The Department of Anesthesiology was one of 37 sites nationwide selected to host the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellowship Program (MSARF) in 2016. FAER created the MSARF program to encourage talented medical students to consider careers in anesthesiology research and perioperative medicine. The program offers an eight-week anesthesia-related research experience and the opportunity to present research findings at the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) annual meeting. Our 2016 FAER MSARF fellows were Anh Nguyen and Elizabeth Snajdar.
Anh Nguyen grew up in Saigon, Vietnam and in 2004, his family moved to Orange County, California. He graduated from the University of California in Irvine with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Currently, Anh is a second year medical student at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Erie, PA. As a FAER fellow, he participated in both basic science and clinical research during his tenure at the University of Pittsburgh. Anh worked with mentor Dr. A. Murat Kaynar and his team on two main research projects, “Immune Changes in the ICU following Sepsis: an Experimental Model of Sepsis in Drosophila Melanogaster” and “Cost Effectiveness Analysis of General and Regional Anesthesia for Hip and Knee Arthroplasty within the UPMC Health Care System.” Anh is writing an abstract for the Drosophila reinfection project and is planning to present his findings at the 2016 ASA meeting in Chicago. In addition to his research endeavors, he also had opportunities to shadow Dr. James Ibinson at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and Dr. Joshua Eaton at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC to gain more clinical exposure to the specialty. Anh greatly enjoyed his time as a FAER scholar and this positive education and research experience has only helped substantiate his ambition to become an academic anesthesiologist.
Elizabeth Snajdar, a proud Clevelander, graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Molecular Genetics. After working in clinical research, she pursued a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from Cleveland State University. Besides being a former scientist and nurse, Elizabeth is a second year medical student at Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in Dublin, Ohio. During her FAER fellowship, Elizabeth worked with mentor Dr. Tomas Drabek. Preliminary studies for her project, “Hemoadsorption Removes Plasma Cytokines after Experimental Cardiac Arrest in Rats,” have recently concluded and she is writing a manuscript. The study investigates whether a systemic and organ-specific cytokine response occurs early after cardiac arrest and mediates the secondary hemodynamic and metabolic derangement, a complex pathophysiological problem that is associated with the delayed mortality of cardiac arrest. Elizabeth completed hands-on experimentation as she helped intubate and anesthetize rats and perform surgery, as well as monitor and record data. She also analyzed results, organized data, and performed statistical analysis and production of figures. Elizabeth is currently working on an abstract and will present her findings at the 2016 ASA meeting. In addition to conducting research, Elizabeth also shadowed clinicians in adult, cardiac, obstetric, and pediatric anesthesiology, as well as pediatric emergency medicine. The FAER fellowship has reaffirmed Elizabeth’s interests in pursuing anesthesiology and has positively impacted her experiences in both research and medicine.