At Research Day 2025, Poster Awards went to outstanding presentations across several categories, and we celebrated two awards for faculty researchers as well as the Junior Clinical Faculty Fellows. Supporting and recognizing our junior faculty and faculty mentors is an important aspect of ensuring we develop strong faculty capable of mentoring and inspiring our students and other learners. It is for this reason we choose to celebrate these faculty during Research Day.
Research Day 2025 Poster Award Winners
name and winning poster title
MD Students
- Clinical Research
- Samantha Vos “Validating the clinical utility of a novel prognostic biomarker and an oncogenic k-RAS signaling gatekeeper, SIAH, to risk stratify pancreatic cancer patients at Sentara-EVMS-VOA”
- William Rice “Robotic versus Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in Emergency General Surgery: Do Older Adults Benefit More than Younger Adults?”
- Zaid Khan “Evaluating the Ocular Safety Profile of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists”
- Basic Science Research
- Neel Herfarth “Defining the Post-Translational Ubiquitination Landscape of PID1”
- Public Health Research
- Alyssa Wilkinson “Association Between Preterm Birth and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status”
- Educational Research
- Hannah Call “Biplane vs. Standard Ultrasound for Vascular Access: A Performance Assessment in Novice Medical Students”
Medical Master’s Students
- Kelly Carter “Cocaine Increases Glycolysis Activity in Microglia in Vitro and in Vivo”
Joint School of Public Health Graduate Students
- Hillary Lee “Unexpected Predictors of Back, Shoulder, and Knee Injuries in Fire Cadets: Insights from a 5-Year Retrospective Review”
Resident/Fellow
- Dr. Juan Munoz Moreno “Approach to Major Secondary Causes of Hypertension in Young Adults: An Overlooked Condition”
Biomedical Sciences Master’s Students
- Ryan Washington “Inhibition of Monoacylglycerol Lipase reduces Ventilator Induced Lung Injury in Mice”
Biomedical Sciences PhD Students
- Sara Palega “Methods of Induction of Cellular Senescence”
- Arielle Wolter “Structured Bilayer Biomimetic Organoids: A Platform to Study Hormonal and Tumorigenic Events in the Mammary Gland”
People’s Choice Award
- Omotomilola Jegede “Hidden Patterns, Urgent Realities: Uncovering Substance Misuse and Overdose Trends in Greater Hampton Roads”
Congratulations to all of our award winners!
Faculty Awards
This year, we celebrated two Research Day awards for faculty researchers and recognized the new fellows in our Junior Clinical Investigator Program.
Early Career Research Excellence Award
The Early Career Research Excellence Award is presented each fall at VHS Research Day to honor and recognize legacy EVMS early career researchers or clinician scientists who have exhibited a significant contribution to their discipline through widely disseminated and impactful research relatively early in their academic careers.
This award recognizes the individual's outstanding research achievements, innovative approaches, influence within their academic field, and potential for continued excellence. It serves not only as recognition of their early accomplishments, but also as an encouragement to continue striving for research excellence throughout their academic careers.
2025 Winner:
Pavla Brachova, PhD
Assistant Professor
Physiological Sciences
Excellence in Research Mentorship Award
The Excellence in Research Mentorship Award is presented each fall at VHS Research Day to one mid-career or senior member of the legacy EVMS faculty who has exhibited robust excellence in research mentorship. This award recognizes the accomplishments of medical school faculty who have demonstrated exceptional mentoring in research to junior faculty, fellows, post-docs, and/or student trainees.
2025 Winner:
Elena V. Galkina, Ph.D., FAHA
Professor
Biomedical and Translational Science
The Junior Clinical Investigator Program (JCIP)
The Junior Clinical Investigator Program (JCIP) is a competitive three-year training program providing career advancement opportunities to select research faculty interested in academic medicine. This year, we recognize four new fellows accepted into this program.
Manasi S. Shah, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine
Winifred M. Lo, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Surgery
Rebecca Horgan, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Clinton W. Enos, MD, MS
Assistant Professor
Department of Dermatology
