Medical Scholar & HIVMA Medical Student Program Awardees
When William Hahn, MD, was a third-year medical student at Upstate Medical University, SUNY, he did not have his career path planned. And though his undergraduate degree in anthropology and biology gave him an interest in public health, it was his clinical rotation with the ID division chief, Timothy Endy, MD, MPH, that ignited his interest in infectious diseases research.
It was Dr. Endy, the university’s ID fellowship training director, who encouraged Dr. Hahn to apply for the IDSA Foundation’s Medical Scholars Program.
“I applied right away and Dr. Endy agreed to be my mentor.” His participation in the program allowed him to work with Dr. Endy on a project investigating the replication kinetics of the dengue virus in a cell culture system, cementing his desire to stay in academics and pursue a career with a research focus.
“The Medical Scholars award was critical for me because it allowed me to take some extra time during medical school to actually do research and go into a lab, he says. “And I liked it, and it directed me toward ID.” – William Hahn, MD 2008 Medical Scholars Program Awardee.
Stories like Dr. Hahn are possible because our Medical Scholars Program thrives to bind the energy and passion of our medical students and help them turn their aspiration into reality.
2018 Medical Scholar Awardees
Adrianna Stanley
MENTOR: Lisa Adams, MD
Dartmouth College (Geisel School of Medicine)
Projected Impact of DAR-901 Vaccination on M. Tuberculosis Infection Among Adolescents in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Alexander Young
MENTOR: Nada Fadul, MD
East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine
Predictors of HIV Viral Load Suppression in a Rural Southern Population
Alexis McCathern
MENTOR: Flor Munoz, MD
Baylor College of Medicine
Defining the Relationship between Maternal Immunization and Neurodevelopmental Delay Globally
Allison Bloom
MENTOR: Micah McClain, MD
Duke University
Host Gene Expression Signatures of Acute Respiratory Infections in the Elderly
Ammarah Spall
MENTOR: Zsofia Szep, MD
Drexel University College of Medicine
Severity of Anal Dysplasia and its Association with Inflammation in HIV Infection Resulting in Anal Cancer
Ariel Yang 
MENTOR: Luis Marcos, MD
Stony Brook Medicine
Evaluating the Efficacy of an Artificial Neural Network Smartphone Application for Point-of-Care Diagnosis, and Assessing Knowledge, Perception, and Attitudes towards Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH) and STH Intervention in Ifanadiana, Madagascar
Austin Evanne Coye
MENTOR: Maria L. Alcaide, MD
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Project: A Comparison Cost Analysis of Hospitalizations for Infections Related to Use of Injection Drugs at a County Safety-Net Hospital in Miami, Florida Following Establishment of a Syringe Exchange Program
Benjamin Miller
MENTOR: Sara Keller, MD
John Hopkins University Medical Institute
Determining Statements about Antibiotic Side-Effects Which Patients Understand and are Motivated by
Cameron Nutt
MENTOR: Eugene Richardson, MD, PhD and Paul Farmer, MD, PhD
Harvard Medical School
Undiagnosed Cases of Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Ebola Infection in Liberia: A Biosocial Analysis
Casey Kim
MENTOR: Keith Hamilton, MD
University of Pennsylvania
The Role of Personalized Antibiotic Therapy (PAT) Software in Guiding Empiric Antibiotic Prescribing
Christopher Dinh
MENTOR: Thomas Boyce, MD and Raymund Razonable, MD
Mayo Clinic School of Medicine
Refractory Cytomegalovirus Infection after Solid Organ Transplantation: Role of Resistance and Other Factors
Corey Watts
MENTOR: Emily Blumberg, MD
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Impact of Inappropriate Prophylactic Valganciclovir Dosing on CMV Outcomes in Solid Organ Transplantation
Daniel Brook
MENTOR: William C. Miller MD, PhD, MPH
The Ohio State University
Hepatitis C Virus Risk Factors in Appalachian Ohio People Who Inject Drugs 2007-2017
David Thomas
MENTOR: Navjyot Vidwan, MD
University of Louisville
A Retrospective Analysis of Antibiotic Prescribing Patterns in Kerala, India
Diana Leigh Jeang
MENTOR: Vincent Marconi, MD
Emory University School of Medicine
Barriers to HIV Viral Load Monitoring in KwaZulu-Natal and the Impact of Traditional Health Practitioners
Dustin Lamb
MENTOR: Sarah Parker, MD
University of Colorado Denver
Time to Positive Blood Culture at a Referral Pediatric Hospital
Ernestina Gambrah
MENTOR: Susan Coffin, MD
Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University
Antimicrobial Utilization and Characterization in a Cohort Admitted to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana
Giancarlo Atassi
MENTOR: Alan Hauser, MD
Northwestern University
Examination of Changes in Molecular Aspects of Pseudomonas aeruginosa’s Antimicrobial Resistance at Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Gwyneth Sullivan
MENTOR: Maximo Brito, MD
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine
Neurocognitive Development of Children Born to Zika Positive Mothers
Huan Dong
MENTOR: Jeffrey D. Klausner, MD
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Sciences/David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Community-Level Antibiotic use and Cephalosporin Susceptibility of Oropharyngeal Neisseria in MSM of Hanoi, Vietnam
James Wykowski
MENTOR: Adrienne Sharpiro, MD
University of Washington
The Effect of Anxiety on Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy in Low and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Jenny Qianjing Xia
MENTOR: Kyu Rhee, MD
Cornell University
Role of Urinary Biomarkers in the Diagnosis of active Pulmonary Tuberculosis
Jihad Al-Jabban
MENTOR: Arthur Kim, MD
The Ohio State University College of Medicine
viSNE Analysis of Hepatitis C Virus- Specific CD8 T cells from Different Patient Populations
John Tanaka
MENTOR: Matthew Kelly, MD
Duke University School of Medicine
Antibiotic Exposures, the Stool Microbiome, and Graft-Versus-Host Disease After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Jonathan L. Chang
MENTOR: Lance Okeke, MD
Duke University School of Medicine
The effect of HMG CoA-reductase inhibitors (statins) on incident cardiovascular events, malignancies, and all-cause mortality in persons living with HIV
Kasha Bornstein
MENTOR: Jose Castro, MD
UM Miller School of Medicine
A Comparison Cost Analysis of Hospitalizations for Infections Related to Use of Injection Drugs at a County Safety-Net Hospital in Miami, Florida Following Establishment of a Syringe Exchange Program
Kathleen Moriarty
MENTOR: Jordan Lake, MD
Brown University
Why is PrEP uptake low in those at highest risk for HIV? A mixed methods study of transgender women in Lima, Peru
Kieran Tebben
MENTOR: Miriam Laufer, MD
School of Medicine, University of Maryland
Analysis of the Dynamics of Recurrent Malaria Infection in Infants in the First Two Years of Life
Kristen Brao
MENTOR: Mark E. Shirtliff, PhD
School of Medicine, University of Maryland
The Role of the Host Immune Response in Differential Selection of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a B-ENaC Murine Model of Cystic Fibrosis
Maresa Woodfield
MENTOR: Steven Pergam, MD, MPH
University of Washington
Observational experiences in clinical infectious disease in Seattle, WA
Matthew Jeremiah Matson
MENTOR: Daniel Chertow, MD, MPH
Marshall University School of Medicine
NIH Graduate Partnership Program
Characterization of Ebola Virus Kinetics with a Novel Strand-Specific Assay
Maxwell Roth
MENTOR: Joshua D. Nosanchuk, MD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Effects of Monocolonal Antibodies Against Hsp60 on Extracellular Vesicles Produced by Histoplasma capsulatum
Melissa Ross
MENTOR: Ephraim Tsalik, MD, MHS, PhD
Duke School of Medicine
Comparison of Biomarkers, New and Old, for the Classification of Bacterial vs. Viral Infection
Merit George
MENTOR: Rizwan Sohail, MD and Zerelda Garrigos, MD
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science
Utility of Transesophageal Echocardiogram (TEE) Findings to Guide Management of Bacteremic Patients with Concordant v. Discordant Cardiovascular Implantable Electronic Device (CIED) Cultures
Michael Hovan
MENTOR: Thomas Kirn, MD, PhD
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Determining the Prevalence of Carbapenemase Production in Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae using the Modified Carbapenem Inactivation Method
Michael Sikorski
MENTOR: Myron M. Levine, MD, DTPH
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Environmental surveillance using Moore swabs for the detection of Salmonella Typhi in Upolu, Samoa
Mitchell Dumais
MENTOR: Frederick Buckner, MD
University of Washington School of Medicine
Characterization of Methionyl-tRNA Synthetase Inhibitors for Development as Novel Antibiotics
Morgan Goheen
MENTOR: Jessica Lin, MD
UNC School of Medicine
Impact of host anemia on P. falciparum gametocytogenesis in vitro
Nishad Sathe
MENTOR: Erin Bonura, MD, MCR
Oregon Health & Science University
Online Spaced Education to Teach Microbiology to Medical Students in a Threaded Medical School Curriculum
Patrick O’Neil
MENTOR: Devang Patel, MD
School of Medicine, University of Maryland
Systemic Hypertension among Young Adults with Perinatal HIV Infection
Pauline Shih
MENTOR: Mark Travassos, MD
School of Medicine, University of Maryland
Identification of Predominant Parasite Variant Surface Antigens in Children with Cerebral Malaria: A Proteomic Approach
Philippe Ayres
MENTOR: Avinash Shetty, MD
Wake Forest University
Antimicrobial Use for Pediatric Respiratory Infections: Parent’s Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices on Antibiotic Use and Physician Antibiotic Practice Patterns
Ryan Colby Passaro
MENTOR: Jesse L. Clark, MD, MSC
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Changes in Inflammatory Cytokine Levels in Response to Gonorrhea and Chlamydia Infection and Treatment in a Randomized Clinical Trial
Sarah McNitt
MENTOR: Karl Seydel, MD, PhD
Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Potential Role of FcγR Deficient NK Cells in Uncomplicated and Cerebral Malaria
Seda Ekici
MENTOR: Helen Chu, MD
University of Washington
Incidence and Adverse Birth Outcomes due to Respiratory Viral Infections in Pregnant Women
Shahin Mortazavi
MENTOR: David Koelle, MD
University of Washington School of Medicine
The Role of Tissue-Resident Memory T Cells in Immunity to Herpes Zoster
Shannon Skochko
MENTOR: John S. Bradley, MD, FAA, FIDSA
University of California, Irvine School of Medicine
Retrospective Review of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Patients with Sepsis to Determine Inadequate Antibiotic Exposure; an Epidemiologic Study of the Population at Risk
Sheila Ojeaburu
MENTOR: Paul Drain, MD, MPH, FACP
University of Washington School of Medicine
Effects of Intimate Partner Violence on HIV/AIDS Related Health Outcomes of HIV-Infected Women Enrolled in a Point of Care Randomized Trial in Durban, South Africa
Tammy Hsia
MENTOR: Marcus Zervos, MD
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Investigating Municipal Water Shutoffs, the Hepatitis A Outbreak, and Communicable Skin and Soft Tissue Infections
Thomas Loss
MENTOR: Mayur Ramesh, MD
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Fecal Lactoferrin and Calprotectin as Potential Test-of-Cure for Clostridium Difficile Infection
Wesley Rogers
MENTOR: Michael Satlin, MD
Weill Cornell Medicine
Diarrheal Infections in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients: a Single-center Experience Before and After Introduction of a GI Pathogen PCR Panel
2018 HIVMA Medical Student program awardees
Doris Berman
MENTOR: Katherine Schafer, MD
Wake Forest School of Medicine
Gathering Trauma Narratives: The Effects of Trauma on Reproductive Behaviors in HIV Populations
Sushma Boppana
MENTOR: Paul Goepfert, MD
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Impact of cross-reactive TCR clonotypes on HIV viral evolution
Catherine Dodson
MENTOR: Ellen Eaton, MD
University of Alabama School of Medicine
Quantifying Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) & HIV Testing Preferences in Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) to Provide Patient-Centered Care
Shruti Gujaran
MENTOR: David Riedel, MD
University of Maryland School of Medicine
The Role of Aging in HIV-Related Hospitalizations and Complications
Kristin Harrington
MENTOR: Russell Kempker, MD, MSc
Emory University
Cryptococcal Screening in Patients with HIV
Charles Kopp
MENTOR: Alison Roxby, MD, MSc
University of Washington School of Medicine
Maternal and fetal outcomes after integrase inhibitor-containing antiretroviral regimens during pregnancy: a retrospective cohort study in Seattle, Washington
Sugi Min
MENTOR: Curt G. Beckwith, MD
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Optimizing HIV and HCV continuum of care outcomes for criminal justice-involved populations
Joshua Niforatos
MENTOR: Justin Yax, DO, DTMH
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University
Root Cause Analysis of Missed Diagnosis of HIV/AIDS in the Emergency Department at a Level 1 Trauma Center
Katelyn Pastick
MENTOR: David Boulware, MD, MPH
University of Minnesota
Predictors and Outcomes of Seizures in HIV-Associated Cryptococcal Meningitis Patients
Alex Rosenthal
MENTOR: Philip Chan, MD, MS
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Acceptability of HIV Prevention and Screening Among Church Leaders in At-Risk Communities
Garshasb Soroosh
MENTOR: Robert F. Siliciano, MD, PhD
John Hopkins School of Medicine
Latent Reservoir Size as Predictor of Immunologic, Clinical, or Inflammatory Outcomes in Treated HIV
William Trebelcock
MENTOR: Rachel Bender Ignacio, MD, MPH
University of Washington School of Medicine
HIV Transmitted Drug Resistance: Prevalence, Clinical Characteristics, and Geospatial Mapping in Newly Diagnosed MSM and Transgender Women in Lima, Peru
Jennie Xu
MENTOR: Scott Letendre, MD
UC San Diego School of Medicine
Exploring the Relationship Between Epidermal Nerve Fiber Density and HIV-Associated Neuropathic Pain
Thomas Zaikos
MENTOR: Alberto Bosque-Pardos, PhD, MBA
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Investigating the immunological effects of the novel HIV latency-reversing agent 3-Hydroxy-1,2,3-benzotriazin-4(3H)-one (HODHBt)