UF Medicine students host inaugural first-generation student research symposium
Participants included 21 College of Medicine and UF undergraduate students
Student presenters during the UF College of Medicine's inaugural first-generation student research symposium.
Nov. 2, 2023 — Mindy Tran felt nervous walking into the George T. Harrell, M.D., Medical Education Building for the first time this fall. As the first in her family to attend college, she did not know what to expect at her first research poster presentation.
“I felt like I was not going to be seen, heard or even acknowledged due to the academic level I was at compared to the other participants,” said Tran, a University of Florida preprofessional biology junior. “I expected the event to be rigid and technical, but it was everything but that. As the day progressed, I realized how the symposium was designed to create a friendly and inclusive atmosphere. The speakers who gave presentations shared anecdotes and guidance that resonated with the challenges I hadn’t even realized I was facing.”
Tran, along with 20 other UF undergraduate and College of Medicine students, participated in the college’s inaugural first-generation research symposium on Oct. 14. Organized by members of the college’s First-Generation Student Organization, the event aimed to provide first-generation students with a welcoming environment to practice discussing their research with peers and faculty, and to learn the protocols in place at research presentations. The event was open to premedical undergraduate and medical students.
Fourth-year medical student Asena Markal developed the idea after she had a stressful experience while presenting research for the first time during a conference.
“It was very intimidating for me to present research because nobody had ever shown me how to do that before,” Markal said. “I didn’t really have any connections at the time, so I was thinking, ‘It would be great if there was a conference just for first-gen students to share their medical research,’ which is something I’d never seen. It would have been so beneficial for me, especially earlier in medical school or even in undergrad, to have that under my belt before going to these national conferences.”
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UF medical student Carlos Valdes presents his research.
Markal, along with fourth-year medical student Angela Arata and third-year medical student Kendyll Coxen, organized the one-day conference with these thoughts in mind.
In addition to the poster presentations, the event included a keynote speech titled “First-Generation Students: Fake it Till You Make It” by Jackie Otero, M.D., an associate professor in the department of pediatrics, and a speech from Brittany Rogers, M.D., an assistant professor in the division of hematology & oncology.
Arata said she enjoyed hearing Otero’s and Rogers’ presentations because they aligned with her experiences.
“To me, ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ means having the courage to be confident even in new situations. As a first-generation student, there have been many times when I have found myself in unfamiliar territory, but I go with it and always try to do my best,’” Arata said.
A panel of College of Medicine faculty members — John Aris, Ph.D.; Peter Sayeski, Ph.D.; Heather Harrell, M.D.; and Shelley Collins, M.D. — served as judges during the event. Some of the criteria judged included the participants’ oral presentation of their research, how well they answered questions about their research and the visuals of their presentations.
UF medical students Asena Markal, Angela Arata and Kendyll Coxen.
“One of the most rewarding parts of being an educator and a mentor is watching your students grow wings and fly,” said Collins, the senior associate dean of undergraduate medical education at the College of Medicine. “Angela, Asena and Kendyll came to me over a year ago with a nugget of an idea to host a first-generation research symposium. The proposal they created was excellent. They secured funding support, advertised the event and executed the full day beautifully. They are each fulfilling the potential we saw in them when they applied to medical school and are paying it forward to other first-generation students.”
Coxen is now working with second-year medical students to plan for additional first-generation research symposiums.
“We definitely want to increase our outreach and target more undergraduate students in the future because they seemed to really value the experience,” she said. “I think it’d also be great to include students at other professional schools, like pharmacy and nursing. Maybe in a couple of years, that’s where this is heading.”
Research poster finalists
Krista Grant (1st place): “Protein Biomarkers as Potential Prognostic and Diagnostic Tools for Traumatic Brain Injuries”
Liam Kugler: “Risk Factors for Suboptimal Compliance with Imaging Surveillance Following Uncomplicated Type B Aortic Dissection”
Shawn Khan: “Assessing Health Literacy on Amblyopia in the Pediatric Ophthalmology Clinic”
Carlos Valdes: “Aortic Arch Approach Angle and the Risk of Axillary Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump Complication”
Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award
Mindy Tran: “Synthesis of Novel Quinolinyl-Chalcones as Potential Candidates for the Discovery of New Anti-Leishmanial and Anti-Chagas Disease Drugs”
