Southeastern Medical Scientist Symposium
Over the weekend of November 18th-19th, Vanderbilt MSTP students attended the annual Southeastern Medical Scientist Symposium (SEMSS) at Emory University in Atlanta. The event, which serves as our regional American Physician Scientist Association (APSA) meeting, provides an opportunity to celebrate our local community of physician-scientists at all levels of training, from undergraduates to program directors and faculty. A record 275 attendees came to Emory University this year, composed of about equal numbers of undergraduates, current MD/PhD students, and faculty and staff.
The weekend highlighted three physician-scientist keynote speakers, each showcasing different possible career trajectories for MD/PhDs. Craig Blackstone, MD, PhD, is a senior investigator at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke who also serves as the Director of the NIH MD/PhD Partnership Training Program and Vice President of the American Neurological Association. Dr. Blackstone talked about his work seeing patients with rare neurologic diseases and studying those sames diseases in the lab. Margaret Baron, MD, PhD, then spoke about her path to becoming the director of the Mount Sinai MD/PhD program and emphasized the importance of good mentorship along the way. Finally, Lucienne Ide, MD, PhD, concluded the weekend by speaking about how her MSTP training helped her to become a healthcare entrepreneur. She is the founder of Rimidi Inc., which has developed a cloud-based diabetes management platform to better connect healthcare providers with their patients.
Throughout the weekend, there was also time for panels, sessions, and presentations geared toward attendees in various levels of training, which encouraged current and future students to network with each other, as well as the program directors and other faculty present. Graduate students and undergraduates also had time to show off the impressive science they are doing through poster sessions and oral presentations. Vanderbilt MSTP student Shan Parikh (G5) was selected to give an oral presentation titled "Thyroid and Glucocorticoid Hormones Promote Functional T-tubule Development in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Cardiomyocytes," and our own Krystian Kozek (G4) tied for Best Graduate Student Poster with his poster titled, “Discovery and Development of Tools to Study the Role of G Protein-gated Inwardly-rectifying Potassium (GIRK) Channels in Addiction.” The Vanderbilt MSTP students in attendance were very impressed by the undergraduate attendees, who are involved in incredible research ranging from the effect of chemotherapies on induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, to the effect of early life stress on the development of inflammatory cardiovascular disease, to the neuronal control of courtship behavior, to mechanisms behind tauopathies. The future of translational research is clearly in good hands!
Emory students were incredible hosts and did an excellent job putting together a weekend full of research, networking, and fun. We are thrilled that the Vanderbilt MSTP will be hosting the next annual SEMSS in Nashville! The planning has already started, but if you would like to be involved or share your ideas, please contact Maggie Axelrod or Lizzie Hale. We hope to see you all next year at SEMSS 2018!
The Vanderbilt MSTP crew at SEMSS 2017!
Krystian Kozek (G4) was one of the winners for Best Graduate Student Poster Award at SEMSS 2017!
Shan Parikh (G5) was selected to give an oral presentation at SEMSS.