Two students received awards for their research posters at the Missouri chapter of the American College of Physicians annual meetings at Osage Beach. The meetings took place Sept. 15-18.
Fifth-year student Gaurav Anand captured the first prize and Danielle Cunningham, also a fifth-year student, placed third in the student poster presentations.
Anand conducted his research at the Vision Research Center with Peter Koulen, Ph.D., Director of Basic Research and Felix and Carmen Sabates Missouri Endowed Chair in Vision Research, and Christa Montgomery, Ph.D., Research Scientist at the Vision Research Center. He titled his winning poster, Pharmacological control of oxidative stress-mediated effects on endocannabinoid signaling pathways.
“I was interested in the field of neuroscience and ophthalmology,” Anand said. “I wanted to start conducting basic science research in order to further explore my interest in these areas before attempting to conduct clinical research.”
With his first place award, Anand is now eligible to take part in the poster competition at the national ACP meeting next March in San Diego.
“Working alongside two outstanding mentors, Dr. Koulen and Dr. Montgomery, I have gained an immense amount of experience and have learned everything from performing basic science techniques to using complex imaging and data analysis programs,” Anand said. “I have also become familiar with the process of compiling data, graphs, and other information in order to create a presentable research poster. All in all, the experience I have gained will be very beneficial for the research projects I conduct in the future.”
Cunningham placed third with her poster, Neuroradiologic characteristics of astrobastoma and systemic review of the literature: 2 new cases and 125 cases reported in 59 publications.
At the meeting, five students and 13 residents from the School of Medicine presented posters. The Missouri ACP competition drew 20 student posters and 80 posters from residents of medical schools throughout the state.
