Having just received their white coats in the M1 official induction ceremony on August 14, the 11

new MSTP students for 2015 assembled for their first official group picture. Pictured left to right,

they are Cutler Lewandowski (U. Minnesota 2015), Michael Metrick (James Madison U, 2015),

Adam Szmelter (UIUC, 2013), Kate Rahbari (Temple U, 2013), Richard Marszalek (UIC, 2012),

Morgan Zenner (UIUC, 2015), Hannah Pennington (Western Kentucky U,, 2015), Matthew Klein-

jan (UIUC, 2015), Russel Dulman (Duke U, 2013), Trevor Leonardo (UC-Davis, 2009).

Their collective accomplishments in academic honors, research, clinical experience, teaching,

volunteering, the arts and athletics are stellar and stunning, far too numerous to list here. But a

few interesting patterns emerge. (1) Among the 7 who graduated prior to this year, 3 worked at

the NIH. The other 4 each had unique endeavors: a Nurse’s Assistant, a TA in science at a Junior

College, a Lab Tech at UIUC and a Master’s Degree in Avian Science. (2) Another sub set of 7 trav-

eled abroad to study, teach, volunteer or just travel: study abroad programs in South Africa

(Kruger National park) and Syracuse Italy, a year of medical studies in Poznan, Poland, an English

tutor in Toledo, Spain, an Orphanage Outreach Volunteer in Jaibon, Dominican Republic, a medi-

cal volunteer in Roatan, Honduras, travel through 7 European countries plus South Africa and

Tanzania. Another subset of 3 are gifted musically: a guitarist, a concert pianist and a player of

both jazz piano and alto sax (how about a jam session at some future MSTP gathering?). And in

the realm of special achievements, a first for an entering MD-PhD student at UIC: winner of a spe-

cial fellowship at Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Bowling Green, Kentucky to

complete her high school degree at Gatton through a special program through Western Kentucky

State University.

More interesting facts about each of these stellar students are found on pages 2 and 3.

The Medical Scientist

WELCOME TO NEW M1 CLASS

September 25, 2015 Vol . 17 Issue 1

Calendar:

Tuesday, Oct. 27, 12:30 LUNCH SEMINAR Andrei Karginov, PhD, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Pharmacology Tuesday, Nov. 17. 5:30 DINNER SEMINAR Alex Leow, MD, PhD Dept. of Psychiatry Wednesday, Nov. 18, 12:30 LUNCH SEMINAR Patricia Finn, MD, PhD Head, Dept. of Medicine Tuesday, Dec. 1 LUNCH SEMINAR Ankur Saxena, PhD

Dept. of Biological Sci-ences Thursday, Dec. 3, 5:30 DINNER SEMINAR MSTP M3 Students Oral Presentations in conjunction with COM Research Day

Friday, December 4

COM Research Forum

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

New Students 2

Awards, Honors, etc. 4

Wedding Bells/Babies 4

New SAC Board 4

Alumni News 5

Retreat 6

Alumni Assn. Award 8

Editor’s Note 8

A Publication of the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Scientist Training Program

Page 2

Meet the Newest MSTP Students—2015 Entering Classs

Volume 16, Issue 1

Trevor Leonardo Home town: Eureka, CA

Degree: BS, Cell Biology, University of California-Davis, 2009 Research Interests: Cell & Developmental Biology, Genetics-Genomics, Molecular Biology, Stem Cell Biology, Bioengineering, Biomedical Imaging 2015 Rotation: Lab of Dr. Patricia Finn, Dept. of Medicine Why UIC?: I was drawn to their program due to the large amount of research going on at the institu-tion along with the unique clinical opportunities I would get serving the people of Illinois. Fun Fact: In my free time I like playing basketball, running, playing card games and going to con-certs or music festivals.

Russell Dulman Home town: White Plains, NY Degree: BS, Biology, Duke University, 2013 Research Interests: Translational neuropsychiatric disorder research 2015 Rotation: Lab of Dr. Subash Pandey, Dept. of Psychiatry Why MD/PhD? I chose to pursue MD/PhD to be able to approach my basic neuroscience research with a translational point of view. I envision with dual training that my research questions will be more relevant to the patients. Fun Fact: I like to play guitar and especially see live music. I usually attend a few concerts a month.

Cutler Lewandowski Home town: Marinette, WI Degree: BS, Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, 2015 Research Interests: Medicinal Chemistry, Neuroscience, Immunology, Bioengineering 2015 Rotation: Lab of Dr. Ernesto Bongarzone, Dept. of Anatomy & Cell Biology Why UIC?: I chose UIC because I wanted a school with strong research opportunities in my areas of interest that also had a diverse set of clinical opportunities. Fun Fact: I speak Spanish and have worked with Latino patients in healthcare previously, so I'm ex-

cited to get involved in promoting health in the Hispanic population in Chicago as well.

Richard Marszalek Home town: Chicago, IL Degree: BS, Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2012 Research Interests: Biochemistry, Structural/Molecular Biology, Drug Design, Medical Chemistry 2015 Rotation: Lab of Dr. Vadim Gaponenko, Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics

Why UIC?: UIC is a school that offers great utility and opportunity. It consists of the basic science laboratories, the many clinics within its campus undergoing research, as well as a multitude of or-ganizations and past-time activities. I could not ask more from such a rich environment.

Fun Fact: I am quite the foodie and science fiction enthusiast. One of my favorite hobbies is to play the piano.

Matthew Kleinjan Home town: Chicago, IL (born in Cape Town, South Africa)

Degree: BS, Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2015 Research Interests: Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Pathology, Immunology, Bioengineering 2015 Rotation: Lab of Dr. Steven Ackerman, Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics Why UIC?: I chose to attend the MSTP at UIC because I was really excited about both the re-search and medicine opportunities available here. There are a lot of amazing things happening at UIC and I wanted to be a part of it. Fun Fact: In my free time I enjoy running and am currently training for the Chicago Marathon.

The Medical Scientist Page 3

Hannah Pennington Home town: Union, KY (born in Cincinnati, OH) Degree: BS, Biology, Chemistry, Math, Western Kentucky University, 2015 Research Interests: Systems biology, Tumor Development, Wound Healing, Mathematical Modeling 2015 Rotation: Lab of Dr. J.H. Robert Chang, Dept. of Ophthalmology Why UIC?: UIC was the only school I interviewed at where I truly felt the students in the pro-gram were supportive of each other, not only as classmates but as friends.

Kate Rahbari Home town: West Chester. PA Degree: BS, Biology, Temple University, 2013 Research Interests: Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Global Health 2015 Rotation: Lab of Dr. Deepak Shukla, Dept. of Ophthalmology Why UIC? As a Native American I am interested in working with underserved populations, and at UIC I will have many opportunities to learn from the diverse patient population in the surrounding communities. I also chose UIC because of the sense of community I felt in the MSTP between both the students and faculty, which is something I didn't encounter elsewhere. Fun Fact: I crochet and knit, and I love puppies and Netflix.

Rachel Smith Home town: Armstrong, PA (Pittsburgh area) Degree: BS, Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, 2011 Research Interests: Neuroscience: ALS, glial cells, motor neuron degeneration 2015 Rotation: Lab of Dr. Leah Rubin, Dept. of Psychiatry Why UIC?: The camaraderie among the MSTP students is what attracted me to UIC. Fun Fact: I enjoy being outdoors; my hobbies include birding, backpacking, scuba diving, and traveling.

Adam Szmelter Home town: Hoffman Estates, IL Degree: BS, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Chemistry & Spanish, University of Illinois 2013 Research Interests: Bioengineering, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics 2015 Rotation: Lab of Dr. David Eddington, Dept. of Bioengineering Why UIC? I chose UIC because of the strong emphasis on medical relevance in research seen at the school. I also really liked the students that I met (both current students and those that I in-terviewed with). Fun Fact: In my free time I like playing soccer and tennis as well as playing music with friends.

Morgan Zenner Home town: Highland Park, IL Degree: BS, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Illinois 2015 Research Interests: Cell & Development Biology, Immunology, Molecular Biology, Oncology 2015 Rotation: Lab of Dr. Amy Kenter, Dept, of Microbiology & Immunology Why UIC? I was excited to join the UIC MSTP after talking to the students and faculty during my interview day. The students, whether in M1-M4 or their PhD years, seemed genuinely happy. After joining this program, I have realized that this is due largely in part to the faculty being a ma-jor support system for the students. Fun Fact: Since 2012, Morgan has served on the Leadership Team for Colleges Against Cancer, a small student group dedicated to raising awareness and fighting back against cancer.

Michael Metrick Home town: Rockingham, VA (born in Lodenheath, England) Degree: BS, Chemistry, Biotechnology, James Madison, 2013 Research Interests: Neodegenerative disorders 2015 Rotation: Lab of Dr. Peter Schuck, completing NIH IRTA Fellowship Why MD/PhD?: I chose the joint MD/PhD pathway to best arm myself to approach the toughest medical questions from both the perspective of the bench as well as the clinical scientist. Fun Fact: In my spare time I enjoy classic literature, video games, bad horror movies, cooking, swimming, and staying up to date on current political and scientific events.

Page 4 Volume 16, Issue 1

Awards, Honors, Presentations – Congratulations!

Matthew Tobin, G3 in Neuroscience (lab of Dr.Orly Lazarov) learned in May that his AHA grant application was successfully funded on the first submission. Joseph Goldenberg, G4 in Physiology and Biophysics (lab of Dr. E. Douglas Lewandowski) was one of three finalists in the annual Center for Cardiovascular Research Young Investi-gator Awards Competition who made brief oral presentations of their work immediately fol-lowing the CCVR Herman Gunnar Lecture on September 16. Allen Ye, G4 in Bioengineering (lab of Dr. Richard Magin) received an Honorable Mention in the 2015 Image of Research competition for his submission entitled “Brain Visualization in the CAVE2 TM. The IOR is an annual interdisciplinary exhibit competition organized by the

Graduate College and University Library to showcase the breadth and diversity of research at UIC.

MSTP garners many awards at 2015 COM convocation

MSTP Director Larry S. Tobacman, MD was one of two recipients of the COM Distin-guished Faculty Award at the 2015 convocation (the other was Xaoping Du, PhD, a mem-ber of the MSTP Admissions Committee and the former thesis advisor of MD-PhD alumnus Pangiotis (Pete) Flevaris (2010). MSTP Associate Director Nancy Freitag, PhD, who won the M2 Golden Apple Award in Spring 2014, was elected by the 2015 medical school class as the Official Hooder of conferral of their MD degrees. And as in past years, an MD-PhD student was again the recipient of the research award pre-sented at COM Commencement on May 8. Marisa Young was awarded the 2015 Michael and Kate Barany Research Award for outstanding research achievement while enrolled in the UIC College of Medicine at Chicago. This award recognizes the significance of research to medical education. This award has been won by an MD-PhD graduate 9 out of the 13 times since it was initiated in 2002. The previous MD-PhD alumni winners are: Kris Alden (2002), Tatiana Grzeszkiewicz (2003), David Jho (2006), David Moons (2007), Masaka-tsu Nanamori (2008), Evan Osmundson (2009), Janai Carr (2013) and Jonathan Wax-man (2014). MSTP graduate Andrew Czysz won the Drs. Ervin G. & Sara F. Rabito Erdos Prize for Excellence in Basic Sciences in recognition of significant research accomplish-ments in the basic sciences. Established in 2009, the Erdos Prize has been won by an MD-PhD graduate every year except 2014: Mark Pilkinton (2009), Sheila Barry (2010), An-anda Fine (2011), Yalda Afshar (2012), Jennifer Kwan (2013). And within the MSTP community itself, the winner of the 1st annual Dr. Edward P. Cohen MSTP Award in honor of Edward and Toba Cohen from their children was presented to Ryan Carr at the MSTP graduation banquet on May 7 in recognition of outstanding work and leadership in the UIC MSTP. Congratulations to the 2015 COM award recipients who bring much distinction to themselves and to the MSTP.

Wedding Bells &

Baby Booties

Wedding congratulations

to:

Ryan Lahey, M4, on his wed-

ding May 2 to Mike Label-

larte who is a managing di-

rector at an architecture firm

in Chicago. They honey-

mooned in Greece.

And to:

Jenny Zhang, G3, on her

wedding August 15 to Ken T.

who is an algorithmic trader

in Chicago. They honey-

mooned in Paris.

And to:

Joshua Jones, G1, on his

wedding August 16 to Tanya

Auguste who is a 4th year

PhD students in Clinical Psy-

chology at IIT. The wedding

took place at the 1st United

Methodist Church in Oak

Lawn and the Bellvedere

Chateau in Palos Hills.

Announcing the new SAC Board

for 2015-16

Ally Young, G1-President

Artemis Gogos, M2

Matt MacDougall, G1

Cory Reiter, M2

Reid Wilkening, G4

New Parent Congratulations to

2015 graduate Ikenna

Madueke and wife Dr.

Ijeoma Okechukwu, a

2015 graduate of the U.

Minnesota SOM, on the

birth of their son, Ikenna

Caleb Madueke III, born

May 12, 2015

The Medical Scientist Page 5

Alumni News: Scott Feldman (2012) who completed his residency in internal medicine at Mr. Sinai Hospital in New York in June received his first choice match for a Fellowship in Allergy/Immunology at Northwester University Feinberg School of Medicine. He moved back to his former condo downtown and started his fellowship on July 1.

In September David Ramsey (2008) completed a chapter on diabetic retinopathy for Web Vision: The Organization of the Retina and Visual System. Kolb H, Fernandez E, Nelson R, editors: “Diabetic retinopathy and a novel treat-ment based on the biophysics of rod photoreceptors and dark adaptation." This went live on the NLM Bookshelf, at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310272/

PR Newswire Public Interest Services, June 29, 2015

“Internationally recognized neurosurgeon Dr. Uzma Samadani joins Hennepin County Medical Center” See full story on page 8.

In the Alumni Mailbag

From: Sapan Desai [mailto:sapan.desai@surgisphere.com] Sent: Monday, April 20, 2015 1:35 PM Dear Roberta, I have a quick update for you. I am now working as a vascular surgeon at Southern Illinois University and have a few different responsibilities. We have a $44 million brand-new center for learning and innovation that has been constructed in Springfield, and I am Medical Director of the Surgical Skills Center. SIU led many of the efforts in surgical simulation about a decade ago under the auspices of Janet Ketchum, so it is a real honor to be a part of some really neat things going on here. I also was recently promoted to Vice Chair of Research in the Depart-ment of Surgery. One of my other responsibilities is as Director of the Quality Alliance and Predictive Analysis for Memorial Medical Center, where I help lead a number of healthcare outcomes and patient quality improvement pro-jects. Best, Sapan

From: Juliana Choi [mailto:juliana.choi@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, May 18, 2015 7:39 PM Hi Roberta, All is well with me. I'm in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania. I do miss Chicago but the derm department at Penn has been absolutely wonderful and I'm marrying another dermatologist at Penn so there are multiple reasons for me to be staying in Philly. Best of luck to you and the program!

Alumnus returns to give graduation banquet seminar The 2015 MSTP graduates, their guests, and the current students and faculty greatly enjoyed

their reunion with 2001 alumnus Edwin De Zoeten who was the guest speaker at the MSTP graduation banquet on May 7. Despite a full day of site-seeing on foot in the hot sun of all the new sites on campus, Dr. De Zoeten gave a lively presentation entitled “Change Is Good: Identi-fying New Methods to Treat Chronic Inflammation” in which he not only clearly explained his re-search in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease but carefully explained the mentoring he re-ceived which led to the success along his career path from student days at UIC (lab of prior MD-PhD Director Edward Cohen, MD in the Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology) to his present dis-tinguished positions as Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the Scientific Director of the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center of Chil-

dren’s Hospital Colorado Digestive Disease Health Institute. Dr. De Zoeten was the fourth in a series of alumni ban-quet speakers, his predecessors being Todd Druley (2002) in 2010, Ronald Jackups (2008) in 2013, Uzma Sama-dani (1999) in 2014. We look forward to welcoming more alumni as speakers at future graduation banquets.

New HOST Program Pairs Alumni with M4s on Interview Trail The UIC COM has launched a program to connect alumni with M4 students engaged in the residency interview proc-ess, mainly during the period of October through January. Through the Help Our Student Travel Program, alumni can offer to host a student for a 1 or 2-day stay, provide meals and/or transportation, provide local insight on the medical community in the area; introduce the students to their colleagues, especially in the student’s area of interest; and/or provide an insider’s view of the medical profession. The UIC MSTP invites and urges its alumni to host one of our great current M4s this year. They are: Jacob Choi, Christine Haddad, Ryan Lahey, P. David McMullen, Cody Rutledge. To do so, please contact Jenna Plakut, Director of COM Alumni Relations, 312=955-1171 or jpla-kut@uic.edu; or contact Julie Mann in the MSTP office, 312-996-7473, jlmann@uic.edu.

Alumni Appointments [Ed. Note: If we missed anyone’s promotion or new appointment, let us know.] To all alumni: Please keep the updates on your news coming. If you’re going to be in Chicago, please stop by for a visit which can be informal or a formal presentation, as you wish.

Page 6 Volume 16, Issue 1

2 0 1 5 R E T R E A T : M S T P R E T U R N S T O S TA R V E D R O C K

Following the success of the 2014 retreat at the beautiful Starved Rock Lodge and Conference Center, acclaimed as one of the Illinois 7 Wonders, there was universal demand to return there for the 2015 retreat, held June 30. and July 1. Again, the weatherman provided clear blue skies and comfortable temperatures to enhance the experience of convening and socializing amidst 2,600 acres of spectacular natural beauty in the forested ravines along the Illinois River. Again as in 2014, the MSTP shared bus transportation, space and some programming with the Bridge to the Doctorate Program’s annual retreat, which was under the direction of Dr. William Walden and Denise Yates. Upon arrival at the lodge, the two groups convened together for a welcome session and then divided into separate breakouts until lunch together. After separate break-outs in the afternoon, the two groups came together for

recreation at 3:30, for the keynote speaker at 6:00 pm. Followed by dinner at 7:00 and entertainment activities through-out the evening including a wine tasting by the Lodge, games and conversations with the faculty. The Keynote speaker was Aixa Alfonso, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, whose topic was “Who Am I and Where Am I Going?” A native of Puerto Rico, Dr. Alfonso received her PhD in 1986 from the University of Wisconsin. She immediately began training in the genetics of neuronal fate and function and has been working with the round worm C. elegans as an animal model system ever since. Her current research aims to understand the role of a specific pro-tein, a transcription factor, in the development and differentiation of nerve cells that control sex-specific behaviors. She was the recipient of a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and has been funded for her research project by the NIH and NSF. The morning program for the MSTP started with the humorous as always power point presentation by Associate Director Dr. Nancy Freitag to introduce the new students and give them their welcome gifts. This was fol-lowed by a report by Associate Director Dr. Mark Rosenblatt on the progress made in the 2014-15 academic year on the re-organized and revitalized Clinical Connections component of the program which he now supervises, and the an-nual State of the Program report by Director Dr. Larry Tobacman. The morning session culminated with stellar oral presentations of their research by the following students: Matthew Durst,G2—“ ENTPD5 High Throughput Screening Setup and Optimization” Osama El-Sayed, M2—“Meta-analysis of microarray data from HIV patients” Hannah Pennington, M1 – “ Mathematical models for wound healing” Andrew Widmer, G3 -- “Inhibitory circuit dysfunction in the Fragile X olfactory cortex” Morgan Zenner, M1 -- "The AID genotoxic profile in early B cells" Jenny Zhang, G3 "The Role of Tcf7l1 in Enhancer Decommissioning in the Transition from Naïve to Primed Pluripo-tency. The after-lunch program started off with a presentation by Ally Young and Casey Blaha on the progress of the first year of the MSTP affiliation with Mile Square Health Center as the venue for MD-PhD Clinical Connections which they launched as an idea at the 2014 retreat. They also presented Clinical Service Awards (certificate and check) to Alejan-dra Marinelarena, G1 and Alan Perez-Rathke, G2 in recognition of volunteer participation at Miles Square Health Center.

A special treat was the attendance of two beloved recent Alumni, Scott Feldman (2012), who had just finished his residency in internal medicine at Mr. Sinai Hospital in New York and returned to Chicago to start a fellowship in Allergy/Immunology at Northwestern, and Lila Glotfelty (2014), now in her third year of residency in Internal Medicine at UIC. Together they presented a frank and useful discussion on “Tips from Our Experiences” followed by an open Q and A session. The Tuesday afternoon program concluding with breakout cohort meetings: M1-M2 with Dr. Tobacman, G1-G2 with Dr. Freitag, and Advance Graduate students and M3-M4 with Dr. Rosenblatt.

The Medical Scientist Page 7

R E T R E A T , C O N T I N U E D After breakfast on Wednesday, the MSTP had its poster session, featuring the following student presenters: Alex Agelidis, G2: "Heparanase is a host enzyme required for herpes simplex virus-1 release from cells", Tiffani Berkel, G3: "H3K9me2 and its Role in Alcoholism, Anxiety, and Alcohol Tolerance” Evan Kyzar, G2: “Effect of adolescent alcohol exposure on expression profiling of histone demethylases and methyl-transferases in the amygdala of adult rats” Trevor Leonardo, M1: “Next Generation Sequencing of Extracellular RNA for Biomarker Discovery” Michael Marshall, G3: "Analysis of Psychosine and Galactosylceramidase Distribution within Brain Regions of Park-inson’s and other Neurological Conditions" Richard Marszalek, M1: "A Novel Potential Effector, Calmodulin, Offers Insight into Oncogenicity of KRas." Michael Metrick, M1: “Time-optimized sedimentation equilibrium by variable field analytical ultracentrifugation” Alan Perez Rathke, G2: "Models for pH-dependent Gating in OmpG” Justin Sysol, G3: "Sphingosine-1-Phosphate (S1P) Induces Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1 Alpha (HIF1-α) Activation in Human Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells.”

After the poster session, SAC had its annual meeting, an open forum for all the students to express their questions, desires and suggestions for improving the program’s content and atmosphere. As in all previous years, these ideas were reported to the directors after the retreat and are in the process of implementation in one way or another. Follow-ing lunch, optional recreational activities rounded out the day, including a guided hike or trolley ride and a send-off treat of the Lodge’s famous Death by Chocolate presentation. The smiling faces below attest to the enjoyment experi-enced by all.

University of Illinois College of Medicine

COM Dean’s Office, MC 784

1853 West Polk Street

Chicago, IL 60612

Office located in the GEMS suite, 308 CSN

Medica l Sc ient is t Training Program

Phone: 312-996-7473

Fax: 312-413-8221

E-mail: mstp@uic.edu

MSTP Administration

Director: Larry S. Tobacman, MD

Associate Directors:

Nancy Freitag, PhD Mark Rosenblatt, MD, PhD

Director Program Admin.:

Julie Mann, MA

Roberta Bernstein, Editor Cody Schott, Contributing Ed.

COM Administration

Dimitri Azar, MD, Dean

Larry S. Tobacman, MD, Sr. Associate Dean for Research

Jorge Girotti, PhD, Associate Dean and Director of

Admissions and Special Curricular Programs

Kathleen Kashima, PhD Senior Associate Dean of

Students

We’re on the web!

www.uic.edu/com/mdphd

2 0 1 5 M S T P A L U M N I A S S O C I A T I O N A W A R D

with Dr. Cohen, who presented the certificate and monetary award from the Associa-tion, and with Dr. Freitag who introduced Dr. Cohen, the previous Director of the MD-PhD Program from 1993 to 2003. Alicia defended her thesis on June 1, 2015 in the Department of Pharmacology (lab of Dr. Steven Dudek) on the topic: The Role of the Abl Family Kinases in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome”

At the MSTP dinner seminar on Sept. 9, the annual Dr. Edward P. Cohen Medi-cal Scientist Training Award was pre-sented on behalf of all UIC MD-PhD Alumni “to the most outstanding MD-PhD student who has completed the PhD and is returning to the 3rd year of medical school in 2015”. After soliciting application from the rising M3 group, the members of the MSTP Alumni Associa-tion, founded in 2009 by 2008 alumnus David Ramsey, chose Alicia N. Rizzo as the 2015 recipient. She is shown

PR Newswire Public Interest Services, June 29, 2015 “Internationally recognized neurosurgeon Dr. Uzma Samadani joins

Hennepin County Medical Center” Dr. Uzma Samadani, [1999] whose research on concussion recently made headlines around the world, is joining the Department of Neurosurgery at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), a nationally recognized Level I Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota that specializes in the treatment of traumatic brain injuries. She will serve as the Rockswold Kaplan Chair for Traumatic Brain Injury Re-search, and also be appointed an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the Univer-sity of Minnesota. Earlier this year, Dr. Samadani published research that describes a method for as-sessing the severity of traumatic brain injury (TBI) by measuring eye movements. In a talk at the North American Brain Injury Society meeting this May she showed data demonstrating that this technology is sensitive for detecting concussion. She has had more than 1.5 million dollars in research funding from the Department of Veterans Af-fairs, National Space and Biomedical Research Institute and the Steven and Alexan-dra Cohen Foundation as well as other sources. "Her remarkable work in this specialized area of neurotrauma and neuro-ophthal-mology will greatly enhance our comprehensive therapies for brain-injured patients at HCMC," explains Dr. Thomas Bergman, HCMC's Chief of Neurosurgery….She joins HCMC with extensive experience in her work caring for patients with brain injury at New York Harbor Health Care System/Manhattan Veterans Administration Hospital, and Bellevue Hospital in New York.

Editor’s Note: I wish to conclude this issue of Medical Scientist, which I was given the privilege of

preparing by Dr. Tobacman, with a special thank you, accompanied by big hugs, for the avalanche of

good wishes I received from cherished students, alumni, faculty and staff upon the conclusion of my

tenure as Assistant Director on June 30 at the 2015 Retreat. Although now officially a pensioner,

and greatly enjoying the busy life of retirement, I cannot tear myself away entirely from the place and

people I have loved for 13 years. And so, I’ve been “hanging out” over the summer, helping marvel-

ous Julie Mann learn the hiding places of documents and procedures which she has so far mastered

with expertise and elegance. If you continue to see me hanging around from time to time, it’s be-

cause I miss you too much if I don't. Best wishes to all for a wonderful year. Roberta Bernstein