Western NY MD/PhD Conference

From the Conference Chair:

This year's Annual Western New York MD/PhD conference was held on Saturday, May 3^rd, 2008. For the first time, the conference contained an outreach component entitled Transforming Tomorrow's Thinkers (T3) that allowed undergraduates, high school students, parents, educators, and counselors to learn about physician-scientist careers. Conference planners answered a growing need to promote awareness about physician-scientist training and the importance of translational medical research. Our hope was for T3 attendees to walk away from the conference with an understanding of physician-scientist training, career options, and roles in medical research and care.

Through program presentations, information booths, application help sessions, breakout sessions, and a keynote address from Dr. Terence Dermody (MSTP Director, Vanderbilt University), T3 participants had the opportunity to not only learn about MD/PhD training, but also to ask specific questions and to receive one-on-one counseling.

Current MD/PhD students from the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at SUNY Buffalo, the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, and SUNY Upstate Medical College had the opportunity to share their research through podium and poster presentations. Additionally, during round-table discussions, current students exchanged valuable ideas on the role of physician-scientist trainees in policy, student government, and medical school leadership.

With 150 conference attendees and uniformly positive feedback, this year's conference was, without doubt, a success. We hope that in the coming years, we can continue to promote awareness about physician-scientist careers, to help build camaraderie among current MD/PhD students, and to help shape the future of MD/PhD training.

-Debbie Dao, 2008 Conference Chair

Session Programs

• Program for the MD/PhD session (PDF)
• Program for the T3 session (PDF)

A Special Thanks to the Conference Committee:

• Michael Jacob (Public Relations Sub-Committee Chair)
• Rebekka Matheson
• Qi Cui
• Kevin Makino
• Rebecca Porter (Programming Sub-Committee Chair)
• Ana Tablante
• Vincent Fong
• Susan Lee
• Michael Moravan (Logistics Sub-Committee Chair)
• Mercedes Szpunar
• Kofi Mensah

Thank you:

• Owen Zacharias (Webmaster)
• Adam Dziorny (Photographer)
• Cathy Senecal-Rice
• Brigid Waterhouse
• M. Kerry O'Banion, MD, PhD