{"id":232974,"date":"2025-07-18T12:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T16:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=232974"},"modified":"2025-07-18T15:49:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T19:49:25","slug":"incoming-uconn-medical-students-get-hands-on-summer-research-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/07\/incoming-uconn-medical-students-get-hands-on-summer-research-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Incoming UConn Medical Students Get Hands-On Summer Research Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summer four soon-to-be medical students in UConn School of Medicine\u2019s Class of 2029 had the inaugural opportunity to participate in the longstanding Summer Research Fellowship Program of the Health Career Opportunity Programs.<\/p>\n

\"Class
Class of 2029’s Bria Slater with her summer research poster (John Atashian Photo\/ UConn Health – July 17, 2025).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis is the first time we have ever had incoming medical students join our summer research program,\u201d said Dr. Marja Hurley, founding director and associate dean of the Health Career Opportunity Programs (HCOP) and its Aetna Health Professions Partnership Initiative. \u201cThis is a great opportunity for the new medical students to make some connections and maybe even decide to later go back and do more research in the faculty mentor\u2019s lab.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incoming members of the Class of 2029 were thrilled to present their summer research posters outside the Academic Rotunda on July 17 and cannot wait for medical school at UConn!
\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bria Slater<\/strong>, 22, hails from Atlanta, Georgia and believes attending UConn medical school is meant to be.<\/p>\n

\"UConn
UConn SOM Class of 2029 student Bria Slater discussing her summer research (John Atashian Photo\/UConn Health – July 17, 2025).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fate. UConn came out of the blue,\u201d applauded Slater of the medical school\u2019s communication outreach, and she is already bleeding UConn blue even before medical school officially starts in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cUConn is a very supportive environment and where faculty will have your back. That sealed the deal,\u201d says Slater about her decision to choose UConn School of Medicine. \u201cI\u2019m excited to be a part of this community! I\u2019m looking forward to meeting my peers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slater\u2019s summer research experience at UConn was \u201camazing\u201d she exclaimed in the exciting neuroscience research lab of Feliks Trakhtenberg, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Neuroscience.<\/p>\n

Her research focused on further testing as a local treatment of a promising developed fibronectin (Fn)-based peptide in mice to promote possible axon regeneration for spinal cord injury. Trakhtenberg\u2019s Lab has previously shown that the peptide promotes axon regeneration in injured optic nerves of mice.<\/p>\n

Slater looks forward to pursing her interest in neurology, concluding, \u201cI can see myself doing this for the rest of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Incoming
Incoming UConn medical student Sophia Fernandes (John Atashian Photo\/UConn Health – July 17, 2025).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sophia Fernandes<\/strong>, 25, from Lincoln, Rhode Island is entering the SOM Class of 2029. She was paired for her summer research experience with Dr.<\/strong> Dyanne Tappin<\/strong>, assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a great summer research experience. Dr. Tappin has been a great resource,\u201d says Fernandes. \u201cI have had an interest in maternal health disparities. Black women are two times more susceptible to Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders.\u00a0 I had no idea before doing this research!\u201d<\/p>\n

Her summer research identified gaps in access to Perinatal Mental Health care in Hartford County and made recommendations for care improvements, especially for those in minority communities.<\/p>\n

She is excited to get underway at the School of Medicine as a medical student.<\/p>\n

\u201cI chose UConn for its supportive environment and HCOP. It\u2019s such a good resource,\u201d Fernandes stated.<\/p>\n

Christopher Morales, <\/strong>23, of Derby, Connecticut is also soon entering the School of Medicine Class 2029 and is already feeling at home at UConn\u2019s medical school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this place,\u201d says Morales. \u201cI found a medical school where I already feel comfortable. Everyone here is wonderful!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Class
Class of 2029 Christopher Morales presenting his summer research findings. He already loves UConn’s medical school (John Atashian Photo\/UConn Health – July 17, 2025).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Morales first learned about HCOP\u2019s opportunities during his medical school interview process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was an immediate yes,\u201d he says to attending UConn. \u201cI love the medical school\u2019s programming of team-based learning and early patient care experiences in the CLIC program. I love working with patients.\u201d In fact, Morales worked for two years in the ophthalmology care field before medical school.<\/p>\n

His mother immigrated to the U.S. from Brazil and Morales is proudly the first generation in his family to gradate college, and now to go on to medical school.<\/p>\n

\"Faculty
Christopher Morales’ summer research faculty mentor Alice Burghard, Ph.D., assistant professor of Neuroscience (center) with fellow mentor Dr. Dyanne Tappin, assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology (left) and Dr. Marja Hurley, founder and director of HCOP (right). (John Atashian Photo\/UConn Health – July 17, 2025).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI never thought I would be here,\u201d says Morales. \u201cI am very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

He looks forward to donning his medical school white coat on Friday, August 22 at the traditional White Coat Ceremony held for new medical students at UConn School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

Morales loves exploring all about the central nervous system and knows he wants to be a teaching physician someday, so UConn\u2019s academic medical center is a \u201cperfect fit\u201d for him to learn.<\/p>\n

His summer research mentor is Alice Burghard, Ph.D., assistant professor of Neuroscience who also enjoyed mentoring Morales and says, \u201cI\u2019m very happy about the study findings.\u201d<\/p>\n

In mouse models Morales examined the age and sex differences when it comes to susceptibility to hearing loss due to sound exposure. Interestingly, he found that young females were the most resilient to noise exposure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s surreal, I\u2019m excited,\u201d says Dany Skaf<\/strong>, 25, from Florida about getting ready to attend UConn for medical school.<\/p>\n

\"Incoming
Excited Class of 2029 incoming med student Dany Skaf presenting his summer research findings from Dr. Francesco Celi’s Lab. (John Atashian Photo\/UConn Health – July 17, 2025).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UConn\u2019s medical school has been on his radar. During COVID-19 in 2020 his in-person HCOP summer research program experience turned virtual due to the pandemic concerns.<\/p>\n

But he finally had his chance to participate in the HCOP summer research program in-person in the lab of Chair of the Department of Medicine and endocrinology physician-scientist Dr. Francesco Celi. In Celi\u2019s Lab this summer Skaf helped successfully create a Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 Flox AdipoCre mice colony for further study of the key protein, performed genotype testing, and to further explore the protein\u2019s impact on metabolism, especially for diabetes. As the protein increases one\u2019s likelihood of developing diabetes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to continue working on this research. Hopefully, this research opens the door to potentially help improve insulin resistance and to prevent diseases like diabetes and obesity,\u201d says Skaf.<\/p>\n

\"Attendees
There was a big turnout for the HCOP summer research program poster presentations on July 17, 2025 outside the Academic Rotunda (John Atashian Photo\/UConn Health – July 17, 2025).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Congratulations to all the student summer researchers and presenters in both the Summer Research Fellowship Program and the Health Disparities Clinical Summer Research Fellowship Program.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first time the Health Career Opportunities Program of UConn Health offered matriculating UConn medical students summer research opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":232980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1715,2388,1868,179,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-232974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-impact","category-healthcare-workforce","category-meds","category-uconn-health","category-university-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 07:17:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232974"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232990,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232974\/revisions\/232990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/232980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232974"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=232974"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=232974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}