UAB’s Huntsville Regional Medical Campus held its Inaugural Research Day on Tuesday, April 3. Roger Smalligan, M.D., MPH, regional dean, and Dr. Farrah Ibrahim, M.D., FACP, residency program director for the Huntsville Internal Medicine residency program, developed the oral and poster competition mirroring similar endeavors held at state and national medical conferences. Abstracts were solicited in the categories of research and clinical vignettes from Huntsville medical students, residents and faculty, as well as community volunteer faculty, Auburn PharmD students and faculty, and University of Alabama in Huntsville nurse practitioner students and faculty.
Fifty-seven abstracts were submitted and judged by blind peer review. Ten top abstracts were chosen for oral presentation, and the remainder were prepared as posters. Two top oral presenters and the top 3 poster award winners in each category were announced and received cash prizes during the event.
Dr. Selwyn Vickers, senior vice-president and dean of the UAB School of Medicine, gave the keynote address to launch this new endeavor. Dr. Vickers shared his experiences in developing academic and clinical research throughout his career. He congratulated Dr. Smalligan and the Huntsville campus community in creating an opportunity to showcase the varied and interesting clinical cases and research.
Winners of the oral presentations (see photo) were:
• Rohini Ramamoorthy, IM PGY2; Elizabeth Thotacherry, IM PGY1 ; James Smelser, (nephrology) UASOM alumnus and volunteer clinical assistant professor. Microscopic Polyangiitis Induced Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation and Gastrointestinal Vasculitis.
• A. Nichole Marcantonio, MS3; Tim Anderson, IM PGY1; Jitesh Kar, (neurology) clinical assistant professor. Headache—more than just a migraine and tension headache—Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis
First place for the clinical vignette poster category was Stroke more than just aspirin, echo and carotid: Adrenoleukodystrophy Mimicking Stroke by Tim Anderson and Jitesh Kar. Second place was Streptococcus intermedius causing necrotizing pneumonia and empyema by Mary Fok, MS3; Jesse Faulk, IM PGY1; Alan Baggett, assistant professor of internal medicine. Third place was A Bleeding Dilemma: Story of a periampullary mass by Bhavya Bahl, IM PGY2; Rohith Vadlamudi, MS3; Parekha Yedla, associate professor of internal medicine; Smita Shah, clinical assistant professor of gastroenterology; Roger Smalligan, professor of internal medicine.
In the research abstract poster category, first place was Evaluation of commercialized fecal microbiota transplant (cFMT) therapy for the treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile infections by Auburn PharmD student Jenna Lee; Ali Hassoun, (ID) clinical professor; Brian Boyett PharmD and Jonathan Edwards, PharmD of Huntsville Hospital pharmacy; and Taylor Steuber, assistant professor Auburn School of Pharmacy. Second place was Glycemic control with insulin glarginein the setting of renal impairment in hospitalized patients by Omer Iqbal, IM PGY3; Jasleen Bolina, PharmD student; Taylor Steuber, assistant professor Auburn School of Pharmacy; Mary Hannah Walters, PharmD student; and Bradley Wright, associate clinical professor at Auburn School of Pharmacy. Third place was Evaluating physician perceptions of learning based on utilizing clinical pharmacy services by PharmD students Lauren Brown and Joseph Nguyen; Aadil Lodhi, IM PGY3; Miranda Andrus, associate clinical professor, and Bradley Wright both of the Auburn School of Pharmacy.
Dr. Smalligan recognized others who helped in making the Inaugural Research Day a success—Alan Backer and Marion Montgomery, Sparks Medical Library; Paula Cothren, Regional Dean’s Office; and Lisa Stewart, IM residency program. He noted the members of the community volunteer faculty took time from their busy practices to help judge posters: Dr. Amit Arora, neurology and UASOM alumnus; Dr. John Clark, nephrology; Dr. Scott Field, pediatrics; Dr. Ali Hassoun, infectious diseases; and Dr. Jitesh Kar, neurology. Other UAB Huntsville faculty assisted in judging as well.