The School of Medicine will observe its 11th annual Student Research Day on Wednesday, May 14, when more than 45 Yale medical, public health and physician-scientist students will present their thesis research through scientific posters and oral presentations.
Also that day, Dr. Judah Folkman, who is credited with founding the field of angiogenesis, will deliver the 10th annual Lee E. Farr, M.D. Lecture, titled "Strategies for the Discovery of Endogenous Inhibitors of Angiogenesis." Both Dr. Folkman's talk and the student thesis presentations will be held in the Jane Ellen Hope Building, 315 Cedar St. The University community is invited to attend. Thesis presentations
For more than 155 years, the thesis has been an integral part of the Yale system of medical education. Since 1839, the school has required its medical students to conduct original research and to write a thesis, the oldest such requirement among the nation's 126 medical schools.
Students will present results of their independent research projects in posters that they will discuss noon-2 p.m. Posters will include such diverse topics as the duties of patients to physicians, immunization tracking as a quality indicator in the Connecticut Medicaid managed care program, the effect of steroids on muscle healing, and the REMEDY program, a model for the use of medical supplies donated for overseas use.
Five students whose theses have been selected by the Thesis Awards Committee to receive special honors will present their findings, beginning at 2 p.m. in Rm. 110. They include: Anthony Aizer '92 B.A. "Genetic Variants of the Angiotensinogen Gene and Their Effects on Blood Pressure Regulation Among People of African Descent"; K. Leslie Avery, "Containing the Backlash Against Managed Care Limits: A Rational Approach Towards Legislating Mandated Health Benefits Coverage"; Kelly Cant, "Genetic and Biochemical Characterization of Drosophila singed, a Homolog of the Actin Bundling Protein Fascin"; Michael A. Fischer, "Excess Sample Size and the 'Delta Wobble' in Randomized Controlled Trials"; and Dana Meinke, "Tat-dependent Regulation of 3'-End Processing Efficiency in HIV-1."
Folkman talk
Dr. Folkman's lecture, which is named in honor of a 1932 medical school graduate, will begin at 4:30 p.m.
"Dr. Judah Folkman's pioneering work on angiogenesis is widely recognized to have created a new area of biology," says Dr. John N. Forrest, director of the medical school's Office of Student Research. "However, his theories on tumor growth, proposed when he was a young physician, initially were scorned by leading investigators of the day. Dr. Folkman's accomplishments reflect the observation of Aldous Huxley that 'every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority.' We are honored that Dr. Folkman will speak at Yale's Student Research Day where the research accomplishments of current students are recognized."
Dr. Folkman is the Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Harvard Medical School, and director of the Surgical Research Laboratories and surgeon-in-chief emeritus at Children's Hospital in Boston.
He made a major discovery concerning cancer and blood vessels by explaining what factors govern the formation and regression of the disease on blood vessels. As a Harvard Medical School student, Dr. Folkman helped develop the first atrio-ventricular implantable pacemaker. Later, while serving in the U.S. Navy, Dr. Folkman, along with David Long, first reported the use of silicone rubber implantable polymers for the sustained-release of drugs. This study led directly to the development of Norplant, an implantable contraceptive now used in the United States and elsewhere. In the late 1960s, Dr. Folkman began his major laboratory effort on the study of angiogenesis, a process in which tumors send out chemical signals that induce capillaries to grow. His discoveries on the mechanism of angiogenesis opened a field of investigation now pursued worldwide.