Rashmi Bharadwaj, a third-year medical student in the UK College of Medicine, took a first place award for a research e-poster presentation at the American College of Surgeons 2023 Annual Clinical Congress in Boston.

Bharadwaj was among 48 medical students whose research was accepted for presentation in the Medical Student Program ePoster Session on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023. Following her presentation, it was announced that her e-poster earned first place in the Education, Innovation, and Outcomes Research category. 

The title of her presentation, “Pancreas Transplant Outcomes in Patients Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (PLWH) Infection,” is a retrospective cohort study of U.S. transplant patients from July 2001 – June 2021. In addition to support from faculty at the UK HealthCare Transplant Center, Bharadwaj also received a stipend from the Professional Student Mentored Research Fellowship (PSRMF).

The young medical student has participated extensively in transplantation research under the mentorship of Dr. Meera Gupta, a member of the transplantation faculty in the UK College of Medicine Department of Surgery and surgical director of the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant program at UK HealthCare. She has also presented research at the winter symposium of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and the American Transplant Congress.

“Rashmi is a brilliant student and a talented, passionate researcher…I look forward to watching her career path in surgery continue to develop,” Dr. Gupta commented.