by Michael Weiser

The Ohio Osteopathic Association (OOA) and the Centers for Osteopathic Research & Education (CORE) held their annual poster exhibition at the 108^th Ohio Osteopathic Convention in Huron Saturday, June 24, at the Lodge at Sawmill Creek. The posters on display covered a variety of clinical, biomedical, health policy and single-case study research topics. Judging took place in the morning, and the winners were announced at the awards luncheon that afternoon.

Raymond Wolf, D.O., was awarded first place in the biomedical research category for his poster Endovenous Laser Ablation. OU-COM third-year student Draion Burch was awarded first place for his single-case study poster of Single Fetal Demise in Twin Pregnancy. OU-COM second-year student Garett Helber was awarded first place in the Health Policy Research category for his poster Diabetes Report Card for an Academic Medical Institution.

A research team of OU-COM third-year students swept the clinical research category. Burch won first place for his poster, Gender Differences in the Age of Onset of Diabetic Retinopathy; Melanie Aaberg won second place for her poster, Gender Differences in the Onset of Diabetic Neuropathy; and Zarinah Hud won third place for her poster, Gender Differences in Onset of Diabetic Nephropathy.

The award for Best Student Poster went to Burch for his single-case study poster, Single Fetal Demise in Twin Pregnancy.

Ray Miller, D.O., a family physician from Perrysburg, served as one of the judges for the exhibition. “All of the posters were excellent,” he says. “All of them were very equal in quality, with regard to judging the objective required elements of the posters. Choosing the best posters came down to what stood out more in the individual presentations. All of the presenters were very knowledgeable about their research.”

Robert Juhasz, D.O., and Victor Angel, D.O., also served as judges for the poster exhibition. Juhasz, a member of the board of trustees of the American Osteopathic Association, practices internal medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. Angel, a family physician from Cincinnati, was installed as the president of the OOA at this year’s convention.

“I am very impressed, though not surprised, as to how well OU-COM students performed at this year’s OOA poster exhibition,” says Joy Matthews-Lopez, Ph.D., CORE research director. “Draion Burch, principal investigator of four of the posters presented at the event, demonstrated a remarkable work ethic and extreme dedication to research excellence. The award showing made by him and his fellow students at the OOA was unprecedented.”