Rising fourth-year medical student Nikki Vyas was awarded the 2014 Carolyn L. Kuckein Student Research Fellowship from the Alpha Omega Alpha national honor society for her research on digital dermatopathology.
Vyas, who is working as a fellow under Dr. Drazen Jukic, MD, PhD, professor in the USF Departments of Pathology and Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery and chief of Dermatopathology at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, won a $5,000 stipend as part of the fellowship.
Her work, titled “Comparing Whole Slide Digital Images versus Traditional Glass Slides in the Detection of Common Microscopic Features Seen in Dermatitis,” aims to clarify the advantages and limitations of whole slide images and digital slides and could also influence future production of digital slide robots and scanners.
“Digital whole slide imaging is the future of dermatopathology and this research will be used to advance the field,” said Vyas, who will start her senior year in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine next month.
The AOA Carolyn L. Kuckein Student Research Fellowship is a competitive award that allows only one candidate from each medical school to be nominated each year.