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On August 9, nearly 100 faculty, staff, and trainees attended the 2023 Behavioral Sciences Trainee and Jr Faculty Research Day. The event took place at the John S. Dunn Behavioral Sciences Education Center at UTHealth Houston. Attendees had the opportunity to view 20 posters, detailing the trainees’ research work.
The research day first started in August 2016 and was held annually until 2020 when it was put on hold to due to COVID restrictions. A committee, consisting faculty members Anilkumar Pillai, PhD; Katherine Loveland, PhD; Scott Lane, PhD; and Vineeth John, MD, MBA, saw an opportunity to relaunch the event in 2023.
“This was an excellent opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our trainees and new faculty,” Lane said. “The scope and nature of the research day has actually expanded. In addition to the poster session, we had the addition of a research blitz presentation. The Dunn Center was an excellent venue that allowed us to showcase our growing department.”
The Career Development and Research Excellence (CaDRE) Program was established by Pillai in 2022 and was a large inspiration in relaunching the research day into an annual event once again.
CaDRE was created to facilitate research training and career development for junior investigators, trainees, and fellows in the department. The program provides mentorship opportunities and promotes career advancement and research interests through a personalized mentorship program.
“One thing we always see in our young investigators is they always come in with great ideas” Pillai said. “They will work with a mentor on a project for one year. This is an opportunity for CaDRE members to show our research community what they are doing.”
Thiago Macedo e Cordeiro, MD, postdoctoral research fellow, is grateful for the opportunity to present his work.
“I think the most important thing that this is our identity as a department,” Cordeiro said. “It increases the likelihood of people collaborating. Sometimes, you have someone who has the key answer just on the other side of the room.”
The 2023 research presentation edition went very well, according to organizers and attendees. The team is excited to continue the expansion of the research day event next year.
“I would say this is indeed a historic event especially after the pandemic induced hiatus,” John said. “I would hope to see a ripple effect of today’s event in terms of renewed collaborations, new associations, and thus rewriting existing concepts about certain scientific truths.”
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