Christina Pugliese, now a second-year MD student at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), found herself spending the summer after her first year of medical school in an unlikely place: Gabon, Africa.
“It was really wonderful,” said Pugliese, who conducted research on cryptosporidium, a parasite that causes diarrhea in a large proportion of children under age 5. “For me, it’s been the highlight of my schooling so far. That’s a huge thing, to take advantage of the [research] opportunities that are here; supplementing your education with things you’re passionate about makes it more exciting and enriching.” Pugliese, whose abstract is featured in the student-led journal Fusion, was also selected as third-place winner of the William H. Beaumont Medical Research Honor Society Student Research Award. The prize is given annually by research faculty to three research abstract authors, coinciding with GW’s Research Days. First-place winners Nicole Casasanta and Sarit Toltzis, and second-place winner Dara Baker, along with Pugliese, also presented their research to their peers. Their discussions perfectly illustrated what keynote speaker Mary Woolley, president of Research!America, believes researchers need to do: advocate for their work by talking about it. “Advocacy is about making the case — enthusiastically, I might add — for something that we’re passionate about and proud of being part of. [As with] anything else, when you’re trying to convince people to be on your side of a movement, something giant or something smaller, it’s about building relationships.” At the SMHS level, more than 350 students presented posters on their research, discussing methods and results with fellow classmates, professors, and Research Days attendees. To download a copy of the most recent edition of Fusion, visit smhs.gwu.edu/research/publications/fusion.
