USU’s Research Days Offers Platform for Showcasing Scientific Achievements, Collaboration

Kathleen Whiting delivered a presentation during the Graduate Student Colloquium of the 2022 USU Research Days celebration. (Photo Credit: Tom Balfour, USU)

By Ian Neligh


Testing the limits of short-term memory, charting the negative consequences of high altitude on the brain, or even possibly stopping cancer were among the hundreds of research projects presented during the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) Research Days held the week of May 16.

Celebrating “50 years of research excellence,” the event was dedicated to highlighting research by students, postdoctoral fellows, and research associates from the university’s F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine (SOM), Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing (GSN), Postgraduate Dental College (PDC) , and the SOM’s graduate programs in biomedical sciences and public health.

The annual Research Days help to highlight the university’s many research projects showcasing the university’s unique impact across the health sciences.

Dr. Naomi Aronson, director of the university's Infectious Diseases Division and USU graduate, was the Research Days event's Presidential Lecturer. (Photo Credit: Tom Balfour, USU)
Dr. Naomi Aronson, director of the university's Infectious
Diseases Division and USU graduate, was the Research Days
event's Presidential Lecturer. (Photo Credit: Tom Balfour, USU)
Dr. Naomi Aronson, director of the university’s Infectious Diseases Division and USU graduate, was the event’s Presidential Lecturer.

During her presentation “Success in Research Comes from a Prepared Mind, Opportunity and Luck,” Aronson discussed her storied career and the lessons learned along the way. 

“So what is success in research? Is success publishing a lot of papers? Is it getting a lot of grant funding? Is success developing a productive research career? Or receiving a Nobel Prize?” Aronson asked her audience at the university’s Sanford Auditorium. 

Aronson said she preferred to consider success in the words of politician, slavery abolitionist and staunch supporter of public education Horace Mann’s “be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”

“Here I would interpret that (as) ‘success is really developing some kind of victory for our population, medical care of our service members’ and to me that’s true success in research,” Aronson said. “...I feel that in my career I was able to make a little headway on Horace Mann’s exhortation and perhaps improve the medical care for some of our service members and the diseases that I worked on.”

PDC Executive Dean Dr. Drew Fallis says the value of his school’s research extends well beyond its requirement for completion of a master’s degree in oral biology.

“Graduates develop an expanded familiarity with research processes, which facilitates a lifelong, informed assessment of the professional literature and evidence-based treatment decisions,” Fallis explains. “Additionally, PDC research projects are aligned with pre-established knowledge or capability gaps that exist within the Army, Navy, or Air Force, ensuring that the knowledge gained directly benefits military service members and other DoD beneficiaries, a benefit not consistently realized when civilian graduate training models are utilized.”

Dr. Sudhanshu Abhishek, a fourth-year postdoctoral research fellow with USU’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, says participating in the Research Days was a wonderful opportunity to present his work.

“The meeting and interaction with both scientific and clinical experts during these events also educate and sensitize me more towards the need and challenges of the current clinical world, which drives me more to do research.”

Abhishek adds he has a passion for learning about and unraveling cell and molecular biology mechanisms in pathological conditions, including infectious diseases, immunological disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancers. The research project he presented during Research Days shows it may one day be possible to prohibit cancer-associated-mutant CRT protein interactions.

“Research Days is an incredibly beneficial experience, particularly for the graduate students at USU,” Whiting said. “It gives us the opportunity to share our research while also stepping out of our academic bubbles to see what other projects and techniques are happening around campus.” - Kathleen Whiting (Graphic by Ian Neligh, USU)

“This finding is exciting because an abnormal, mutant, form of … CRT protein is associated with a type of slow-growing blood cancer, myeloproliferative disorders,” Abhishek said. 

Abhishek said the activation of the disease, due to a mutant form of CRT protein, independently contributes to 30-40 percent of the clinical cases. 

“I believe with the help of certain small molecules, an inhibitor or drug, if we prohibit this cancer associated-mutant CRT protein interaction with p24 protein then we could probably inhibit the trafficking of mutant CRT from reaching the cell surface which ultimately may lead to no activation of myeloproliferative disorders through this mechanism,” Abhishek said.

The event provided researchers with both an online and in-person opportunity to present their projects. A select group presented their research in person at the university before faculty and their peers.

During one in-person presentation, GSN student Navy Lt. Nicole Morris, who is in the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program, and her team shared their research on how depressive disorders can be treated using cognitive behavioral therapy during group telebehavioral health sessions.

The Research Days event works to showcase the university’s many on-going student research projects and impact across the health sciences. (Photo Credit: Tom Balfour, USU)

The Research Days event works to showcase the university’s many on-going student research projects and impact across the health sciences. (Photo Credit: Tom Balfour, USU)

“Depressive disorders are the leading cause of disabilities worldwide and are the second leading mental health disorder of military personnel affecting 22 percent,” Morris explained as part of her presentation. “… Programs that help facilitate greater access to mental health evidence-based treatments are of chief concern.”

In 2016, Morris said, depressive disorders within the military accounted for the highest number of hospital bed days and the third-highest number of medical encounters.

“Evidence demonstrates that multiple components of treatment, including low-intensity cognitive behavioral therapy delivered via telebehavioral health in a group format, is a feasible and effective treatment option for depressive disorder symptom reduction,” said Morris. “Military primary health clinics promote wellness across a health spectrum and are therefore a prime setting to implement a program for the reduction of depressive disorder symptoms.”

Air Force 2nd. Lt. Melissa Engel, a USU class of 2022 medical student, said the timing of the event, occurring a week before graduation, made the virtual nature of the event more convenient and accessible for soon-to-be graduates. 

Engel’s research project “Cognitive Load Theory: Informing Tools for Resident Physicians to Maximize Their Own Learning” looked at the idea of how short-term memory has limited capacity.

“When that capacity is exceeded, performance and learning decline,” Engel said. “My project aimed to find out what the literature showed about how this theory has been applied to graduate medical education where the cognitive load is very high, particularly for junior residents.”

Engel said her project suggests some practices adapted from the literature could be used by learners to manage their cognitive load and subsequently maximize their learning.

“The most direct benefit to patients would theoretically come from the application of the CLT-informed (communicative language teaching) strategies resulting in decreased cognitive load, improving the performance of residents in patient care duties,” Engel said. “However, more research is needed to assess these strategies in practice.”

Mariya Prokhorenko delivered a presentation during the Graduate Student Colloquium of the 2022 USU Research Days celebration. (Photo Credit: Tom Balfour, USU)
Mariya Prokhorenko delivered a presentation during the Graduate Student Colloquium of the 2022 USU Research Days celebration. (Photo Credit: Tom Balfour, USU)

Kathleen Whiting, a Ph.D. candidate in the Neuroscience program, studied the cognitive effects of chronic high altitude exposure as they relate to vascular and inflammatory mechanisms in the brain.

Whiting’s research project could help future patients by contributing to understanding why chronic exposure to high altitude causes detrimental neurological consequences like slowed reaction time, psychomotor impairment, and difficulties with learning and memory. Whiting said she hopes her research will provide new insights into potential targets for clinical intervention to improve patient outcomes.

“Research Days is an incredibly beneficial experience, particularly for the graduate students at USU,” Whiting said. “It gives us the opportunity to share our research while also stepping out of our academic bubbles to see what other projects and techniques are happening around campus.”