Research!Louisville 2025: Marking 30 years of health sciences research

Research!Louisville (R!L) 2025 marked its 30th anniversary showcasing health sciences research at the Louisville Medical Center with a robust series of events held Oct. 13-17 at the Kosair for Kids Clinical and Translational Research Building on the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center. The weeklong celebration opened with inaugural symposia spotlighting the longstanding research collaboration between UofL and the Robley Rex VA Medical Center, as well as ongoing efforts in community-engaged research.

Other notable events included:

• Presentations by Jewish Heritage Fund grant awardees
• The Health Equity Keynote: "From Algorithm to Bedside: Building Trustworthy AI for Health Communities"
• The Louisville Clinical & Translational Research Center Annual Symposium
• The Immersive Technology Summit at Kornhauser Library
• A series of presentations by the Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences
• The Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute Health and the Environment Symposium

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) also hosted a dynamic panel discussion, "Consent to Research with Confidence: Design, Delivery and Documentation," along with two workshops:

• "Protocol Considerations from Legal and Privacy: What to Know Before IRB Submission"
• "Fraudulent Research Participants to Return of Secondary Findings and Points in Between: Learn from the IRB"
  [Link]Students in UofL School of Medicine distinction tracks participated in the poster competition at Research!Louisville 2025.

Poster sessions showcased outstanding research contributions from across the academic community, including graduate students, medical residents and fellows, postdoctoral scholars, research staff, faculty and participants in distinction and leadership programs. Winners, listed below, were announced following the keynote address.

R!L is also proud to co-sponsor the Kentucky Science Center's "Pulse of Surgery" Program, which engages 8th - 12th grade students in STEM fields. The program includes a live-streamed open-heart surgery and interactive sessions with health care and research professionals to explore career pathways in medicine and science.

A recording of the keynote address is available on the R!L webpage and photos from Research!Louisville 2025 are available on Flickr.

Research!Louisville 2025 Winners

Master's Basic Science Graduate Student Award

• 1st Place: Rachel Ferrill
• 2nd Place: Kasey Kropp
• 3rd Place: Yu Tian

Doctoral Basic Science Graduate Student Award

• 1st Place: Katelyn Sheneman
• 2nd Place: Deepa Karki
• 3rd Place: Mary Nancy Walter

Engineering Co-op Student Award

• Habiba Ramy

Engineering Master Student Award

• 1st Place: Walid Mohamed
• 2nd Place: Mostafa Abdelrahim
• 3rd Place: Mohamed Khudri

Engineering Doctoral Student Award

• 1st Place: Mohamed Azam
• 2nd Place: Sienna Shacklette
• 3rd Place: Ismat Almadani

School of Dentistry Basic Science Student Award

• 1st Place: Abigail Hacker
• 2nd Place: Autumn Pipkin
• 3rd Place: Vanessa Weisshaupt

School of Dentistry Clinical/Translational Research Award

• 1st Place: Judy Alatassi
• 2nd Place: Ashley Gearlds
• 3rd Place: Rachel Pan

School of Dentistry Social/Behavioral/Educational Award

• 1st Place: Rebecca Counts
• 2nd Place: Venkat Hemant Akurati
• 3rd Place: Marciana Castillo

Rhonda A. Hoffman Medical Student Award

• 1st Place: Rebecca Duffy
• 2nd Place: Brian Hart
• 3rd Place: F. Andrea Yeargin

Postdoctoral Fellow Award

• 1st Place: Ting Wang
• 2nd Place: Easton Ford

Research Associate Award

• Sweta Ghosh

Research Staff Award

• 1st Place: Scott Garza
• 2nd Place: Ahmed Abdelbaset-Ismail

School of Medicine Medical Resident Award

• Ademilola Tejuoso

School of Medicine Clinical Research Fellow Award

• Imad Majeed

Public Health & Information Sciences Master's Program Student Award

• Eliana Lopez Baron

Public Health & Information Sciences PhD Program Level Award

• Anika Mehta

Public Health & Information Sciences Basic Research Award

• Jennifer Tinman

Public Health & Information Sciences Research & Practice Award

• Olufunmilayo Babarinde

Faculty Award in Basic Science

• Petra Haberzettl

Faculty Award in Clinical Science

• Subathra Marimuthu

Ruth Greenberg Award for Excellence in Medical Education Research

• 1st Place: Joelle Hirst
• 2nd Place: Nimra Khan
• 3rd Place: LIAM Team: Kristie Vail Schultz, Mustafa Al-Kawaaz, David Neuberger and Brian Williams

Leslie Martin Medical Education Student Award

• Temiloluwa Haastrup

Professional & Educational Development Award

• Marciana Castillo

Excellence in Health Disparities Research Award

• 1st Place: Gbemisola Owolabi
• 2nd Place: Sidney Johnson
• 3rd Place: Jacob Warr

Nursing Graduate Student

• 1st Place tie: Joelle Hirst and Amani Abdulabi

Nursing Graduate Student Oral Presentation Award

• Shubha Sapkota

Postdoctoral Symposium: Oral Presentation Award

• 1st Place tie: Johnnie Newton and Belinda Petri

Distinction Track Business and Leadership Award

• Wiley Cain

Distinction Track Global and Public Health Award

• Gbemisola Owolabi

Distinction Track Medical Education Award

• Nikita Nair

Distinction Track Physician-Scientist Development Award

• Olivia Ossege

Distinction Track Research Award

• Caroline Ploeger

Distinction Track Urban Primary Care Award

• Elizabeth Baier

By Anne Noe