Emory’s Internal Medicine Residency Program announces the 2019 “Stimulating Access to Research in Residency” (StARR) grant recipients

The J. Willis Hurst Internal Medicine Residency Program has named three first-year residents, Nour Beydoun, MD, Elizabeth Iffrig, MD, and Vanessa Van Doren, MD, as the 2019 recipients of the “Stimulating Access to Research in Residency” (StARR) grant. Emory was among three institutions nationwide selected to receive the highly competitive StARR award in 2018. The initiative was created by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to address a nationwide shortage of physician scientists. Professor of medicine Igho Ofotokun, MD, and associate professor of medicine Nadine Rouphael, MD in the Division of Infectious Diseases serve as co-directors of the program.

During her time at the Emory Hope Clinic, Nour Beydoun gained valuable clinical research experience, which confirmed her choice to pursue microbiology and immunology research as part of her medical career. Beydoun believes that the StARR program will shape her into an exceptional physician scientist.

“I aspire to become a physician scientist who brings clinical observations to the bench,” Beydoun says. “The StARR program will provide me with the additional skills, mentorship, and structure necessary to help me succeed in my research career.”

Also interested in becoming a physician scientist, Elizabeth Iffrig’s experience as a biomedical engineer with strong programming skills and a familiarity with fluid mechanics measurement, analysis, and interpretation provided her a strong foundation for entering the StARR program. With the grant, she aims to create a validated clinical tool that could be used early in sepsis to identify patients who are more likely to experience severe complications before hemodynamic instability occurs and potentially identify specific inflammatory pathways that could present future targets for treatment.

“Receiving the StARR grant will allow me to continue growing as an independent investigator and take a more established role as the lead investigator,” she says. “The grant’s ability to help instruct junior residents in understanding the importance and incorporation of clinical research is another critical step for me in becoming a primary investigator.”

Vanessa Van Doren first became interested in combining research and clinical medicine eight years ago while conducting population genetics fieldwork in rural Ethiopia. Throughout her medical education, she has been deeply involved in health justice advocacy and the fight for equal access to health care.

“The StARR award will allow me to immerse myself in a longitudinal research project that I could build on over the course of residency and into infectious diseases fellowship. I will be able to dedicate myself to a meaningful project and to building the skill set and mentorship network of a successful physician researcher,” says Van Doren. “One of the many reasons I came to Emory is the breadth and depth of infectious diseases research here, and this award allows me to take full advantage of that opportunity.”

Van Doren intends to use her previous knowledge and skills and the career-changing opportunity provided by the StARR program to lay the foundation for a career as an HIV physician researcher.

The StARR program’s approach includes a structured research-training program that offers in-depth training in the fundamentals of clinical and translational research, as well as an Emory R38 specific mentoring program that is tailored to the training needs of resident physicians.

The program’s preceptors have mentoring experience and federally-funded research projects in the program’s target areas, including transmission, prevention, basic and applied immunology and microbiology, end-organ complications, disease management, therapeutics, pharmacology, and vaccinology.

Second-year resident Nick Scanlon, MD was the first awardee of the StARR grant in 2018. Scanlon has been working closely with faculty members at the Hope Clinic and the Emory Transplant Center to characterize vaccine responses in immunocompromised transplant patients. After residency, he plans to pursue a career in allergy and immunology with a focus in immunodeficiency.

Click here to learn more about the StARR program. Information regarding the 2020 StARR program application process will be available soon.