VCOM 2023 Annual Report

Via Research Recognition Day VCOM-Louisiana

F ollowing the tradition of its fellow campuses, VCOM-Louisiana hosted its inaugural Via Research Recognition Day on Friday, April 14, 2023. VCOM-Louisiana’s inaugural Research Recognition Day featured messages from plenary speaker P. Gunnar Brolinson, DO, FAOASM, FAAFP, FACOFP, vice president for research at VCOM; and keynote speakers Jeremy P. Kamil, PhD, associate professor of microbiology and immunology for LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport, and Jorge E. Alvernia-Silva, MD, FAANS, American Board-certified neurosurgeon for Brain and Spine Associates, LLC. Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO, FACOFP, president for VCOM; Mark A. Sanders, DO, JD, MPH, LLM, MS, FACOFP, FACLM, dean for VCOM-Louisiana; and Pawel Michalak, PhD, associate dean for biomedical affairs and research for VCOM Louisiana served as program moderators for the event. A total of 55 posters were submitted to the poster session held during Via Research Recognition Day. The posters were divided into five categories for judging: biomedical research, clinical and case studies, COVID-19 and epidemiology, education research and pharmacology. The top three posters in each category received recognition during the awards ceremony. Also presented during the ceremony were two campus-specific awards intended to recognize one faculty member and one student for their exceptional contributions to research at VCOM-Louisiana. Zakaria Abd Elmageed, PhD, pharmacology faculty for VCOM-Louisiana, was named Faculty Researcher of the Year, and Ariana Faraji, third-year osteopathic medical student at VCOM-Louisiana, was named Student Researcher of the Year.

scientific knowledge through biomedical, clinical and educational research. Via Research Recognition Day offers a forum for health professionals and scientists in academic institutions, teaching hospitals and practice sites to present their research and benefit from new innovations and programs that will 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 physician-based research networks and how to develop innovative research projects that have the potential for high impact on human health. Poster sessions allow participants to learn about the biomedical, clinical and educational research activities at VCOM and its partner institutions. bases for the efficacy of osteopathic manipulative therapy, new trends in

Event Presenters

Keynote Lecture

Jeremy P. Kamil, PhD Associate Professor of Microbiology and immunology, LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport

Plenary Lecture The State of Research at VCOM P. Gunnar Brolinson, DO, FAOASM, FAAFP, FACOFP Vice President for Research

A key tenet of VCOM’s mission, and one of the College’s five main goals, is to advance

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