News and Announcements
This yearly event highlights our trainees' research with opportunities to discuss
their abstracts with faculty and students. A light reception followed the presentations.
2024 M.D. Ph.D. Trainee Research Day was a huge success. This yearly event highlights our trainees research with opportunities to discuss their abstracts with faculty and students. A light reception followed the presentations. Thanks to all those who attended and continue to support our M.D. Ph.D. trainees.
Congratulations to Alex Piening, Ph.D., for two recent publications. First, "Obesity-related T cell dysfunction impairs immunosurveillance and increases cancer risk" found in Nature Communications.
The second paper, "Overall survival in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with concomitant systemic therapy and stereotactic body radiation therapy or systemic therapy alone" was in collaboration with the Department of Radiation Oncology and was the basis of my trip to the 2023 European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Madrid, Spain.
It's a bittersweet moment for Meghan as she completes the last of her night shifts in the SSM Health/SLU Hospital emergency department. She will be starting the psychiatry residency program at Washington University in Saint Louis this summer. Congratulations!
Please welcome our two newest M.D./Ph.D. trainees, JJ Adler and Yasser Hussaini. We are excited to have you in the program and look forward to your successes.
From left are Stella Hoft, G3, SLU SoM APSA Co-President; Emily Cybulla, M4, SLU APSA
Travel Grant Awardee; Ren Ernst, M4, SLU APSA Travel Grant Awardee; Poorva Sheth,
M1, SLU APSA Travel Grant Awardee; Elisabeth DeMarco, G2, SLU SoM APSA Co-President.
SLU was well-represented at the recent joint meeting of the American Physician Scientist Association, American Society for Clinical Investigation, and Association of American Physicians. Students from the M.D./Ph.D. program, M.D. program, and undergraduate APSA members had a great time connecting with and learning from peers, presenters, and attendees.
Congratulations to our M.D./Ph.D. student, Michelle Bach, M.D., Ph.D., for matching Psychiatry PSTP at Emory University. Michelle's plan is to continue research by focusing on public trust and patient experiences of neuromodulation.
Zachary Grese, Ph.D., successfully defended his dissertation "The role of RNA-binding in TDP-43 liquid-liquid phase separation and function” via Zoom in May. He will miss Dr. Ayala's lab but is excited to continue medical school as a third-year student in June. Congratulations.
Meghan Murray, Ph.D., successfully defended her dissertation, “Synthetic Ligands Targeting R.o.R. and R.E.V.-E.R.B. To Treat Inflammatory and Metabolic Diseases” in May. Meghan will return to medical school in June as a third-year student. Congratulations, Meghan.
Congratulations to Catherine Cai on matching to New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center-NY.
Catherine says, "I am simply elated to be moving to one of the best cities in the world to train at one of the best hospitals in the country. The M.D./Ph.D. journey is a long and often lonely one, but it makes Match Day that much sweeter for us. I am grateful for my family here in the M.D./Ph.D. program and for the support I received from the School of Medicine."
Best of luck for a bright fulfilling career.
M.D./Ph.D. candidate Nick Steinauer successfully defended his dissertation "Role of the Hematopoietic Corepressor CBFA2T3 in Acute Myeloid Leukemia" in April, under the mentorship of Jinsong Zhang. He is excited to begin his M3 year of medical school in June.
Stephen Grote, Ph.D. successfully defended his dissertation, "Neuronostatin: a Novel Factor in Glucose Counterregulation" on April 15 via Zoom call. He will be returning to medical school as an M3 in June.
Daniel Pike successfully defended his dissertation: "Neutrophil-Derived Bioactive Lipids in Sepsis" in April. He loved working in the Ford lab and will miss being a part of it, but he is excited to start the next chapter in his training and rejoin medical school in June.
Congratulations to Kevin Bockerstett, Ph.D., for successfully defending his dissertation "The Role of Inflammation in Gastric Carcinogenesis." via a Zoom call during the COVID-19 crisis. Kevin will rejoin medical students as an M3 student to finish his training as a medical student.
Saint Louis University School of Medicine Virtual Match Day 2020. Congratulations to Ananthi Rajamoorthi, M.D., Ph.D., on matching to her first choice at New York Presbyterian Children's Hospital/Columbia University Pediatric Physician- Scientist Program. Best wishes for an exciting future.
Nick Steinauer, M.D./Ph.D. student in Dr. Zhang's lab, recently published a paper in Blood Advances. Congratulations. Steinauer, N., Guo, C., Huang, C., Wong, M., Tu, Y., Freter, C. E., & Zhang, J. (2019). Myeloid translocation gene CBFA2T3 directs a relapse gene program and determines patient-specific outcomes in AML. Blood Advances, 3(9), 1379 LP – 1393.