10th
Annual Research Day
showcases
OU-HCOM students
Sept.
21,
2011
By Charlie Martinez
Potential
treatments for diabetes, the
impact of yo-yo dieting on obesity and
the effect of
telephone-administered therapy on
depression in people with
HIV/AIDS are among
the
almost 60 research topics that
will be on display at the Ohio University
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine’s (OU-HCOM)
10th
annual
Research Day.
Campus and community members are
invited to attend the event held
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 23, in the atrium
of the Academic & Research Center.
Medical students and faculty will
present 59 posters about research initiatives
conducted from OU-HCOM’s Appalachian Rural
Health Institute Diabetes/Endocrine Center, Ohio
Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute,
Tropical Disease Institute, the college’s many
departments,
and
the university’s Edison Biotechnology Institute.
“Research Day represents the
fruition of many hours of work for students and
faculty who present posters,”
said Jessica
Wingett,
CPS/CAP,
manager of
OU-HCOM’s Office of Research and
Grants.
For example, she noted, students from the
college’s Research and Scholarly Advancement
Fellowship program―who spend more than 40 hours
a week for 10 weeks during the summer on
research―are required to present their research
at the event.
Other topics in this year’s event
include:
·
results from the ongoing INSPIRE
clinical trial examining a potential new
treatment for Type 2 diabetes;
·
an examination of protocols for
glucose control in rural community hospitals;
·
the effects of osteopathic
manipulative therapy to treat lower back pain;
·
studies into the neurological
disorder Mal de debarquement syndrome and a look
at the disease’s economic costs;
·
the use of transgenic mice in
research of the human growth hormone;
·
long-term Chagas Diesese control
interventions;
·
understanding the effects of
certain receptors on ovarian cancer; and
·
the generation of a new
open-access 3D interactive human anatomy website
for education in health sciences.
For both faculty and students,
the research often is the result of federal and
other types of grant funding, Wingett said. For
example, OU-HCOM researchers Joseph Bianco and
Timothy Heckman will present results of research
into reducing depression symptoms in
HIV-infected older adults, research that was
funded by the National Institute of Mental
Health and the National Institute of Nursing
Research.
See a complete list of abstracts
(PDF)
Wingett added that this year’s
event includes many medical students who began
or conducted research prior to enrolling at
OU-HCOM, illustrating the growing numbers of the
college’s students who actively engaged in
research prior to medical school.
Twenty three medical students
will be competing in a research competition
in which
they will be
judged by a panel of OU-HCOM faculty on their
professionalism, clarity of presentation,
ability to answer questions, and
poster
readability
and visual impact. Projects will be judged in
two categories of research―clinical research and
basic science. The event will take place
Thursday, Sept. 22. Thursday’s judging session
is not open to the public.
At noon on Friday, Jack Blazyk,
Ph.D., associate dean of research, will give a
short keynote address and announce the
competition winners. Winners for each of the two
categories will receive $200
Research Day is an event that
provides students with the experience to conduct
faculty sponsored mentored research and the
present it to a public venue. Not only does
Research Day give students the hands on
opportunity to present research for critique,
but many students can go on to nationally known
conventions and conferences to present their
work, Wingett said.
