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Feinberg Investigators Showcase Studies at Research Day 2011

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Research Office at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine hosted its seventh annual Lewis Landsberg Research Day on April 7. To promote faculty and trainee development, the campus-wide event featured a poster session competition with a record 218 submissions from faculty, graduate students, medical students, MD/PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and fellows, and clinical residents and fellows.

“Research Day gives the medical school community an opportunity to celebrate all of the great science that happens here and to pay tribute to one of our central missions,” said Rex Chisholm, PhD, vice dean for scientific affairs and graduate studies. “By learning about other research happening at the medical school, these individuals are also able to connect with potential collaborators.”

Irena Garic, MPH, clinical research coordinator in the Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology, participated in Research Day for the first time this year. Garic showcased her preliminary research, “Patient Awareness and Education Regarding the Relevance of their Neurological Condition to Birth Control and Pregnancy,” performed in collaboration with principal investigator Elizabeth Gerard, MD, assistant professor in the neurology department. The team was thrilled that several colleagues stopped by their poster to ask questions about their work.

“I enjoyed that so many different areas of research were housed under the same roof, and they all found a receptive audience,” Garic said. “My collaboration with Dr. Gerard was a great start to assessing the needs of women in the neurology clinic setting. I look forward to continuing our work and presenting an update at next year’s Research Day.”

Greeland
Philip Greenland, MD, Harry W. Dingman Professor of Cardiology, senior associate dean for clinical and translational research, and director of the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, was awarded the 2011 Tripartite Legacy Prize and offered the event’s keynote address.

The 2011 Tripartite Legacy Prize, presented annually to the faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in research that emphasizes translational approaches, teaching and mentoring, and leadership, went to Philip Greenland, MD, Harry W. Dingman Professor in Cardiology, senior associate dean for clinical and translational research, and director of the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute.

Greenland’s research focuses on three areas: the role of traditional cardiovascular risk factors in long-term risk prediction; cardiovascular disease and risk prediction in women; and the role of cardiovascular imaging, especially coronary calcium measurement, in cardiovascular risk estimation. In his keynote lecture, Greenland touched on past and ongoing efforts in these areas and the overall necessity of research.

Following Greenland’s address, awards in the areas of basic and clinical research were presented to individuals who showcased their work at the event. Winners were chosen by three panels of judges, which were comprised of Feinberg faculty volunteers. The basic science awards went to:

  • First place – Susmita Sahoo, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute, for her research, “Exosomes from Human CD34+ Cells as Novel Mediators of Therapeutic Angiogenesis.”
  • Second place – William J. Muller, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics, for his research, “Nectin-1 is a Major Determinant of Disease After Intranasal Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 Infection of Newborn Mice.”
  • Third place – David P. Sullivan, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Pathology, for his research, “Identification and Characterization of IQGAP1 as an Important Regulator of Transendothelial Migration.”
Winners
Jay Walsh, PhD, vice president for research at Northwestern (left), and Jeff Glassroth, MD, interim dean at Feinberg (right), congratulated the winners of the poster session, who were recognized for their outstanding basic science and clinical research.

Prizes for clinical research were awarded to:

  • First place – Norrina B. Allen, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Preventive Medicine, for her research, “Heritability and Genome-wide Association of Ideal Cardiovascular Health: The Framingham Heart Study.”
  • Second place – Jami Josefson, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics, for her research, “Excessive Gestational Weight Gain in Women Without Gestational Diabetes Mellitus is Associated with Increased Neonatal Fat Mass and Hyperinsulinemia.”
  • Third place – Matthew J. Feinstein, a fourth-year medical student, with his research, “Racial Differences in Risks for First Cardiovascular Events and Non-Cardiovascular Death: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, the Cardiovascular Health Study, and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.”

The Women Faculty Organization also presented awards for outstanding work in basic science and clinical women’s health research. These honors went to:

  • Clinical medicine – Jami Josefson, MD (see clinical research awards).
  • Basic science – Alok Pant, MD, a gynecologic oncology fellow in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, with his research, “MK2206, A Novel Allosteric Akt Inhibitor, Reverses Progestin Resistance In Endometrial Cancer.”