NIH picks dental student for yearlong program; radiology house officer garners leadership prize

NIH taps dental student for research program

The National Institutes of Health has selected Quynh “Jolie” Nguyen, a fourth-year dental student, to take part in the NIH’s 12-month Medical Research Scholars Program.

The research training program allows medical, dental and veterinary students to take a one-year hiatus from their university studies to conduct basic, clinical or translational research at the NIH’s intramural campus in Bethesda, Maryland.

The 37 scholar program participants include 34 medical, two dental and one veterinary student who will begin their studies in July 2018. The students represent 28 accredited universities in the United States.

Nguyen was selected from among 115 applicants during the 2018-19 application cycle. She will take part in mentored training and will conduct research in areas that are of personal interest to her.

Mentors are fulltime NIH investigators with basic, clinical or translational research programs.

While at the School of Dentistry, Nguyen has completed research projects with faculty mentors on controlled drug delivery applications and on the effects of surface roughness and fractal dimension on bonding ceramics to resin cement. She is currently working on a research project with Dr. Yuanyuan Duan, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Materials Science, as her faculty mentor.

The NIH Medical Research Scholars Program is a public-private partnership supported by the NIH, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Genentech, the American Association for Dental Research, the Colgate-Palmolive Company, Elsevier, alumni of student research programs and other individual supporters.

Radiology resident earns leadership prize

Dr. Nisha Swaminathan, a house officer in the Department of Radiology, is one of 10 radiology residents and fellows nationwide to earn scholarships to attend the 2018 RLI Leadership Summit, “Creating a Future-proof Practice,” hosted by the Radiology Leadership Institute Sept. 7-9 in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

The program includes interactive sessions in which attendees work in teams to successfully negotiate, develop strategies and identify immediate steps to help their respective practices succeed now and in the future.

“The Radiology Leadership Institute is pleased to award these scholarships to this elite group of promising, future radiology leaders,” said Dr. Frank Lexa, RLI chief medical officer. “These 10 individuals were selected from a remarkably competitive group of candidates. They represent the future of our profession and we are proud that they will receive state-of-the-art training from us at the RLI Summit to build their skills and accelerate their leadership development.”

Founded in 1924, the American College of Radiology is a professional medical society dedicated to serving patients and society by empowering radiology professionals to advance the practice, science and professions of radiological care.