17
COM Outlook . Spring 2014
NSU-COM Wins Big at FOMA Poster Competition
During the 111
th
Annual Florida Osteopathic Medical
Association Convention, which was held February 20-23 at
the Hyatt Regency Bonaventure in Weston, Florida, NSU-
COM and its affiliated postgraduate programs nabbed all
six of the research prizes up for grabs at the association’s
Fourth Annual Student/Intern/Resident/Fellow Research
Poster Competition. Additionally, 48 of the 56 poster
entries were from NSU-COM students or Consortium for
Excellence in Medical Education/OPTI residents.
Janet Hamstra, Ed.D., associate professor of internal
medicine and director of preclinical education, served
as the competition’s head judge. Four other NSU-COM
faculty members also judged the event along with four
representatives from the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic
Medicine-Bradenton. The NSU-COM judges were Drs.
Cyril Blavo, Anjali Bhasin, Victor Jaffe, and Dennis Penzell.
Dr. Hilda De Gaetano stepped in to judge in Dr. Blavo’s
place for the afternoon judging.
Entrants submitted abstracts, produced posters, and
made poster presentations—all of which were included in
the judging process. Prizes were awarded in two categories:
Osteopathic Intern/Resident/Fellow Case Study
and Experimental Research
Osteopathic Medical Student Case Study
and Experimental Research
Six winners were selected, with first-, second-, and third-
place winners receiving $750, $250, and $100, respec-
tively. Featured in the box to the right are the NSU-COM-
affiliated poster winners in their respective categories.
First authors/presenters are listed in
bold
.
Resident Research
First Place
“Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in Situs Inversus
Totalis with Post-ERCP Pancreatitis and
Larkin Syndrome: A Novel Diagnosis”
Anthony Abraham, D.O.
(PGY-III)
Philip Pack III, D.O. (PGY-III)
Joshua Simon, D.O. (PGY-II)
Quoc Dang, D.O. (PGY-II)
Scott Moradian, D.O. (PGY-I)
Hector Lalama, M.D.
Mohammad Masri, M.D.
(Larkin Community Hospital General Surgery Residency)
Second Place
“A Young Female Patient with History of
Systemic Lupus Erythematous Presents with a
Rare Clinical Transvers Myelitis Presentation”
Nazeem Alexa Jahdi, D.O.
(PGY-V)
(Larkin Community Hospital Rheumatology Fellow)
Third Place
“A Unique Case of Shoulder Pain in
the Emergency Department”
Jack Groh, D.O.
(PGY-II)
(St. Lucie Medical Center Emergency Medicine Resident)
Student Research
First Place
“Treating Schizophrenia in Pregnancy”
OMS-III Elyse Julian
OMS-III Tania Espinal
Shlomo Pascal, M.D.
Second Place
“A Case of a Marvelous Mass: An Ossifying Fibroma”
OMS-III Andrea Palestro
Matthew Uhde, D.O. (PGY-1)
Wayne Cai, Ph.D., M.D.
Third Place
“A Unique Case of Persistent HCG”
OMS-III Tania Espinal
OMS-III Elyse Julian
Pictured (from left) are
OMS-III Tania Espinal,
OMS-III Elyse Julian,
OMS-III Andrea Palestro,
Anthony Abraham, D.O.
(PGY-III), and Jack Groh,
D.O. (PGY-III).
