UND first-year medical students earn national research positions

Marissa Brown, Ashok Jethwa and Joshua Pohlman, first-year medical students at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences, have been selected to conduct student research under the direction of established scientists at nationally recognized medical centers this summer.

Marissa Brown from Scranton, N.D., will participate in the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research Fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta under the direction of Chantal Kerssens. Brown will work with cardiac patients, recording the depth of anesthesia during surgery and the amount of inflammation present in each individual in recovery.

Ashok Jethwa from Minot will conduct research at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., on diabetes, endocrinology and metabolic diseases. Jethwa has not yet been assigned to a specific project. His research is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, a branch of the National Institutes of Health.

Joshua Pohlman from Grand Forks will investigate diabetes at the Brehm Center for Diabetes Research at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Pohlman will be working with Leslie Satin to understand how normal patterns of insulin secretion are disrupted in diabetes.

Brown, Jethwa and Pohlman were competitively selected for their research positions from a national pool of applicants.

— Denis MacLeod, assistant director, Office of Alumni and Community Relations, The UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences, 777-2733, dmacleod@medicine.nodak.edu.