School of Medicine students to discuss research projects at March 22 symposium

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine has a rigorous research curriculum that requires students to dive into a unique area of study early and pursue that research question until graduation.

One of the core elements of a graduate’s identity is that of the scientist physician, who integrates clinical medicine and scientific inquiry to answer questions that potentially improve patient outcomes and health care delivery.

“Immersion in this process longitudinally allows our graduates to differentiate themselves by developing the habits and skills that will serve them throughout their career as an inquiry-driven scholar and patient-centered physician,” said Leslie LaConte, associate dean for research.

The school hosts an annual symposium at which students display the culmination of their projects during poster sessions, and several students who earned Letters of Distinction for their research present their projects before an audience. Because of the emphasis on the quality of their research, many students have already had their work published in academic journals or have presented at national and international conferences.

The symposium will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Friday, March 22, at the school at 2 Riverside Circle in Roanoke. The oral presentations will be held in the M203 auditorium. The poster presentations will be held in 4 Riverside rooms G101 and G102. The Research Mentor Award, oral presentations, and student awards will also be presented via livestream.

The names of the students and the titles of their projects may be found here. Several of the students who received Letters of Distinction appear below, along with the student-nominated Research Mentor of the Year.

Research as an integral part of life

Students named Peter Apel, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery, the 2024 Research Mentor of the Year. In nominating Apel, students said, “He has the unique ability to build cohesive research teams and is tirelessly committed to medical students and his passion for research.” Apel said, “Part of what I do as an academic physician is to influence the lives of future doctors to be successful lifelong learners.” Since 2020, 12 of Apel’s publications have credited medical students as co-authors.

Ultrasound at the bedside

Samantha Speroni’s research dealt with whether using bedside lung ultrasounds on ICU patients with chest trauma could reliably predict a patient’s likelihood for developing medical complications. While still gathering data, Speroni said the significance of the project is that it presents another way to monitor these patients. “If we suspect maybe a patient is going downhill, doing a lung ultrasound might be a way of confirming that suspicion early on.”

New gold standard

For people with drug-resistant epilepsy, treatment involves a procedure to map patients’ brains to determine where to surgically place electrodes. The equipment used for this comes with high maintenance costs and restrictive scanning environments. For his project, Abhishek Bhutada worked with researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC to test a new type of equipment that provides strong evidence as a reliable guide for treatment options and is more comfortable and less invasive for patients.

Genetic sleuthing

Eosinophilic esophagitis is an allergic condition marked by progressive inflammation of the esophagus, which over time can lead to esophageal erosion. For her project, Kacie Hoyt took on the challenge of researching the gene expression of eosinophilic esophagitis to understand the gaps in knowledge surrounding this condition. Hoyt identified two new gene families that are expressed differently in patients. Her findings present an opportunity for a future therapeutic target that could benefit a large number of patients.

Healthy pregnancy outcomes

It’s well documented that women who are overweight or obese are more likely to have pregnancy complications. Kelly Ingram’s research study examined the impact of obesity on the bacteria in a woman’s vaginal microbiome as a possibly reason why. She collected samples from 67 pregnant women at different stages of their pregnancies and made an interesting discovery. Two types of vaginal bacteria were significantly increased in overweight and obese participants. Her research reveals the profound impact of maternal pre-pregnancy weight, a crucial factor influencing infant health.

Blood flow and sickle cell

People with sickle cell disease experience debilitating pain brought on by impaired blood flow. Ilona Kitay wanted to determine if pain in patients could be anticipated and better managed. Using a novel blood flow sensor and blood pressure cuff, she researched whether there is an associated increase in pain when blood flow decreases. While recruitment and testing are ongoing, Kitay believes being able to predict a sickle cell crisis would enable patients a greater ability to get ahead of a debilitating experience and allow for great functioning long term.

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Leslie LaConte by email at lacon001@vt.edu during regular business hours.