More than 200 students present at Student Research Symposium

Dec. 1, 2025

By Jared Slanina

The NEW Center Ballroom and Cook Alumni Hall at NEOMED were filled with students eager to share their scholarly work with hundreds of attendees at the sixth annual Student Research Symposium, held Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. The annual event is an opportunity for students to share their original research, showing just how their work will help improve the health of the community.

In total, 213 students presented their work, with 198 conducting poster presentations and another 15 with oral presentations. Students represented all four colleges, including the new Bitonte College of Dentistry.

“The Student Research Symposium is an excellent showcase of the talent and skills of NEOMED students,” said Anshya Tewari, a second-year medical student who served as co-president for the event. “We’re proud to have such a large number of students who want to get involved and display some very thought-provoking research.”

Tewari was joined by fellow students Kain Dale, second-year pharmacy student, Prajwal Guruprasad, second-year medical student, Ana Kasumova, first-year medical student, Sanjana Nallapaneni, second-year medical student, Sanat Subhash, second-year medical student, and Adeline Whaley, second-year medical student, who organized the student-run event.

Awardees from the Student Research Symposium included:

First Place Oral Presentation

Ana Kasumova, M1, “Toward Better Diagnostics: Integrating Aspiration Measures in an Infant Pig Model of Dysphagia”

First Place Poster Presentation (Clinical and Public Health Category)

Madeline Guy, M3, “Comparison of Therapeutic Outcomes of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors vs Targeted Therapy in BRAF-Mutated Melanoma: A Systematic Review”

First Place Poster Presentation (Basic Science Category)

Layth Khawaja, M2, “Exploring Dermal Musculature in Avian Anatomy through Iodine Enhanced CT Imaging: A Radiologic Segmentation Model”