VCOM 2023 Annual Report

Via Research Recognition Day VCOM-Carolinas

T he eighth annual VCOM-Carolinas Via Research Recognition Day took place on Thursday, February 10, 2023. Posters spanning the fields of clinical research, case reports, biomedical, educational and simulation research were submitted. Research Day offers a forum for health professionals and scientists in academic institutions, teaching hospitals and practice sites to present and benefit from new research innovations and programs intended to improve the health of all humans. By attending the sessions with the speakers, participants have the opportunity to learn cutting-edge information in the physiological bases of osteopathic manipulative therapy efficacy, new trends in physician-based research networks and how to develop innovative research projects with a high impact on human health. Via Research Recognition Day is a significant event for VCOM. It supports the mission of the College to provide medical education and research that prepares globally minded, community-focused physicians and improves the health of those most in need. This year’s keynote speaker was Karin Peterson, PhD. Peterson is the chief of the neuroimmunology unit at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Peterson received her PhD in microbiology and immunology in 1998 from the University of Missouri Medical School, where she studied autoimmunity and the activation of self-reactive T cells. She then went to Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) in 1998 as a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases and applied her skills in immunology toward understanding the mechanisms that control the immune response to retrovirus infection. During this time, she became interested in the immune responses to virus infections in the central nervous system (CNS). In 2004, Peterson accepted a position as an assistant professor

at Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, where she furthered her studies on viral pathogenesis in the CNS and also taught classes in immunology and virology. In 2008, she returned to RML as a tenure-track investigator to study the innate immune responses in the CNS and their role in viral pathogenesis. She was tenured in 2016 and became a senior investigator and chief of the Neuroimmunology Section. The Student Researcher of the Year was Dakota Becker-Greene, a member of VCOM Carolinas’ Class of 2025.

Event Presenters

Keynote Lecture

Karin Peterson, PhD Chief of the

Neuroimmunology Unit at National Institute of Allergy and Infectiouos Diseases (NIAID)

Student Researcher of the Year Dakota Becker-Green Class of 2025

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