This event included short remarks from College of Medicine leadership, presentations by current College of Medicine MD/PhD students and a keynote presentation by Toral Surti, MD, PhD, of Yale University School of Medicine.

This annual event is an opportunity for MD/PhD students to showcase their research endeavors and engage with the supportive community of faculty, staff and students that help make the MD/PhD program possible here at Drexel.

Retreat Schedule

• 12:00 – 12:10 p.m.
  Opening Remarks by Elias Haddad, PhD
• 12:10 – 12:20 p.m.
  Opening Remarks by Elisabeth Van Bockstaele, PhD
• 12:20 – 12:30 p.m.
  Opening Remarks by Kenny Simansky, PhD
• 12:30 - 1:25 p.m.
  Session I
• 1:25 – 1:35 p.m.
  10-minute break
• 1:35 – 1:45 p.m.
  Remarks by Charles Cairns, MD
• 1:45 - 2:35 p.m.
  Session II
• 2:35 – 2:45 p.m.
  10-minute break
• 2:45 – 3:35 p.m.
  Session III
• 3:35 – 3:45 p.m.
  Closing Remarks by Natalie Chernets, PhD
• 3:45 – 3:55 p.m.
  10-minute break
• 3:55 – 5:00 p.m.
  Keynote Address: Toral Surti, MD, PhD

Dr. Min is completing her Infectious Diseases fellowship at Mount Sinai, where her research focuses predominately on HIV-induced neuroinflammation. You can read more about Dr. Min and her research here: https://labs.icahn.mssm.edu/swartzlab/the-team/. As an early-career physician-scientist, Dr. Min will be talking to us about her personal journey through the MD/PhD program, her experiences navigating life after graduation and her research.

Margish Ramini, our MD/PhD student, provided updates from the AAMC Learner Summit.

Dr. Alfred Kim is a Drexel MD/PhD alum who is currently a rheumatologist working as a physician scientist at Washington University. Learn more about Dr. Kim at https://physicians.wustl.edu/people/alfred-kim-md-phd/.

12 – 5 p.m.
Location: 19th Floor Conference Room, New College Building, 245 N 15th St #470, Philadelphia, PA 19102

• 11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.: Lunch provided at the conference room foyer
• 12:00 – 12:10 p.m.: Opening Remarks by Dean Charles Cairns MD
• 12:10 – 12:20 p.m.: Opening Remarks by Elisabeth J. Van Bockstaele PhD
• 12:20 – 12:30 p.m.: Opening Remarks by Kenny Simansky PhD
• 12:30 – 1:25 p.m.: Session I (55 minutes)
• 1:25 – 1:35 p.m.: 10-minute break
• 1:35 – 2:25 p.m.: Session II (50 minutes)
• 2:25 – 2:35 p.m.: 10-minute break
• 2:35 – 3:35 p.m.: Session III (60 minutes)
• 3:35 – 3:45 p.m.: Closing Remarks by Elias El Haddad PhD
• 3:45 – 3:55 p.m.: 10-minute break
• 3:55 – 5:00 p.m.: Keynote: Drexel MD/PhD program Alum Liz Crowe MD, PhD

6:30   7:30 p.m.
Dr. Schindler completed her MD/PhD at Drexel University and now is an assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine in the department of neurology. If you want to read more about her, here is a link: https://medicine.yale.edu/neurology/profile/emmanuelle-schindler/?tab=bio.

6:30   7:30 p.m.
Dr. Colbert is the clinical director of the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). His research focuses on juvenile spondylarthritis. I am excited to learn more about his role as the clinical director and experience working in a government agency. Here is a link to learn more about his research, if you are interested: https://www.niams.nih.gov/about/directory/robert-colbert-md-phd.

Mike is a financial planner at Drexel. He will be talking about financial literacy and how it applies to MD/PhD students.

6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Alfred Kim is a Drexel MD/PhD alum who is currently a rheumatologist working as a physician scientist at Washington University. Here is a link to his profile for those that are interested: https://physicians.wustl.edu/people/alfred-kim-md-phd/.

6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Han is a Drexel MD/PhD alumnus who is currently the senior medical director at Takeda, a global pharmaceutical company. He has also previously served as a medical director for Biogen and GSK. Before working in the medical director roles Dr. Han completed his neurology residency and neuromuscular fellowship and Harvard Medical School, where he continued to teach after fellowship.

6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Maggie and Linda will be talking about their experience in the MD/PhD program as they are finishing their final year.

6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Botta is a Drexel MD/PhD alumnus who currently works as an associate professor at UC San Diego Health with a research focus in gastroenterology and medical oncology. In addition, he currently holds roles as a clinical research associate and a clinical collaborator. Before these roles, Dr. Botta completed a post-doc at University of Pennsylvania and then completed a medical oncology residency at Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center.

6:30 – 7:15 p.m.
Speakers Mitch Parker and Shawn Joshi. The first half of the session will be targeted towards students in the earlier years of their PhD. Mitch will be talking about the F30 application and Shawn will be talking about the Fulbright scholarship.
7:15 – 8:00 p.m.
Speakers Shawn Joshi and Phil Yates. This half of the session will be targeted towards students finishing their PhDs. Shawn and Phil will talk about their transition from the PhD to medical school.

 

 

Kelly Donovan and Kaitlin Farrell
Drexel University MD/PhD program students

Elias El Haddad, PhD and Natalie Chernets, PhD
Director and Associate Director of Drexel MD/PhD Program

Audrey Odom-John, MD/PhD
Chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at CHOP

Dr. John is a physician-scientist whose work focuses on understanding the Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite both in the research and the clinical realms. She will be talking to us about her journey as a physician-scientist and the unique and novel research she has done throughout her career.

Anthony DiNatale, Shawn Joshi, and Philip Yates
Drexel University MD/PhD program students

Linda Chamberlin, Kaitlin Farrell, Kelly Donovan, and Rachel Nolan
Drexel University MD/PhD program students

 

Dr. Guo-Li Ming
Perelman Professor of Neuroscience

 

Anthony Dinatale
Drexel University MD/PHD program student

Erik Li, Beth Ashinsky, Linda Chamberlin, Margaret O’Connor
Drexel University MD/PHD program students; with completion of oral defense

Margaret O’Connor, Drexel University MD/PHD program student
Abstract: Within every human secondary lymphoid organ (SLO) there occurs a tightly regulated process to recognize and respond to antigens. The proper response to antigens is directed by germinal center (GC) formation which occurs in SLOs. Within a GC, a tightly regulated process occurs to ensure education of the adaptive immune cells to respond to antigen. Understanding the multiple adaptive and innate immunologic cell types required for the appropriate formation and resolution of the GC response is highly important to inform pathogenesis and treatment of diseases, and success of vaccines. The two critical cell types of the GC are T follicular helper (Tfh) cells and their cognate B cells which upon interaction lead to creation of all aspects of humoral immunity. This process, once completed, must also be strategically resolved by mechanisms not yet fully understood. The central hypothesis of our work is that regulatory cells of both innate and adaptive immunity interfere in the function of GC-Tfh cells and consequently the ability to provide GC-B cell help and humoral immunity. We will determine the role of a new regulatory innate lymphoid cell (ILCFR) and innate lymphoid cell type 3 (ILC3) in regulating the GC interaction. We will also identify the function CXCR5+CD8+ T cells, and the role of adenosine deaminase in the formation, maintenance, and resolution of human germinal center interactions.

Linda Chamberlin, Drexel University MD/PHD program student
Abstract: The cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia (SZ) present a significant clinical burden. They are resistant to treatment and are the primary predictor of functional outcome for patients. Although the neural mechanisms underlying these deficits remain unclear, pathological inhibitory GABAergic signaling likely plays an essential role. Perturbations with parvalbumin (PV)-expressing fast-spiking (FS) interneurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are consistently found in post-mortem and in vivo studies of patients with SZ, as well as in animal models. Our own studies have shown a significant decrease in synaptic inhibition and PV immunostaining in the PFC, along with working memory and cognitive flexibility deficits in the NMDA receptor antagonist MK801 model. The strong association between PV cell abnormalities and impaired cognition in SZ suggests this cell type’s functioning may represent a critical point of convergence in the etiology of SZ, especially for cognitive symptoms. We therefore directly targeted PV cell activity in the PFC to rescue such cognitive deficits. We hypothesize that disrupted GABA transmission due to reduced PV cell activity levels results in disinhibition of excitatory pyramidal cells, leading to an elevated prefrontal excitation/inhibition (E/I) balance, which could be the key causal factor for cognitive impairments. Our results indicated that targeted pharmacogenetic upregulation of prefrontal PV interneuron activity using a novel excitatory DREADD can restore E/I balance and improve cognition in the MK801 model. Our study provides novel insights into the causal role of PV cells in cognitive function and has clinical implications for understanding the pathophysiology and intervention of SZ.

Linda Chamberlin, Drexel University MD/PHD program student

Community Panel, Drexel University MD/PHD program student

Erik Li, Drexel University MD/PHD program student
Abstract: Locomotion is a complex, rhythmic motor activity involving well-coordinated activation of multiple muscle groups. Locomotor central pattern generators (CPG) are neural circuits located in the thoracolumbar spinal cord which generate the basic rhythm and pattern for locomotion. These circuits integrate descending commands and afferent feedback to produce context-appropriate gait, but the basic motor pattern can be produced independent of both signals. As a result, recruitment of CPGs may have therapeutic relevance for gait improvement following pathologies affecting descending controls, such as stroke or spinal cord injury. Locomotor CPGs have been proposed to have a two-layer structure, in which a rhythm-generating layer produces rhythmic neural bursts and directs a pattern-forming layer to coordinate and recruit appropriate motor modules. Neurons which express the transcription factor Shox2 early in development are involved in both layers and can be divided based on overlap with the V2a interneuron class. Non-V2a Shox2 neurons are implicated in rhythm generation, while V2a Shox2 neurons contribute to motor neuron recruitment. Because rhythm-generating neurons are at the root of CPG function, modulation of non-V2a Shox2 neurons should strongly affect locomotor function. We therefore sought to determine whether and how afferent feedback and interactions with other CPG neurons contributed to the regulation of Shox2 neuron activity. Electrical stimulation of functionally-specified ankle afferents revealed that Shox2 neurons receive highly stereotyped patterns of afferent feedback, consistent with perturbations of ongoing locomotor activity in these preparations. Synaptic inputs to non-V2a Shox2 neurons were modulated rhythmically during locomotion and were reduced following hemisection, suggesting a strong commissural component. Based on this finding, computational modeling of left-right interactions revealed that inhibitory inputs from contralateral CPGs could contribute to maintenance of Shox2 rhythmicity across a wide range of descending drive strengths and produce moderate increases in maximum locomotor frequency. Together, these results provide cellular mechanisms acting presynaptically on rhythm-generating neurons that enable context-appropriate adjustments to locomotor function.

 

Elias Haddad, PhD, director, MD/PhD program; professor of medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine

 

Michael Feldman, MD, PhD, director of pathology informatics, University of Pennsylvania

Rajesh Ranganathan, PhD, director of translational medicine initiatives and clinical partnerships, Massachusetts General Hospital

Alisa R. Gutman, MD, PhD, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania

Steven Novick, MD, PhD, executive medical director, Celgene

Saar Gill, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine; director, Gill Laboratory, Center for Cellular Immunotherapies

Eline T. Luning Prak, MD, PhD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Shawn Joshi, Drexel MD/PhD program student

Scott A. Waldman, MD, PhD, professor, Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Thomas Jefferson University Jefferson Medical College

Eline T. Luning Prak, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Carla R Scanzello, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Mark Zern, MD, emeritus professor of medicine; director, Transplant Research Program; Fred and Pat Anderson Family Professor of Transplant Research, University of California, Davis Medical Center