UF medical students earn summer research fellowships
Three medical students have been awarded American Cancer Society R.G. Thompson Memorial Summer Research Fellowships.
Hillary Zalaznick, a fourth-year medical student, is studying thyroid nodules in an effort to identify risk factors that would help practitioners distinguish which are symptomatic of benign thyroid disease and which are actually cancerous. It is hoped that the findings will help practitioners reduce the number of patients who undergo unnecessary thyroid surgery. Her faculty mentor is UF pathologist Nicole Massoll, M.D.
Karly Kaplan, a fourth-year medical student, will study combining breast reconstruction with mastectomy. Her mentor is Jason Rosenberg, M.D., an assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Colin E. Moore, a second-year medical student, will conduct a population-based study of bone disorders, Maffuci’s syndrome and Ollier’s disease, and evaluate the incidence of malignant degeneration. His mentor is Mark T. Scarborough, M.D., an associate professor and chief of the division of orthopaedic oncology. Each student received a $2,500 research stipend. The projects’ principal investigator is James Zucali, Ph.D., a professor of medicine.