach to predict clinical response to CFTR modulator therapy or to rule out CF in individuals with rare CFTR mutations”
Mentor: Alejandro Pezzulo – Internal Medicine – Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine
Excellence in Internal Medicine Research
Deeraj Manika, M1
“Incidence and Prevalence of Ventricular Tachycardia has Increased in Most Demographics over the past Decade”
Mentor: Jennifer Streeter – Internal Medicine – Cardiovascular Medicine
2025 Medical Student Research Conference Awards (pdf)
2025 Medical Student Research Conference Abstracts (pdf)
