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V o l um e 1 6 , I s s ue 1P age 4Awards, Honors, Presentations – Congratulations!Matthew Tobin, G3 in Neuroscience (lab of Dr.Orly Lazarov) learned in May that his AHAgrant application was successfully funded on the first submission.Joseph Goldenberg, G4 in Physiology and Biophysics (lab of Dr. E. Douglas Lewandowski)was one of three finalists in the annual Center for Cardiovascular Research Young Investigator Awards Competition who made brief oral presentations of their work immediately following the CCVR Herman Gunnar Lecture on September 16.Wedding Bells &Baby BootiesWedding congratulationsto:Allen Ye, G4 in Bioengineering (lab of Dr. Richard Magin) received an Honorable Mention inthe 2015 Image of Research competition for his submission entitled “Brain Visualization inthe CAVE2 TM. The IOR is an annual interdisciplinary exhibit competition organized by theGraduate College and University Library to showcase the breadth and diversity of research at UIC.MSTP garners many awards at 2015 COM convocationMSTP Director Larry S. Tobacman, MD was one of two recipients of the COM Distinguished Faculty Award at the 2015 convocation (the other was Xaoping Du, PhD, a member of the MSTP Admissions Committee and the former thesis advisor of MD-PhD alumnusPangiotis (Pete) Flevaris (2010). MSTP Associate Director Nancy Freitag, PhD, who wonthe M2 Golden Apple Award in Spring 2014, was elected by the 2015 medical school classas the Official Hooder of conferral of their MD degrees.And as in past years, an MD-PhD student was again the recipient of the research award presented at COM Commencement on May 8. Marisa Young was awarded the 2015 Michaeland Kate Barany Research Award for outstanding research achievement while enrolled inthe UIC College of Medicine at Chicago. This award recognizes the significance of researchto medical education. This award has been won by an MD-PhD graduate 9 out of the 13times since it was initiated in 2002. The previous MD-PhD alumni winners are: Kris Alden(2002), Tatiana Grzeszkiewicz (2003), David Jho (2006), David Moons (2007), Masakatsu Nanamori (2008), Evan Osmundson (2009), Janai Carr (2013) and Jonathan Waxman (2014). MSTP graduate Andrew Czysz won the Drs. Ervin G. & Sara F. Rabito ErdosPrize for Excellence in Basic Sciences in recognition of significant research accomplishments in the basic sciences. Established in 2009, the Erdos Prize has been won by an MDPhD graduate every year except 2014: Mark Pilkinton (2009), Sheila Barry (2010), Ananda Fine (2011), Yalda Afshar (2012), Jennifer Kwan (2013).Ryan Lahey, M4, on his wedding May 2 to Mike Labellarte who is a managing director at an architecture firmin Chicago. They honeymooned in Greece.And to:Jenny Zhang, G3, on herwedding August 15 to Ken T.who is an algorithmic traderin Chicago. They honeymooned in Paris.And to:And within the MSTP community itself, the winner of the 1st annual Dr. Edward P. CohenMSTP Award in honor of Edward and Toba Cohen from their children was presented toRyan Carr at the MSTP graduation banquet on May 7 in recognition of outstanding workand leadership in the UIC MSTP.Congratulations to the 2015 COM award recipients who bring much distinction to themselvesand to the MSTP.Announcing the new SAC Boardfor 2015-16Ally Young, G1-PresidentArtemis Gogos, M2Matt MacDougall, G1Cory Reiter, M2Reid Wilkening, G4New Parent Congratulations to2015 graduate IkennaMadueke and wife Dr.Ijeoma Okechukwu, a2015 graduate of the U.Minnesota SOM, on thebirth of their son, IkennaCaleb Madueke III, bornMay 12, 2015Joshua Jones, G1, on hiswedding August 16 to TanyaAuguste who is a 4th yearPhD students in Clinical Psychology at IIT. The weddingtook place at the 1st UnitedMethodist Church in OakLawn and the BellvedereChateau in Palos Hills.

T he M e d i c a l S c i e n ti s tP age 5Alumni News:Scott Feldman (2012) who completed his residency in internal medicine at Mr. Sinai Hospital in New York in Junereceived his first choice match for a Fellowship in Allergy/Immunology at Northwester University Feinberg School ofMedicine. He moved back to his former condo downtown and started his fellowship on July 1.In September David Ramsey (2008) completed a chapter on diabetic retinopathy for Web Vision: The Organizationof the Retina and Visual System. Kolb H, Fernandez E, Nelson R, editors: “Diabetic retinopathy and a novel treatment based on the biophysics of rod photoreceptors and dark adaptation." This went live on the NLM Bookshelf,at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310272/PR Newswire Public Interest Services, June 29, 2015“Internationally recognized neurosurgeon Dr. Uzma Samadani joins Hennepin County Medical Center”See full story on page 8.In the Alumni MailbagFrom: Sapan Desai [mailto:sapan.desai@surgisphere.com] Sent: Monday, April 20, 2015 1:35 PMDear Roberta, I have a quick update for you. I am now working as a vascular surgeon at Southern Illinois Universityand have a few different responsibilities. We have a 44 million brand-new center for learning and innovation thathas been constructed in Springfield, and I am Medical Director of the Surgical Skills Center. SIU led many of theefforts in surgical simulation about a decade ago under the auspices of Janet Ketchum, so it is a real honor to be apart of some really neat things going on here. I also was recently promoted to Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery. One of my other responsibilities is as Director of the Quality Alliance and Predictive Analysis forMemorial Medical Center, where I help lead a number of healthcare outcomes and patient quality improvement projects. Best, SapanFrom: Juliana Choi [mailto:juliana.choi@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, May 18, 2015 7:39 PMHi Roberta, All is well with me. I'm in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania. I do miss Chicago but thederm department at Penn has been absolutely wonderful and I'm marrying another dermatologist at Penn so thereare multiple reasons for me to be staying in Philly. Best of luck to you and the program!Alumnus returns to give graduation banquet seminarThe 2015 MSTP graduates, their guests, and the current students and faculty greatly enjoyedtheir reunion with 2001 alumnus Edwin De Zoeten who was the guest speaker at the MSTPgraduation banquet on May 7. Despite a full day of site-seeing on foot in the hot sun of all thenew sites on campus, Dr. De Zoeten gave a lively presentation entitled “Change Is Good: Identifying New Methods to Treat Chronic Inflammation” in which he not only clearly explained his research in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease but carefully explained the mentoring he received which led to the success along his career path from student days at UIC (lab of prior MDPhD Director Edward Cohen, MD in the Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology) to his present distinguished positions as Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School ofMedicine and the Scientific Director of the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center of Children’s Hospital Colorado Digestive Disease Health Institute. Dr. De Zoeten was the fourth in a series of alumni banquet speakers, his predecessors being Todd Druley (2002) in 2010, Ronald Jackups (2008) in 2013, Uzma Samadani (1999) in 2014. We look forward to welcoming more alumni as speakers at future graduation banquets.New HOST Program Pairs Alumni with M4s on Interview TrailThe UIC COM has launched a program to connect alumni with M4 students engaged in the residency interview process, mainly during the period of October through January. Through the Help Our Student Travel Program, alumnican offer to host a student for a 1 or 2-day stay, provide meals and/or transportation, provide local insight on themedical community in the area; introduce the students to their colleagues, especially in the student’s area of interest;and/or provide an insider’s view of the medical profession. The UIC MSTP invites and urges its alumni to host one ofour great current M4s this year. They are: Jacob Choi, Christine Haddad, Ryan Lahey, P. David McMullen, CodyRutledge. To do so, please contact Jenna Plakut, Director of COM Alumni Relations, 312 955-1171 or jplakut@uic.edu; or contact Julie Mann in the MSTP office, 312-996-7473, jlmann@uic.edu.Alumni Appointments[Ed. Note: If we missed anyone’s promotion or new appointment, let us know.]To all alumni: Please keep the updates on your news coming. If you’re going to be in Chicago,please stop by for a visit which can be informal or a formal presentation, as you wish.

P age 6V o l um e 1 6 , I s s ue 12 0 1 5 R E T R E A T : M S T P R E T U R N S T O S TA RV E D R O C KFollowing the success of the 2014 retreat at the beautiful Starved Rock Lodgeand Conference Center, acclaimed as one of the Illinois 7 Wonders, there wasuniversal demand to return there for the 2015 retreat, held June 30. and July 1.Again, the weatherman provided clear blue skies and comfortable temperaturesto enhance the experience of convening and socializing amidst 2,600 acres ofspectacular natural beauty in the forested ravines along the Illinois River. Againas in 2014, the MSTP shared bus transportation, space and some programmingwith the Bridge to the Doctorate Program’s annual retreat, which was under thedirection of Dr. William Walden and Denise Yates. Upon arrival at the lodge,the two groups convened together for a welcome session and then divided intoseparate breakouts until lunch together.After separate break-outs in the afternoon, the two groups came together forrecreation at 3:30, for the keynote speaker at 6:00 pm. Followed by dinner at 7:00 and entertainment activities throughout the evening including a wine tasting by the Lodge, games and conversations with the faculty.The Keynote speaker was Aixa Alfonso, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of BiologicalSciences, whose topic was “Who Am I and Where Am I Going?” A native of Puerto Rico, Dr. Alfonsoreceived her PhD in 1986 from the University of Wisconsin. She immediately began training in thegenetics of neuronal fate and function and has been working with the round worm C. elegans as ananimal model system ever since. Her current research aims to understand the role of a specific protein, a transcription factor, in the development and differentiation of nerve cells that control sexspecific behaviors. She was the recipient of a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and has beenfunded for her research project by the NIH and NSF.The morning program for the MSTP started with the humorous as always power point presentation byAssociate Director Dr. Nancy Freitag to introduce the new students and give them their welcome gifts. This was followed by a report by Associate Director Dr. Mark Rosenblatt on the progress made in the 2014-15 academic year onthe re-organized and revitalized Clinical Connections component of the program which he now supervises, and the annual State of the Program report by Director Dr. Larry Tobacman. The morning session culminated with stellar oralpresentations of their research by the following students:Matthew Durst,G2—“ ENTPD5 High Throughput Screening Setup and Optimization”Osama El-Sayed, M2—“Meta-analysis of microarray data from HIV patients”Hannah Pennington, M1 – “ Mathematical models for wound healing”Andrew Widmer, G3 -- “Inhibitory circuit dysfunction in the Fragile X olfactory cortex”Morgan Zenner, M1 -- "The AID genotoxic profile in early B cells"Jenny Zhang, G3 "The Role of Tcf7l1 in Enhancer Decommissioning in the Transition from Naïve to Primed Pluripotency.The after-lunch program started off with a presentation by Ally Young and Casey Blaha on the progress of the firstyear of the MSTP affiliation with Mile Square Health Center as the venue for MD-PhD Clinical Connections which theylaunched as an idea at the 2014 retreat. They also presented Clinical Service Awards (certificate and check) to Alejandra Marinelarena, G1 and Alan Perez-Rathke, G2 in recognition of volunteer participation at Miles Square HealthCenter.A special treat was the attendance of two beloved recent Alumni, ScottFeldman (2012), who had just finished his residency in internal medicine atMr. Sinai Hospital in New York and returned to Chicago to start a fellowship inAllergy/Immunology at Northwestern, and Lila Glotfelty (2014), now in herthird year of residency in Internal Medicine at UIC. Together they presented afrank and useful discussion on “Tips from Our Experiences” followed by anopen Q and A session.The Tuesday afternoon program concluding with breakout cohort meetings:M1-M2 with Dr. Tobacman, G1-G2 with Dr. Freitag, and Advance Graduatestudents and M3-M4 with Dr. Rosenblatt.

T he M e d i c a l S c i e n ti s tP age 7RETREAT, CONTINUEDAfter breakfast on Wednesday, the MSTP had its poster session, featuring the following student presenters:Alex Agelidis, G2: "Heparanase is a host enzyme required for herpes simplex virus-1 release from cells",Tiffani Berkel, G3: "H3K9me2 and its Role in Alcoholism, Anxiety, and Alcohol Tolerance”Evan Kyzar, G2: “Effect of adolescent alcohol exposure on expression profiling of histone demethylases and methyltransferases in the amygdala of adult rats”Trevor Leonardo, M1: “Next Generation Sequencing of Extracellular RNA for Biomarker Discovery”Michael Marshall, G3: "Analysis of Psychosine and Galactosylceramidase Distribution within Brain Regions of Parkinson’s and other Neurological Conditions"Richard Marszalek, M1: "A Novel Potential Effector, Calmodulin, Offers Insight into Oncogenicity of KRas."Michael Metrick, M1: “Time-optimized sedimentation equilibrium by variable field analytical ultracentrifugation”Alan Perez Rathke, G2: "Models for pH-dependent Gating in OmpG”Justin Sysol, G3: "Sphingosine-1-Phosphate (S1P) Induces Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1 Alpha (HIF1-α) Activation inHuman Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells.”After the poster session, SAC had its annual meeting, an open forum for all the students to express their questions,desires and suggestions for improving the program’s content and atmosphere. As in all previous years, these ideaswere reported to the directors after the retreat and are in the process of implementation in one way or another. Following lunch, optional recreational activities rounded out the day, including a guided hike or trolley ride and a send-offtreat of the Lodge’s famous Death by Chocolate presentation. The smiling faces below attest to the enjoyment experienced by all.

M e d i c a l Sc ie n t is tT r a i n i ng P r og r a mUniversity of Illinois College of MedicineCOM Dean’s Office, MC 7841853 West Polk StreetChicago, IL 60612Office located in the GEMS suite, 308 CSNPhone: 312-996-7473Fax: 312-413-8221E-mail: mstp@uic.edu2015 MSTP ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AWARDAt the MSTP dinner seminar on Sept. 9,the annual Dr. Edward P. Cohen Medical Scientist Training Award was presented on behalf of all UIC MD-PhDAlumni “to the most outstanding MDPhD student who has completed thePhD and is returning to the 3rd year ofmedical school in 2015”. After solicitingapplication from the rising M3 group, themembers of the MSTP Alumni Association, founded in 2009 by 2008 alumnusDavid Ramsey, chose Alicia N. Rizzoas the 2015 recipient. She is shownwith Dr. Cohen, who presented the certificate and monetary award from the Association, and with Dr. Freitag who introduced Dr. Cohen, the previous Director of the MDPhD Program from 1993 to 2003. Alicia defended her thesis on June 1, 2015 in theDepartment of Pharmacology (lab of Dr. Steven Dudek) on the topic: The Role of theAbl Family Kinases in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome”We’re on the web!www.uic.edu/com/mdphdMSTP AdministrationDirector:Larry S. Tobacman, MDAssociate Directors:Nancy Freitag, PhDMark Rosenblatt, MD, PhDDirector Program Admin.:Julie Mann, MARoberta Bernstein, EditorCody Schott, Contributing Ed.COM AdministrationDimitri Azar, MD, DeanLarry S. Tobacman, MD,Sr. Associate Dean for ResearchJorge Girotti, PhD, AssociateDean and Director ofAdmissions and SpecialCurricular ProgramsKathleen Kashima, PhDSenior Associate Dean ofStudentsPR Newswire Public Interest Services, June 29, 2015“Internationally recognized neurosurgeon Dr. Uzma Samadani joinsHennepin County Medical Center”Dr. Uzma Samadani, [1999] whose research on concussion recently made headlinesaround the world, is joining the Department of Neurosurgery at Hennepin CountyMedical Center (HCMC), a nationally recognized Level I Adult and Pediatric TraumaCenter in Minneapolis, Minnesota that specializes in the treatment of traumatic braininjuries. She will serve as the Rockswold Kaplan Chair for Traumatic Brain Injury Research, and also be appointed an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota.Earlier this year, Dr. Samadani published research that describes a method for assessing the severity of traumatic brain injury (TBI) by measuring eye movements. In atalk at the North American Brain Injury Society meeting this May she showed datademonstrating that this technology is sensitive for detecting concussion. She has hadmore than 1.5 million dollars in research funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Space and Biomedical Research Institute and the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation as well as other sources."Her remarkable work in this specialized area of neurotrauma and neuro-ophthalmology will greatly enhance our comprehensive therapies for brain-injured patients atHCMC," explains Dr. Thomas Bergman, HCMC's Chief of Neurosurgery .She joinsHCMC with extensive experience in her work caring for patients with brain injury atNew York Harbor Health Care System/Manhattan Veterans Administration Hospital,and Bellevue Hospital in New York.Editor’s Note: I wish to conclude this issue of Medical Scientist, which I was given the privilege ofpreparing by Dr. Tobacman, with a special thank you, accompanied by big hugs, for the avalanche ofgood wishes I received from cherished students, alumni, faculty and staff upon the conclusion of mytenure as Assistant Director on June 30 at the 2015 Retreat. Although now officially a pensioner,and greatly enjoying the busy life of retirement, I cannot tear myself away entirely from the place andpeople I have loved for 13 years. And so, I’ve been “hanging out” over the summer, helping marvelous Julie Mann learn the hiding places of documents and procedures which she has so far masteredwith expertise and elegance. If you continue to see me hanging around from time to time, it’s because I miss you too much if I don't. Best wishes to all for a wonderful year. Roberta Bernstein

Graduate College and University Library to showcase the breadth and diversity of research at UIC. MSTP garners many awards at 2015 COM convocation MSTP Director Larry S. Tobacman, MD was one of two recipients of the COM Distin-guished Faculty Award at the 2015 convocation (the other was Xaoping Du, PhD, a mem-