Five medical students conducting research under the guidance of UAB Department of Surgery mentors earned top awards at the 2026 UAB Heersink School of Medicine Dale J. Benos Medical Student Research Day, including three trained through the department's summer research programs.
Held each year and organized by the UAB Physician Scientist Development Office, Medical Student Research Day celebrates the research accomplishments of medical students and encourages their early work as investigators. The event gives students the chance to present their original research to peers and faculty through judged poster presentations, with awards given across a range of specialty categories.
In the surgery category, Hyunjin Kim and Sarah Ali each earned first place, and Kyle Hsu and Jacob Palmer each earned second place. In the cancer category, William Grogan earned first place.
Their projects were guided by faculty across the department. Kim worked with Andrea Gillis, M.D., MSPH, assistant professor in the Division of Breast and Endocrine Surgery. Hsu worked with Samantha Baker, M.D., MSHPEd, of the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. Palmer and Grogan with Herbert Chen, M.D., chair of the Department of Surgery and distinguished professor of surgery.
For the Department of Surgery, the students' success reflects a steady investment in mentorship. By pairing medical students with faculty early in their training, the department gives them real experience in how research is designed, carried out, and presented. Much of that work happens through the department's summer research programs, and three of this year's winners — Kim, Hsu, and Palmer — completed their award-winning work through Short-Term Research Experiences Advancing Medical Students (STREAMS).
About Short-Term Research Experiences Advancing Medical Students
STREAMS gives medical students the chance to pursue mentored summer research projects under the guidance of surgeons and other research faculty, with opportunities in basic science, translational, clinical, outcomes, and education research. Each year, eight students are selected for funding through an NIH/NIDDK training grant, and participants complete a full-time mentored research experience of eight to 12 weeks before presenting their first-authored work at Medical Student Research Day and the Academic Surgical Congress. The program has been co-directed by Robert H. Hollis, M.D., M.S.P.H., of the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery, and Jillian Richter, Ph.D., of the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. Laura Stafman M.D., Ph.D will be joining as co-director of the STREAMS program to replace Hollis who now serves as the Associate Program Director for Resident Research in the UAB general surgery residency.
“Giving students a mentored research experience early is one of the best ways to spark a lasting interest in academic surgery,” said Hollis. “When their work stands out against the whole school at Research Day, it tells us the program is doing what we designed it to do, and it says a lot about how much these students and mentors put into it.”
“Our students can work on anything from basic science to outcomes research, and that range is a big part of what makes the program work,” said Richter. “These results come from students who were willing to dig into a real question, and from faculty across the department who were willing to bring them into the lab and teach them.”
About the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine Dale J. Benos Medical Student Research Day
The UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine Dale J. Benos Medical Student Research Day celebrates the research accomplishments of medical students and gives them a forum to present their work to fellow students and faculty. Organized by the Physician Scientist Development Office, the event features poster presentations from students across the M.D. and dual-degree programs, with awards recognizing top projects in each category. The event is named in honor of Dale J. Benos, Ph.D. (1950–2010), the former chair of the UAB Department of Physiology and Biophysics, who established the M.D./M.S. program and was a devoted advocate for medical student research.