Ortho Research Presents and Receives Numerous Awards at Virtual Health Sciences Research Day

TLRO undergraduate, Alex Lee
Dr. Jimi Cook received the 2020 Excellence in Mentoring Award (left). TLRO undergraduate, Alex Lee, received the 2020 School of Medicine’s Dean Award (right).

TLRO undergraduates, graduate and postdoctoral trainees presented their research virtually at the 2020 Health Sciences Research Day, November 6, 2020. Organized and sponsored by the MU School of Medicine Research Council, Health Sciences Research Day is an annual symposium that showcases research from undergraduate, medical, nursing and health professions students, as well as predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees.

Ortho research received several prestigious awards this year. Dr. Jimi Cook received the 2020 Excellence in Mentoring Award. The award reflects Dr. Cook’s continuous success mentoring trainees and junior faculty and his sustained commitment to promote the personal and professional growth and development of research trainees.

TLRO undergraduate, Alex Lee, received the 2020 School of Medicine’s Dean Award. This means Lee’s research submission received the top score of all School of Medicine submissions—what an accomplishment!  Lee is a Senior Health Science major at Mizzou and mentored by Dr. Aaron Stoker, PhD. During the virtual event, he presented his award-winning research titled “Defining Osteoarthritic Patient Phenotype Clusters Based on Infrapatellar Fat Pad Metabolic Profiles.”

Other department winners included:

  • Ashwin R. Garlapaty, undergraduate student: Clinical Research Category I, Second Place—mentored by Aaron Stoker, PhD, “Relationships Among Pro-Inflammatory and Degradation-Related Biomarkers Release by Articular Cartilage from Osteoarthritic Knees”
  • Luke Baxter, undergraduate student: Basic Science Research Category I, Third Place—mentored by Aaron Stoker, PhD, “Effects of Cytokine Stimulation on Human Hamstring Tendon Autografts Intended for ACL Reconstruction”
  • Josephine Luk, PhD candidate: Clinical Research Category II, Third Place—mentored by James Cook, DVM, PhD, “Immunohistochemistry on Recovered Osteochondral Allografts Suggest Immunological Impact in Graft Healing”
  • Breanne S. Baker, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow: Clinical Research Category II, First Place—mentored by Dana Duren, PhD and Stephen Ball, PhD, “Efficacy of Ten vs Eight Weeks of Resistance Training in Older Adults”

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