Two Vanderbilt University School of Medicine students have been selected to receive the American Heart Association’s Student Scholarship in Cerebrovascular Disease and Stroke.
Travis Ladner and Young Lee, both second-year medical students, work in the JB Marshall Laboratory for Neurovascular Therapeutics, directed by Robert Singer, M.D., assistant professor of Neurological Surgery and Radiology and Radiological Sciences.
“Travis and Young have done an exemplary job in our laboratory. To have two recipients of the AHA Stroke Council Student Scholarship in Cerebrovascular Disease says a tremendous amount about their hard work and the opportunity provided to them by Vanderbilt. Only 10 of these awards were given nationwide,” Singer said.
Ladner and Lee are researching subarachnoid hemorrhage (a type of stroke) in the brain and ways to prevent the associated spasm and collapse of blood vessels, which results in brain death.
They are focused on the drug AMD3100 and chemokine signaling.
Both are also developing a database of patients treated for subarachnoid hemorrhage due to ruptured aneurysms in order to study outcomes for these patients.
Sponsored by the AHA’s Stroke Council, the scholarship offers $2,000 and the opportunity to present their research at the International Stroke Conference in February in Honolulu.
“Not only does this scholarship help by providing a stipend, it also provides travel expenses to attend the International Stroke Conference. Here, we may get an opportunity to practice presenting our research to the international stroke research community,” Lee said.
Both Ladner and Lee plan to pursue neurosurgery after medical school and make research an integral part of their careers.
“I’ve grown up in the ‘stroke belt’ and have seen the effects of stroke on family and neighbors, and would like to help patients like these,” Ladner said.