On Friday, July 25, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine hosted the 46th Annual Medical Student Research Fellowship (MSRF) presentations, spotlighting a record-breaking cohort of 85 first-year medical students. The event, held from 8 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. in the General Education Building, brought together faculty, fellows, postdoctoral researchers, and residents to support and celebrate student research.
The MSRF program offers UT Health Science Center medical students a unique opportunity to dive into hands-on, faculty-mentored research across a wide range of disciplines, including basic and clinical sciences. Students are selected through a competitive process and spend the summer developing and conducting original research projects. The program aims to inspire future physician-scientists by providing early exposure to biomedical research and academic medicine.
Under the guidance of co-directors Matthew Ennis, PhD, Steve Goodman, PhD, and John Boughter, PhD, this year’s participants explored topics spanning epidemiology, social determinants of health, global and population health, surgery, cancer, immunity, inflammation, neuroscience, and vision science, among others.
The top eight award recipients in the 2025 MSRF program were:
Santiago Cervantes Abraham – mentored by Changhoon Jee, PhD
Campbell Cook – mentored by Kui Li, PhD
Macey Daniel – mentored by Lawrence Pfeffer, PhD
Cole Duffy – mentored by Thirumalini Vathiananthan, PhD
Conrad Dorflinger-Slee – mentored by Monica Jablonski, PhD
Katherine Hammond – mentored by Anthony Merlocco, MD
Garrett McFadden – mentored by Jason Johnson, MD
Matthew Lazarov – mentored by Ramesh Narayanan, PhD
The MSRF program is made possible through support from the Office of the Executive Dean of the College of Medicine, participating departments and mentors, and generous contributions from Carol and Greg Houser.