The 41st Annual Medical Student Research Day (MSRD) will take place on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at Biotech Place in Winston-Salem, followed by the inaugural Medical Student Research Day at the Pearl in Charlotte on Thursday, October 15, 2026 — an exciting opportunity to showcase and celebrate student research across our two School of Medicine campuses.
Both events begin at 1:00 pm with a keynote address, followed by a poster session from 2:00 to 4:00 pm where students present their research projects in front of faculty, staff, and peers. All posters will be judged by the School of Medicine faculty and students whose projects demonstrate research excellence will be selected for awards.
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Keynote Presentation 1–2 pm Bowman Gray Center for Medical Education 475 Vine Street, 5th floor, Room 5206 Student Research Posters 2–4 pm Biotech Place Atrium 575 N. Patterson Ave. |
Keynote Presentation 1–2 pm Howard R. Levine Center for Education 915 Pearl Parkway, 2nd Floor Auditorium Student Research Posters 2–4 pm Howard R. Levine Center for Education Rooms 3300 & 3301 |
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Measuring Dopamine and Serotonin during Value-based Decision-making in Humans
Kenneth T. Kishida, PhD Boswell Presidential Chair in Neuroscience and Society Research Affiliate, Departments of Translational Neuroscience and Neurosurgery, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
For nearly two decades we have been pioneering the ability to measure the release of neuromodulatory neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin with unprecedented (sub-second) temporal resolution. To interpret these data, we rely on mathematical theories of decision-making and learning to formulate our hypotheses and design our experiments. While this work has been focused on providing a basic neurobiological understanding of how humans make choices, experience outcomes, and learn, it has also revealed how these processes might be altered in clinical conditions like Parkinson's disease, substance use disorder, and depression.
Dr. Kishida is the inaugural Boswell Presidential Chair in Neuroscience and Society and Wake Forest University and is a Research Affiliate at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Kishida earned a BS in Genetics from University of California at Davis and a PhD in Neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine. During his postdoc work, he developed the technology that enabled real-time measurements of dopamine and serotonin in the awake human brain with sub-second temporal resolution. |
Bridging Research to Patient Care and Education: Lessons Learned
Amina Ahmed, MD Professor, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Dr. Ahmed will share her journey in academic medicine with a focus on how clinical research informs and impacts clinical practice, not only for the researcher, but also for the medical community. How collaboration facilitates the study of uncommon diseases which impacts overall outcomes. She will provide perspective on how research assures patients have equitable access to novel treatments and diagnostics, and that conducting research strengthens teaching, allowing physician scientists to pay it forward.
Dr. Ahmed is the Medical Director of Pediatric Infectious Disease and Immunology at Levine Children’s Hospital and former Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Ahmed graduated from Duke University, earned her medical degree and completed her residency at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and completed a fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Disease at the University of Texas Southwestern. Her clinical and research interests include congenital/perinatal infections and tuberculosis. She has conducted CDC and NIH-sponsored trials that have informed national guidelines on the evaluation and treatment of children.
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