Students from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine earned first place in the USF Research Matters Community Engagement competition held Oct. 22.
Second-year medical student and poster co-author Samson Lu helped present the winning research poster.
The winning poster is titled “From Need to Intervention: A Community-Guided Holistic Clinic Founded on Population Health Strategies” and features a look at forwardHEALTH, a partnership between Manna Project International and the colleges at USF Health. The aim of forwardHEALTH is to improve the overall health and well-being of the community of Cedro Galán, Nicaragua, and to take care of treatable and preventable medical conditions so the community can focus on living, growing and moving forward. The groups recently opened their collaborative clinic in Cedro Galan.
The project drew praise from the event judges: “You received nearly perfect scores (your scores averaged 14.66 out of 15). Judges loved the visual presentation, the description of the project; the presentation of the data; and the demonstrated community impact.”
Students participating in the forwardHealth represent all four colleges at USF Health (medicine, nursing, pharmacy and public health), and the winning poster is authored by many medical students who participate in the Morsani College of Medicine’s Scholarly Concentrations Program, which provides medical students with an elective minor, of sorts, in one of 10 areas, providing them with opportunities for academic endeavors in areas of special interest.
The Research Matters Community Engagement event, which draws research from across USF, is sponsored by the USF Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships. As winners, the students earned an award certificate and $300.
Student and faculty authors for the poster include:
E. Nicole Teal, an MD/MPH degree candidate, in both the Health Disparities and Public Health Scholarly Concentrations, and co-founder of forwardHEALTH. She is taking this year off from medical school to work on her MPH degree online while working in Nicaragua on the health initiative.
Christin Stewart, MS, co-founder of forwardHEALTH
Abraham Salinas, MD, a PhD degree candidate in the USF College of Public Health.
Chelsea Gorsline, MSII, in the International Medicine Scholarly Concentration
Samson Lu, MSII, in the Public Health Scholarly Concentration
Taylor Martin, MSII, in the Health Disparities Scholarly Concentration
Eric Monaco, MSII, in the International Medicine Scholarly Concentration
Eric Shamas, MSII, in the International Medicine Scholarly Concentration
Alexandra Strauss, MSIV/Masters in Industrial Engineering degree candidate, in the Health Systems Engineering Scholarly Concentration
Eric Storch, PhD, professor of pediatrics and psychiatry, College Of Medicine
Robert Nelson, MD, associate vice president for Children’s Health, College of Medicine