2022 Shapiro Summer Research Program Concludes with Final Presentations

Another summer, another set of amazing Shapiro Summer Research projects! This 10-week UW School of Medicine Public Health program is an opportunity for medical students to work with faculty mentors on a research project during the summer between their first and second years of school.  

This summer also marked the third year of the Department of Radiology’s Shapiro Summer Research Mentoring Program, led by Faculty Director of the Shapiro Program, Andrew Ross, MD, MPH. This program provides students with peer mentoring sessions, career talks, clinical shadowing, and an opportunity to present their work as a graphical abstract to the Department of Radiology. These presentations were given virtually on Friday, August 5th; students will also present their work at the upcoming Annual Medical Student Research Forum on Monday, November 21st, which will be returning to an in-person event at the Health Sciences Learning Center for the first time since 2019. 

Dr. Ross said, “I think UW SMPH attracts strong medical students, and they are always surprising you with the talents that they bring to the table. They can really help faculty advance their research projects by not only bringing their enthusiasm and hard work but also with a surprising set of skills, whether it be programming or a background in bioengineering. So, not only is it rewarding to support the early advancement of a dedicated student within the research world, but they also help faculty bring their research projects forward.” 

See a full list of the 2022 Shapiro Scholars, their faculty mentors, and their research projects: 

Emiliano Fraire, mentored by Allison Grayev, MD and Anthony Kuner, MD: Spinal Anatomy Learning Modules for First Year Radiology Residents 

Mahad Siad, mentored by Giuseppe Toia, MD: Semi-quantitative T2 Signal Assessment Mode for Liver Lesion Characterization 

Firas Hikmat, mentored by Steve Cho, MD, Changhee Lee, MD, and Tyler Bradshaw, PhD: Machine Learning Model Training for Bone Lesion Detection  

Madhu Gowda, mentored by Meghan Lubner, MD and Jason Abel, MD: Liver Surface Nodularity (LSN) Tool Can Identify Perinephric Fat Invasion (PFI) of Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) in CT Imaging 

Arissa Milton, mentored by Anand Narayan, MD, PhD: Community Identified Barriers and Solutions to Mammogram Screening 

Ritika Punathil, mentored by Andrew Ross, MD, MPH: Health Equity in Radiology: Creation of a Publicly Accessible Database 

Annie Zlevor, mentored by Fred Lee, MD: Reduction of physician radiation exposure in abdominal biopsies through use of electromagnetic navigation system 

Alex Wright, mentored by Tim Ziemlewicz, MD: Novel Technique for Determining Prognosis of ADPKD