VCOM View Vol 9-1

RESEARCH

Front row: Chelsea Weidman, MS; Miriam Brown; Jillian Bradley, PhD; Monica Boyd; Katrina Hsieh Second Row : Liam Ortega; Fadi Totah; Candice Thompson; Kyle Burke; Amy Kiamos; Derek Kunda; Mario Carrasco

“We help them to design experiments with well thought- through controls and teach them the techniques involved in answering the questions,” she explains. Students are encouraged to share their findings at conferences, including VCOM’s Research Recognition Day. “Anecdotally, OMT has been a tremendous relief to patients suffering from acute sinus infections,” Dr. Bradley says. “However, the exact mechanism behind this relief is not well understood. We are attempting to scientifically and methodologically determine what about the technique allows for symptomatic

South Carolina. In addition Dr. Bradley has eight second-year medical students on the project. “Each student is working on a specific question within the scope of the trial, which will last either two years or until 200 patients have been enrolled,” Bradley says. “I believe that having the students experience the knowledge themselves, rather than being passive sponges allows an intimate connection to be formed with the information and long-term retention to begin,” she states. All active members of her lab must write a proposal seeking answers to the group’s research questions.

relief, as well as whether the technique allows for a faster

recovery time. If we can provide evidence that OMT does help patients with sinus infections, it would encourage physicians to turn to OMT instead of prescribing unnecessary antibiotics… [impacting] the current problem of the over prescription of antibiotics and the subsequent development of antibiotic-resistant organisms.” The study, beginning this year, will enroll subjects who have sinus infections as well as healthy ones. ■

summer 2018 | VCOM V iew M agazine 45