Celebrating Innovation: Highlights from the 2025 Medical Student Research Day

Wake Forest University School of Medicine Showcases Student Excellence and Collaborative Spirit

The annual Medical Student Research Day (MSRD) was held on Wednesday, October 15th, and it truly felt like a celebration of community and achievement at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Students, faculty, staff, and colleagues came together, filling the BioTech Place with energy and excitement as they shared and celebrated the impressive research accomplishments from the past year.

This event is something many look forward to each October—a chance for medical students to showcase their hard work, receive feedback, and connect with mentors and friends. 127 student presenters took part this year, each bringing their unique projects and perspectives. The poster session was a highlight, with faculty judges thoughtfully reviewing each presentation, looking for quality, rigor, and impact.

The day began with an uplifting keynote speech from Dr. Andrew Asimos. His stories about teamwork, adapting to change, and the value of mentorship in both research and clinical practice struck a chord with everyone in the room. Dr. Asimos encouraged attendees to work together, push through tough moments, and focus on research that truly matters. His words reminded us all that the relationships we build and the support we give each other are just as important as the discoveries we make.

After the keynote, the poster session brought out the best in the students. The variety of projects on display showed off not only the students’ curiosity but also their drive to innovate and make a difference in medicine. Faculty judges recognized outstanding work with special awards, honoring those whose research stood out for its excellence and potential.

It took a lot of effort and enthusiasm from everyone—presenters, mentors, judges, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) support team, staff, and attendees—to make the day such a success. Their commitment to fostering inquiry and excellence was clear in every detail, and it made the experience both meaningful and memorable.

Congratulations to all who participated! Your dedication and achievements are inspiring. And a special shout-out to those whose posters won top honors—your creativity and commitment set a high bar for us all. If you’d like to see the full list of award winners, please scroll down.

2025 MSRD Winners
First Place Overall
Sreya Kunapuli A Pilot Study of Azelaic Acid as a Novel Treatment for Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia Mentor: Amy McMichael, MD, FAAD
First Place from MSRP
Aubrey Heath Breast Hypertrophy (Macromastia) in Headache Medicine: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Specialist Perceptions Mentor: Kristyn Pocock, MD
Second Place Overall
Javier Velez-Toro Comparison of Early Warning Signals: Characterizing Wastewater and Syndromic Surveillance using Serology for COVID-19 using the Covid-19 Community Research Partnership Mentor: John Sanders, MD, MPH
Second Place from MSRP
Jarrett Dobbins From Tail to Tissue: Tracking Microplastics after Intravenous Injection Mentor: Rajeev Dhupar, MD
Third Place Overall
Julia Santarosa Therapeutic ANC Attainment During Maintenance Chemotherapy for Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Mentor: Joanna Robles, MD
Third Place from MSRP
Alexa Hirshman Understanding Headache in the Context of Macromastia: An Observational Pilot Study of Headache Profiles and Postoperative Changes Mentor: Kristyn Pocock, MD
Translational Science - T1: Bench to Bedside
Caleb Strickler In Vivo Model to Assess Solid Tumor Treatment Efficacy via Microfluidic Primed Syngeneic Lymphocytes Mentor: Eleftherios Makris, MD, PhD
Translational Science - T2: Bedside to Community
Heidi Bleyer Effects of Lowering Postdialysis Weight on Intradialytic Blood Pressure in 17,000 Treatments Mentor: Anthony Bleyer, MD
Robert Lipsit Use of Artificial Intelligence in Identifying Factors of Delayed Referrals in Patients with Long-Bone Skeletal Metastasis Mentor: Cynthia Emory, MD, MBA
Ava McKane Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Early Referral and Prediction of Skeletal-Related Events in Patients with Metastatic Bone Disease Mentor: Cynthia Emory, MD, MBA
NIDDK Research Award (T35 Training Grant) from MSRP
Emily Oakley Psychosocial Frailty Risk Score Assessment and Post-Operative Complication Risk in Kidney Transplant Patients Mentor: Emily McCracken, MD, MHS
Meredith Award for Outstanding Health Equity Research
Katie Anne Brown Characterization of Alopecia Pre- and Post-breast Cancer Chemotherapy in Women of Color Mentor: Amy McMichael, MD, FAAD
MSRD Excellence Awards
Maitha Ali Suffering in Silence: Caregiver and Medical Team Experiences on Psychosocial Screening Among Pediatric Patients in Hematology Oncology Care Mentor: Joanna Robles, MD
Alexandra Coffield What Satisfies Pediatric Orthopedic Clinic Patients? A Prospective Study of Patients and Families Mentor: Michael Hughes, MD
Emily DiMarco Adapting Psychophysical Analyses to Quantify Striatal Dopamine Release Parameters Mentor: Sara Jones, PhD
Spencer Faircloth Postoperative Pain Outcomes After Alloplastic versus Autologous Breast Reconstruction and Impact of PECS II Nerve Block Breast Reconstruction Analgesia Mentor: Shelby Harris, MD
Abigail Heilenman Impact of Hormone Therapy on Postoperative Complications in Mastectomy and Reconstruction Mentor: Adam Katz, MD
Bailey McCracken Assessment of Voluntary and Vestibular Evoked Eye Movements in Patients with ALS Mentor: Leo McCluskey, MD, MBE
Alice Mikulinsky Assessing the Adherence and Clinical Outcomes of Multiple Topical Acne Products vs a Single Combination Product Mentor: Steven Feldman, MD, PhD
Karl Mohr Nonoperative Treatment of Intra-articular Calcaneus Fractures is Associated with Decreased Long-term Adverse Events Compared to Operative Management Mentor: Ashleigh Medda, DPM
Ankita Prakash Prakash The Association of Atrial Fibrillation Detected With Continuous Monitoring On Hospital Wards with a Composite of Adverse Postoperative Outcomes Mentor: Ashish Khanna, MD, FCCP, FCCM
Erin Proctor Machine Learning for Maternal Health Interventions: Predicting Postpartum Psychiatric Hospitalization Mentor: Metin Gurcan, PhD
Deevya Raman Outcomes of Valve-in-Valve Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in Degenerated Freestyle Xenografts Mentor: Bart Imielski, MD
Priya Shah First-Time Suicidality in Adolescents: How ED Disposition Relates to Return Visits Mentor: Stephanie Daniel, PhD
Aishwarya Sharma Performance of sFlt-1:PlGF for the Prediction of Preeclampsia with Severe Features in a Real-World Setting Mentor: Tasha Gill, PhD
Rebecca Walker Malignancy Rates and Management Strategies After Negative Molecular Testing in Indeterminate Thyroid Nodules Mentor: Matthew Gorris, MD
Emma Xu Planning Ahead: The Use of Advance Directives in Gynecological Oncology Mentor: Anna Kuan-Celarier, MD

2025 MSRD Winners

First Place Overall

Sreya Kunapuli

A Pilot Study of Azelaic Acid as a Novel Treatment for Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia

Mentor: Amy McMichael, MD, FAAD

First Place from MSRP

Aubrey Heath

Breast Hypertrophy (Macromastia) in Headache Medicine: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Specialist Perceptions

Mentor: Kristyn Pocock, MD

Second Place Overall

Javier Velez-Toro

Comparison of Early Warning Signals: Characterizing Wastewater and Syndromic Surveillance using Serology for COVID-19 using the Covid-19 Community Research Partnership

Mentor: John Sanders, MD, MPH

Second Place from MSRP

Jarrett Dobbins

From Tail to Tissue: Tracking Microplastics after Intravenous Injection

Mentor: Rajeev Dhupar, MD

Third Place Overall

Julia Santarosa

Therapeutic ANC Attainment During Maintenance Chemotherapy for Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Mentor: Joanna Robles, MD

Third Place from MSRP

Alexa Hirshman

Understanding Headache in the Context of Macromastia: An Observational Pilot Study of Headache Profiles and Postoperative Changes

Mentor: Kristyn Pocock, MD

Translational Science - T1: Bench to Bedside

Caleb Strickler

In Vivo Model to Assess Solid Tumor Treatment Efficacy via Microfluidic Primed Syngeneic Lymphocytes

Mentor: Eleftherios Makris, MD, PhD

Translational Science - T2: Bedside to Community

Heidi Bleyer

Effects of Lowering Postdialysis Weight on Intradialytic Blood Pressure in 17,000 Treatments

Mentor: Anthony Bleyer, MD

Robert Lipsit

Use of Artificial Intelligence in Identifying Factors of Delayed Referrals in Patients with Long-Bone Skeletal Metastasis

Mentor: Cynthia Emory, MD, MBA

Ava McKane

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Early Referral and Prediction of Skeletal-Related Events in Patients with Metastatic Bone Disease

Mentor: Cynthia Emory, MD, MBA

NIDDK Research Award (T35 Training Grant) from MSRP

Emily Oakley

Psychosocial Frailty Risk Score Assessment and Post-Operative Complication Risk in Kidney Transplant Patients

Mentor: Emily McCracken, MD, MHS

Meredith Award for Outstanding Health Equity Research

Katie Anne Brown

Characterization of Alopecia Pre- and Post-breast Cancer Chemotherapy in Women of Color

Mentor: Amy McMichael, MD, FAAD

MSRD Excellence Awards

Maitha Ali

Suffering in Silence: Caregiver and Medical Team Experiences on Psychosocial Screening Among Pediatric Patients in Hematology Oncology Care

Mentor: Joanna Robles, MD

Alexandra Coffield

What Satisfies Pediatric Orthopedic Clinic Patients? A Prospective Study of Patients and Families

Mentor: Michael Hughes, MD

Emily DiMarco

Adapting Psychophysical Analyses to Quantify Striatal Dopamine Release Parameters

Mentor: Sara Jones, PhD

Spencer Faircloth

Postoperative Pain Outcomes After Alloplastic versus Autologous Breast Reconstruction and Impact of PECS II Nerve Block Breast Reconstruction Analgesia

Mentor: Shelby Harris, MD

Abigail Heilenman

Impact of Hormone Therapy on Postoperative Complications in Mastectomy and Reconstruction

Mentor: Adam Katz, MD

Bailey McCracken

Assessment of Voluntary and Vestibular Evoked Eye Movements in Patients with ALS

Mentor: Leo McCluskey, MD, MBE

Alice Mikulinsky

Assessing the Adherence and Clinical Outcomes of Multiple Topical Acne Products vs a Single Combination Product

Mentor: Steven Feldman, MD, PhD

Karl Mohr

Nonoperative Treatment of Intra-articular Calcaneus Fractures is Associated with Decreased Long-term Adverse Events Compared to Operative Management

Mentor: Ashleigh Medda, DPM

Ankita Prakash

Prakash The Association of Atrial Fibrillation Detected With Continuous Monitoring On Hospital Wards with a Composite of Adverse Postoperative Outcomes

Mentor: Ashish Khanna, MD, FCCP, FCCM

Erin Proctor

Machine Learning for Maternal Health Interventions: Predicting Postpartum Psychiatric Hospitalization

Mentor: Metin Gurcan, PhD

Deevya Raman

Outcomes of Valve-in-Valve Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in Degenerated Freestyle Xenografts

Mentor: Bart Imielski, MD

Priya Shah

First-Time Suicidality in Adolescents: How ED Disposition Relates to Return Visits

Mentor: Stephanie Daniel, PhD

Aishwarya Sharma

Performance of sFlt-1:PlGF for the Prediction of Preeclampsia with Severe Features in a Real-World Setting

Mentor: Tasha Gill, PhD

Rebecca Walker

Malignancy Rates and Management Strategies After Negative Molecular Testing in Indeterminate Thyroid Nodules

Mentor: Matthew Gorris, MD

Emma Xu

Planning Ahead: The Use of Advance Directives in Gynecological Oncology

Mentor: Anna Kuan-Celarier, MD

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