INTRO Summer Research Program announces new HSC members

Twenty-five WVUHealth Sciences students have been selected as this year’s participants in the 2021 West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute (WVCTSI) INTRO (Initiation to Research Opportunities) Summer Research program.

The INTRO Summer Research program affords first-year medical and pharmacy students the opportunity to gain valuable research experience. The summer following their first year, students who are selected for the program will spend eight weeks conducting research in their field of interest with a faculty mentor and receive a stipend of $4,000.

Diverse research projects are available across all the Schools in the HSC and include a variety of topics within Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry and Public Health. Students are able to partner with any faculty member at HSC. This year’s program will take place June 14 – Aug. 6, 2021.

Tyler Agard

Tyler Agard, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Ashley Petrone, PhD. Agard’s project is on leukocyte biomarkers for the differential diagnosis of imaging negative mild acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack in the emergency department.

Fatima Asad

Fatima Asad, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Jeremiah Hayanga, MD. Asad’s project is on the use of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) national registry data to predict mortality in patients with severe cardiac and pulmonary disease who require extracorporeal support.

Shanan Ashton

Shanan Ashton, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Benoit Driesschaert, PhD. Ashton’s project is on the development of oxygen microbubbles to boost radiation therapy.

Maximilian Bonnici

Maximilian Bonnici, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Chadi Makary, MD. Bonnici’s project is about determining the natural history of pediatric chronic rhinosinusitis: follow up after more than 10 years.

Anthony Chen

Anthony Chen, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Dr. Zachary Zinn, MD. Chen’s project is on efficacy and patient perception of in-person vs virtual dermatology.

Stephen Chen

Stephen Chen, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Joel Palko, MD. Chen’s project is on the influence of ocular biomechanics on ocular blood flow.

Robinson Crane

Robinson Crane, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor Brian Boone, MD. Crane’s project is about the loss of SMAD4 promotes Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) in pancreatic cancer.

Alexander Davis

Alexander Davis, a School of Pharmacy student, is working with mentor Erin Winstanley, PhD. Davis’s project is about improving outcomes for patients with opioid use disorder.

Chloe Delumpa

Chloe Delumpa, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor Dr. Ezequiel Salido, MD/PhD. Delumpa’s project is on the relationship between the interphotoreceptor matrix and visual pathology.

John Goellner

John Goellner, a School of Medicine – Marshall University, is working with mentor Meenal Elliott. Goellner’s project is on salivary immune response against SARS-CoV-2.

Perla Jimenez-Herrera

Perla Jimenez-Herrera, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, H Wayne Lambert, PhD. Jimenez-Herrera’s project is on cribra orbitalia in the human skull.

Shabrina Jarrell

Shabrina Jarrell, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, James W. Lewis, PhD. Jarrell’s project is on identifying brain network changes with intervention effectiveness of opioid use disorder (OUD).

Andre Moussa Kassis

Andre Moussa Kassis, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Matthew Ellison, MD. Kassis’s project is on cardiovascular and thoracic anesthesia research in cardiac anesthesia and cardiac surgery.

Torey Katzmeyer

Torey Katzmeyer, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Ming Pei, PhD, MD. Katzmeyer’s project is on the influence of laminin alpha5 on human fetal synovium-derived stem cells.

Samuel Llavine

Samuel Llavina, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Mark Olfert, PhD, RRT, FAHA. Llavina’s project is on 2 hit aerosol exposure, pregnancy and adolescent early life vaping.

Andrea Pettit

Andrea Pettit, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Amna Umer, MPH, PhD. Pettit’s project will be on the prevalence and incidence of hepatitis C in Appalachian population: A systematic review with meta-analysis.

Austin Roberts

Austin Roberts, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Matthew Dietz, MD. Roberts’ project is on the evaluation of Maintenance of Surgical Optimization (MOSO) in total joint arthroplasty.

Paul Rose

Paul Rose is a School of Medicine student working with mentor, Paul Lockman, PhD. Rose’s project is on halting progression of brain metastases of breast cancer using combined ultrasound and chemotherapy.

Mawell Schubel

Mawell Schubel is a School of Pharmacy student working with mentor, Kimberly Kelly, PhD, MD. Schubel’s project is on genetic services in Appalachia.

Kailey Smith

Kailey Smith is a School of Pharmacy student working with mentor, Jennifer Franko, PhD. Smith’s project is on the influence of sex chromosome complements on ex vitro B cell activation.

Halee Sowinski

Halee Sowinski is a School of Medicine student working with mentor, Dr. Matthew Zdilla, DC. Sowinski’s project is on improving the surgical approach to trigeminal neuralgia through geometric morphometric analysis.

Jack Victory

Jack Victory, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Brock Lindsey, MD. Victory’s project is on nanosphere-mediated delivery of IL-12 to human splenocytes as an in vitro clinical efficacy model for the systemic immune response for prevention of osteosarcoma progression.

Kareem Wasef

Kareem Wasef, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Shafic Sraj, MD. Wasef’s project is on investigating differences in flare reaction incidence and intensity following trigger finger injections using betamethasone and methylprednisolone.

James Wyland

James Wyland, a School of Pharmacy student, is working with mentors Malayna Bernstein, PhD and Sally Hodder, MD. Wyland’s project is on rural community insights to inform opioid epidemic prevention strategies.

Joseph Zimmerman

Joseph Zimmerman, a School of Medicine student, is working with mentor, Michael Craig, MD. Zimmerman’s project is on analysis of outcome for AML and MDS patients. Role of the next generation sequencing use and results at diagnosis. Outcome from transplant with novel induction therapy.

Contact Sarah Haymond, Professional Development Program Manager, WVCTSI, for more information.

-WVU-