A Celebration of Research - the University of Florida Health Science Center-Jacksonville's annual research awards presentation and ceremony - brought faculty, fellows and residents together to share their academic and scientific research accomplishments.

The festive program, held May 10 in the LRC Auditorium, featured platform presentations, poster viewing and award presentations. Associate dean for educational affairs Constance Haan, MD, served as moderator. Guest speakers and award presenters included assistant dean for research Alan Berger, MD; Joseph Tepas III, MD, surgery professor; and senior associate dean Robert C. Nuss, MD.

The keynote speaker was Tony Beck, PhD, associate professor and program officer, Division for Research Resources, National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health.

The event also featured two distinguished awards. Senior associate dean for research affairs M. Peter Pevonka, MS, RPh, received an award in appreciation for his years of effort in promoting research on the Jacksonville campus.

Dr. Robert Nuss was honored for his vision and persistence in championing the creation of Jacksonville's new research laboratory facility.

Earning the highest faculty research award - the Faculty Researcher/Scholar of the Year - was David Wood, MD, MPH, associate professor and chief of general pediatrics. The honor, first awarded in 1996, is given to a faculty member displaying three scholarship qualities: discovery (research), dissemination (publication in journals) and application (presentation at regional and national professional meetings).

Of the 70 fellows and residents who submitted platform and poster presentations, six won platform presentation awards and six received poster awards for their excellence:

Platform Presentation Winners

• 1st place - Shilpa Reddy, DO, Department of Medicine, Hepatitis C. Viral Load and the Risk of Bacteremia in Hemodialysis Patients with Vascular Catheters
• 2nd place - Samir Habashi, MD, Department of Medicine, Prokinetics Infusion to Empty the Upper GI Tract Prior to Endoscopy in Acute Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Randomized, Controlled, Double-Blind and Placebo Controlled Trial
• 3rd place - Saeed Bajestani, MD, Department of Pathology, A 2-Year Survey on Ability of Cefoxitin Disk Testing to Predict the Presence of MRSA Directly from Blood Cultures and Its Clinical Impact
• 4th place - Linda Di Teodoro, MD, Department of Medicine, Ultrasound Marking Improves the Yield of Percutaneous Liver Biopsy
• 5th place - Lemuel Aigbivbalu, MD, Department of Pediatrics, An Outbreak of Tuberculosis in a Private Daycare in Jacksonville, Florida
• 6th place - Evan Weiner, MD, FAAP, Department of Emergency Medicine, Application of Electronic Surveillance and Global Information System Mapping to Track the Epidemiology of Pediatric Pedestrian Injury

Poster Winners

• 1st place - Marco Pilla, MD, Department of Medicine, Inappropriate Procedures Impact Long-Term Clinical Outcomes of Patients Treated with Sirolimus-Eluting Stents
• 2nd place - Ahmed Bestoun, MD, Department of Surgery, Post-Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Pain: Effects of Intraperitoneal Local Anesthetics on Pain Control
• 3rd place - Ni Jin, MD, Department of Pathology, Telomerase Catalytic Subunit and P53 in Borderline Ovarian Tumor � An Immunohistochemical Study
• 4th place - Frank Orlando, MD, Department of Surgery, New Parameters in Aberrant Crypt Foci Evaluation in Colon Carcinogenesis
• 5th place - Binu Jacob, MD, Department of Medicine, Does It Matter which Beta-Blocker Is Prescribed in Patients with Systolic Heart Failure?
• 6th place - H. Sakhamuri, MD, Department of Medicine, Effect of Red Cells, Leukocytes and Bacteria on Urine Dipstick Testing for Protein: Role in the Transient Albuminuria of Urinary Tract Infection

Judges included Ramon Bautista, MD, Neurology; Luis Guzman, MD, Medicine/Cardiology; Shahla Masood, MD, Pathology; Arshag Mooradian, MD, Medicine/Endocrinology; Stan Nahman, MD, Medicine/Nephrology; Kenneth Vega, MD, Medicine/Gastroenterology; Fern Webb, PhD, Community Health and Family Medicine; and Christopher Williams, MD, Surgery/Urology.

Research Day is sponsored by the UF HSC-Jacksonville Office of Research Affairs.