The University of South Alabama College of Medicine hosted its 34th annual Medical Student Research Day on Aug. 3, 2007. Dr. Robert Kreisberg, distinguished professor emeritus at USA and clinical professor of medicine at University of Alabama at Birmingham, was the keynote speaker. Kreisberg’s lecture was entitled, “Bedside to Bench and Back Again: Cholesterol as an Example, The Beat Goes On.”

Medical Student Research Day is the culmination of the summer’s work with the presentation of six oral and ten poster presentations. During the 10 week program sixteen first- and second-year medical students participated in research projects with basic science and clinical faculty in the College of Medicine. A weekly seminar series introduced the students to important research related areas. The program highlights the relation between scientific discoveries and their application in clinical medicine.

The Clyde G. “Sid” Huggins Medical Student Research Awards, honoring the memory of Huggins who served as the first dean of students, were presented to Adam Watterson and George Nelson IV.

Watterson, a sophomore medical student, was recognized for the best oral presentation entitled, “Mapping PKG’s cardioprotective pathway.” Watterson was sponsored by Drs. James Downey and Michael Cohen, both with the USA department of physiology.

Nelson, also a sophomore medical student, was honored for the best poster presentation. His poster was entitled, “Characterization and comparisons of the pro-apoptotic proteins P53, DRAM, PUMA, and BAX in human melanoma cell lines.” He was sponsored by Dr. Adam Riker, with the Mitchell Cancer Institute.

Each winner was presented with a plaque of recognition and cash award. Both recipients are eligible to make their presentations at the Annual National Research Forum in Galveston, Texas in 2008.

For more information on the COM Summer Medical Student Research program, please visit: http://www.southalabama.edu/com/summerresearch.shtml .