June 14, 2024

Graduate Medical Education research work highlighted

This year’s winner of the Elliot V. Newman Prize was Kaitlyn Tracy, MD, a surgical resident at VUMC, who shared her work on the potential clinical impact of storing livers for transplant at 10 degrees Celsius.

From left are: Kaitlyn Tracy, MD, General Surgery resident; Mark Naguib, MD, Pediatrics resident; Brittany Murphy, MD, Internal Medicine resident; Moriah Forster, MD, Hematology and Oncology fellow; Derek Riffert, VUSM MD candidate; Jin Han, MD, MSc, Emergency Medicine faculty physician. From left are: Kaitlyn Tracy, MD, General Surgery resident; Mark Naguib, MD, Pediatrics resident; Brittany Murphy, MD, Internal Medicine resident; Moriah Forster, MD, Hematology and Oncology fellow; Derek Riffert, VUSM MD candidate; Jin Han, MD, MSc, Emergency Medicine faculty physician.
By: Nancy Humphrey

The VUMC Graduate Medical Education House Advisory Council recently sponsored their 42nd annual Research Forum, an annual opportunity for trainees in the health professions in the Vanderbilt community to have their research work highlighted.

With more than 90 abstract submissions, five were selected for presentation at the forum. The winner is recognized by receiving the Elliot V. Newman Prize. Newman was a cardiologist and scientist who founded the Clinical Research Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

This year’s winner was Kaitlyn Tracy, MD, a surgical resident at VUMC, who shared her work on the potential clinical impact of storing livers for transplant at 10 degrees Celsius.

The finalists were:

  • Brittany Murphy, MD, an internal medicine resident who presented on whether the addition of social determinants of health could improve coronary heart disease risk predictions.
  • Derek Riffert, a Vanderbilt University School of Medicine student who presented on biliary epithelial changes in patients with choledochal cysts.
  • Moriah Forster, MD, a hematology/oncology fellow who presented on racial disparities in breast cancer outcomes.
  • Mark Naguib, MD, a pediatrics resident who presented on protein biomarkers correlating with cardiac and skeletal muscle indices in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) that could improve myopathy in patients with DMD.

The event also honors a faculty member with the Grant W. Liddle Award  for their commitment to promoting an interest in research among training physicians. Liddle was chair of the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt from 1968 to 1983 and is remembered for his commitment to excellence in research, patient care and teaching house staff and medical students.

This year’s award was given to Jin Han, MD, MSc, an emergency medicine physician and associate research director of Emergency Care at Vanderbilt’s Center for Quality Aging.

“This is one of my favorite events of the year. First, I always learn something new. Second, I can see the breadth and depth of the research that our trainees are doing under the mentorship of our faculty,” said Kyla Terhune, MD, MBA, Senior Vice President for Educational Affairs and professor of Surgery and Anesthesiology. “As all of these individuals are not only researchers-in-training, but they are also clinicians-in-training, it’s the perfect showcase of what an academic medical center is.”