Medical research drives innovation by planting seeds for transformative breakthroughs that can improve patient outcomes and advance our understanding of diseases and their treatments. The AMA is proud to play a role in shaping the future of health care through the AMA Research Challenge, the nation’s largest multispecialty research event for medical students, residents and fellows, and international medical graduates.
This year’s challenge drew more than 1,300 abstracts spanning six areas of research, from clinical and translational research to basic science and medical education, and from public health and health policy to health systems science and clinical vignettes. The five finalists selected at a virtual medical research symposium last fall will present the poster presentations reflecting their research to a panel of judges. Watch as the winner of the $10,000 grand prize presented by Laurel Road is announced live Feb. 20, 2 p.m. CST. RSVP now.
Picking a winner will be tough. The standout work submitted by each of this year’s finalists highlights the type of highly creative and groundbreaking thinking that drives health care to new heights of innovation. Their work follows the same path taken by previous finalists in this competition, who each presented truly outstanding research on diverse range of topics.
Last year’s winner
Last year’s winning entry described an early diagnostic test for cholangiocarcinoma, a rare but deadly cancer that forms in bile ducts with a propensity for rapid and distant metastasis. Detecting cholangiocarcinoma before it spreads is critical to give those with this cancer their best chance for survival.
Jesse Kirkpatrick, a fourth-year student at Harvard Medical School, was motivated to find a better method of early detection by a family member who struggled with a progressive condition that greatly predisposes patients to cholangiocarcinoma. After he receives his MD this spring, Kirkpatrick intends to continue his work to distinguish cholangiocarcinoma from benign underlying conditions to give patients a better opportunity for treatment before the disease advances.
That type of work—building on a base of knowledge to help match clinical research with real-world, life-saving results—is what the AMA Research Challenge is all about.
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This year’s finalists
The five finalists in this year’s competition have each demonstrated the ability to make an extremely complex subject understandable to those who view their poster entries, not just physicians and experts in their respective fields.
The finalists are:
- Aditya Kotla, a student at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, who researched disabilities and disability awareness among general surgery residents.
- Ayush Kumar, from the Chan Medical School at the University of Massachusetts, who explored molecular factors of triple-negative breast cancer to prevent recurrence.
- Darwin Kwok, a student at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, who researched RNA splicing aberrations in cancerous tumors that impact the disease’s progression.
- Ashley Newsholme of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University, who studied the difference in outcomes between femoral-popliteal angioplasty and tibial angioplasty among adults undergoing lower extremity endovascular repair.
- Phoebe K. Yu, MD, MPH, a sleep medicine/otolaryngology fellow at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital, who researched the efficacy of upper-airway stimulation for adolescent patients with Down Syndrome and severe obstructive-sleep apnea.
The dedication and skill of these current and future physicians is clearly evident in the materials they have prepared for this year’s AMA Research Challenge. They represent the best of what medicine and scientific research can do to help more people live longer, healthier lives.
Enriching our understanding of disease and dangerous health conditions is a fundamental part of scientific discovery. I’m inspired by all of those who pursue this work, and by the dedication they show to create a future for medical practice that raises the standard of care and improves countless lives.
