Two UMKC medical students have won new research awards for students interested in orthopaedic surgery.
Corey Wells, a fifth-year B.A./M.D. student, is the first recipient of the University Orthopaedics Trauma Research Opportunity and Scholar Award. The award is given to an outstanding UMKC medical student intent on pursuing a career in orthopaedic surgery who demonstrates an interest in fracture care or management of traumatic injuries.
The $1,500 award is designed for B.A./M.D. and M.D. students in the final three years of their respective programs. Recipients are expected to commit two consecutive elective months to a research project.
The UMKC Department of Orthopaedic Surgery sponsors the award. Jonathan Dubin, M.D., assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery, said the department started the award in response to student interest in research opportunities.
“A lot of them are really great students, and we wanted to be able to set something up where we give them dedicated, actual time to do the research and a reward for their achievements,” Dubin said.
The scholar award will be drawn from a charity fund supported by orthopaedic surgery faculty members. Wells will work with Dubin, who specializes in orthopaedic trauma.
Sanju Eswaran, a fifth-year B.A./M.D. student, will receive the University Orthopaedics Hand Surgery Research Opportunity and Scholar Award. She will assist Amelia Sorensen, M.D., assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery, with research projects relating to informed consent and infections.
Sorenson, a hand surgeon, said she created the $500 award after seeing the quality of the applications for the University Orthopaedics Trauma Research Opportunity and Scholar Award. “I thought it would be a good use of my research money right now,” she said.
The UMKC Department of Orthopaedic Surgery worked with Larry Dall, M.D., and Michael Wacker, Ph.D., assistant deans for student research, to develop the scholar awards.
Wacker invited other UMKC academic departments interested in creating research awards for students to contact him or Dall. “We want to make inroads into every specialty that has interest in it,” he said.
