Other notable events included:

• Presentations by Jewish Heritage Fund grant awardees
• The��Health Equity Keynote:��“From Algorithm to Bedside: Building Trustworthy AI for Health Communities”
• The��Louisville Clinical & Translational Research Center Annual Symposium
• The��Immersive Technology Summit��at Kornhauser Library
• A series of presentations by the��Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences
• The��Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute Health and the Environment Symposium

The��Institutional Review Board (IRB)��also hosted a dynamic panel discussion,��“Consent to Research with Confidence: Design, Delivery and Documentation,”��along with two workshops:

• “Protocol Considerations from Legal and Privacy: What to Know Before IRB Submission”
• “Fraudulent Research Participants to Return of Secondary Findings and Points in Between: Learn from the IRB”
  

  

Poster sessions showcased outstanding research contributions from across the academic community, including��graduate students, medical residents and fellows, postdoctoral scholars, research staff, faculty and��participants in distinction and leadership programs. Winners, listed below, were announced following the keynote address.

R!L is also proud to��co-sponsor the Kentucky Science Center’s “Pulse of Surgery” Program, which engages��8th – 12th grade students��in STEM fields. The program includes a live-streamed open-heart surgery and interactive sessions with health care and research professionals to explore career pathways in medicine and science.

A recording of the keynote address is available on the and are available on Flickr.

Research!Louisville 2025 Winners

Master’s Basic Science Graduate Student Award

• 1st Place: Rachel Ferrill
• 2nd Place: Kasey Kropp
• 3rd Place: Yu Tian

Doctoral Basic Science Graduate Student Award

• 1st Place: Katelyn Sheneman
• 2nd Place: Deepa Karki
• 3rd Place: Mary Nancy Walter

Engineering Co-op Student Award

• Habiba Ramy

Engineering Master Student Award

• 1st Place: Walid Mohamed
• 2nd Place: Mostafa Abdelrahim
• 3rd Place: Mohamed Khudri

Engineering Doctoral Student Award

• 1st Place: Mohamed Azam
• 2nd Place: Sienna Shacklette
• 3rd Place: Ismat Almadani

School of Dentistry Basic Science Student Award

• 1st Place: Abigail Hacker
• 2nd Place: Autumn Pipkin
• 3rd Place: Vanessa Weisshaupt

School of Dentistry Clinical/Translational Research Award

• 1st Place: Judy Alatassi
• 2nd Place: Ashley Gearlds
• 3rd Place: Rachel Pan

School of Dentistry Social/Behavioral/����ֱ��al Award

• 1st Place: Rebecca Counts
• 2nd Place: Venkat Hemant Akurati
• 3rd Place: Marciana Castillo

Rhonda A. Hoffman Medical Student Award

• 1st Place: Rebecca Duffy
• 2nd Place: Brian Hart
• 3rd Place: F. Andrea Yeargin

Postdoctoral Fellow Award

• 1st Place: Ting Wang
• 2nd Place: Easton Ford

Research Associate Award

• Sweta Ghosh

Research Staff Award

• 1st Place: Scott Garza
• 2nd Place: Ahmed Abdelbaset-Ismail

School of Medicine Medical Resident Award

• Ademilola Tejuoso

School of Medicine Clinical Research Fellow Award

• Imad Majeed

Public Health & Information Sciences Master’s Program Student Award

• Eliana Lopez Baron

Public Health & Information Sciences PhD Program Level Award

• Anika Mehta

Public Health & Information Sciences Basic Research Award

• Jennifer Tinman

Public Health & Information Sciences Research & Practice Award

• Olufunmilayo Babarinde

Faculty Award in Basic Science

• Petra Haberzettl

Faculty Award in Clinical Science

• Subathra Marimuthu

Ruth Greenberg Award for Excellence in Medical ����ֱ�� Research

• 1st Place: Joelle Hirst
• 2nd Place: Nimra Khan
• 3rd Place: LIAM Team: Kristie Vail Schultz, Mustafa Al-Kawaaz, David Neuberger and Brian Williams

Leslie Martin Medical ����ֱ�� Student Award

• Temiloluwa Haastrup

Professional & ����ֱ��al Development Award

• Marciana Castillo

Excellence in Health Disparities Research Award

• 1st Place: Gbemisola Owolabi
• 2nd Place: Sidney Johnson
• 3rd Place: Jacob Warr

Nursing Graduate Student

• 1st Place tie: Joelle Hirst and Amani Abdulabi

Nursing Graduate Student Oral Presentation Award

• Shubha Sapkota

Postdoctoral Symposium: Oral Presentation Award

• 1st Place tie: Johnnie Newton and Belinda Petri

Distinction Track Business and Leadership Award

• Wiley Cain

Distinction Track Global and Public Health Award

• Gbemisola Owolabi

Distinction Track Medical ����ֱ�� Award

• Nikita Nair

Distinction Track Physician-Scientist Development Award

• Olivia Ossege

Distinction Track Research Award

• Caroline Ploeger

Distinction Track Urban Primary Care Award

• Elizabeth Baier

By Anne Noe

Professor Oluwaferanmi Okanlami encouraged attendees to ask that question at the 2024 health equity keynote: “Disabusing Disability: Demonstrating that Disability Doesn’t Mean Inability.” Okanlami, whose mission is to close the gap among the diverse members of our society to create a more equitable and promising future for all, highlighted shortcomings in how most of society views disabilities and what must change.

Born in Nigeria before immigrating to the U.S. at a young age, Okanlami attended high school at Deerfield Academy and went on to Stanford University where he also ran track & field, serving as captain his last two seasons and achieving Academic All-American recognition.��Okanlami earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan before matching into orthopedic surgery residency at Yale University. At the beginning of his third��year of residency, he experienced a spinal cord injury, paralyzing him from the chest down. After two surgeries and intense rehabilitation, he recovered some motor function and navigates the world as a proud wheelchair user.

Today, Okanlami is director of student accessibility and accommodation services at the University of Michigan, where he oversees the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities, two Testing Accommodation Centers and the Adaptive Sports & Fitness Program. He also is an assistant professor of family medicine, physical medicine & rehabilitation and urology at Michigan Medicine and an adjunct assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In addition, he earned a master’s in engineering, science and technology entrepreneurship from the University of Notre Dame and completed his family medicine residency at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana.

As an accomplished athlete, he is passionate about adaptive sports and fitness and champions access to physical fitness and inclusive recreational and competitive sports for all.

At Research!Louisville, Okanlami’s topic provided insight into creating a health system which is accessible to and inclusive of both patients and providers with disabilities, as well as providing provisions necessary for students and employees with disabilities in higher education.

The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a person with a disability as an individual who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment. Okanlami’s work emphasizes that disabilities do not fairly identify individuals, but more than likely perceptions of disabilities can lead to artificially placing limits on people who have just as much or more to contribute to society.

As a disabled, Black, Nigerian, immigrant, cis-gender heterosexual, male, physician and athlete, Okanlami doesn’t just speak from an acquired knowledge-based perspective. He has experienced firsthand the difficulties of being identified in a culture that does not understand his main message that “disability does not mean inability.”

In his talk, Okanlami illustrated how each individual with a disability has unique needs for accommodations.

“When you have met one person with a disability, you have met one person with a disability,” he said.

Okanlami said that everyone must recognize that we live in an ableist world and we need to provide reasonable and appropriate accommodation for people that identify has having disabilities, whether those disabilities are visible or invisible.

“The health care system is ableist by definition. The medical model of disability teaches us that disability is pathology. It is something that is broken that should be fixed, prevented or cured,” Okanlami said. “The social model of disability does not see the problem living in the individual, it sees the system we are in as being inaccessible. If someone is born without the ability to walk, that shouldn’t be a problem if we have access to the resource they need to be able to navigate.”

But he encouraged everyone to take action.

“What is it we can do to make someone’s tomorrow better than their yesterday?” Okanlami said. “There is something that each of you can do, even if it is a tiny little bite, but the impact that little bite can have could be something that makes a profound impact on someone else’s life.”

Okanlami’s Research!Louisville presentation on Sept. 19 at the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center was led by the HSC Office of Health Equity and Engagement and the School of Medicine Office of Community Engagement and Diversity. To watch his entire keynote discussion, visit the .

Betty Coffman contributed to this story.

“Research!Louisville is a great opportunity to explore the important role UofL research plays in our day-to-day lives,” said Kevin Gardner, executive vice president for research and innovation. “That work positively impacts our world, from creating meaningful educational experiences and career pathways for students to developing innovative new technologies and companies.”

The event includes a presentation by author and medical ethicist Harriet Washington on Thursday, Oct. 5 from 12 noon to 1 p.m. at Kornhauser Auditorium on the Health Sciences Center campus presented by UofL’s Office of Institutional Equity and the HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Washington’s latest work is the award-winning “Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Experimentation from Colonial Times to the Present.”��

UofL News caught up with V. Faye Jones, a pediatrician and associate vice president for health affairs/diversity initiatives at the UofL Health Sciences Center,��and Kiana Fields, coordinator, UofL Office of Diversity and Inclusion, to talk about the importance of Washington’s research.

UofL News: What kind of perspective does Harriet Washington bring to the discussion about racial health disparities?

���DzԱ��:��She brings great insight into medical ethics and racism, how they intersect with each other. Our work focuses on the harms inflicted on historically minoritized populations by bringing attention to that history now. For many people, it’s the first time they are hearing that history. She tells us about things we may have not delved as deep in as we should have and holds all of us accountable for it.

�󾱱�����:��Washington’s been doing this work for decades. She saw a need and a gap within the literature to address the longitudinal atrocities that have taken place. In addition to medical apartheid, she has talked about the erosion of informed consent and how it’s systemic racism.
She incorporates different identities and different systems of oppression and explores the health impacts and the ethical dilemmas that exist as well.

UofL News: What are some of the specific ways Washington has shined a light on little-known history of medical inequity?

Fields:��She started going deeper into her research for medical apartheid when she was working in a hospital and saw medical files of kidney failure patients that were different for Blacks and whites. While the files were comparatively similar, in the Black patient’s file, it said imminent demise was expected. That’s when she knew some of her suspicions were true and there was more that needed to be uncovered. One other medical story is about J. Marion Sims, who was known as the father of gynecology. This physician and researcher conducted painful experiments without anesthesia using enslaved women, which ultimately led to important gynecological advances. There is a lack of acknowledgement of the harms that were done in that way.

Jones:��First, we need to acknowledge this, showing that these disparities exist and then understanding why they exist, and then developing and implementing strategies to change it. Just like Kiana said about the kidney patients, there are so many things where if you’re black then you get this type of treatment, and if you’re not black you get this. So how is that right? It’s not. You focus on these things so that we can correct and hopefully improve patient care and address health disparities to get us more to that standard of health equity.

UofL News: According to CDC data, Black women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women, with most of the maternal deaths being preventable. Multiple factors contribute to these disparities, such as variation in quality health care, underlying chronic conditions, structural racism and implicit bias.��How does Washington’s examination of the history of medical inequities help inform the present?

Fields:��With Black maternal and infant mortality disparities, we often think that if you were in a higher socioeconomic status that you would be exempt. But a great example of that is Serena Williams. She had preeclampsia for her first pregnancy and the physicians didn’t take her concerns seriously, and so she found herself in a very precarious situation where both her life and her child’s life were in danger.

Jones:��When you look at what happened with Serena Williams and the pulmonary embolism, I think it’s important to note that if that can happen to a person of that stature, that wealth and who is that well known, then what is happening to people who don’t have voices? Are they invisible? With Black maternal mortality, it’s amazing how it is present in every community, including in Jefferson County. There is such a disparity there and we must be able to say yes, it exists, and to look into the root causes of it and do something about it, not just talk about it.

UofL News: For those who come to hear Harriet Washington’s presentation on October 5, what questions and reflections do you hope it prompts for people?

���DzԱ��:��One thing I would hope it would prompt is to ask what does it look like in the health care system and where we are right now where we live and what kind of things can we do?��Each one of us can make a difference here. We are not waiting for somebody else to take that banner and run with it, but what can we do as individuals to make that difference? Because each of us have the power to make a change.

Fields:��I believe Harriet Washington, in her work, is elevating that we all have a shared responsibility to start to disrupt these systems of oppression and acknowledge and reimagine our health care system to benefit the most vulnerable populations in our society. How do we continue to strive to uncover the hidden voices? How do we continue to not only take action, but also start reconciling the atrocities and healing some of the harm that has been done so that we can create interventions that are long lasting?

for the event.

The symposium serves to offer valuable opportunities to research scholars in need of gaining essential presentation skills and experience, meet scholarship requirements for faculty ranking and promotion, build peer networks and gain feedback from research scientists in a wide range of disciplines.

“The University of Louisville is a true research powerhouse,” said Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president for research and innovation. “This event is an opportunity to showcase the breadth of that work, create career pathways for students and raise awareness of the important role research plays in our day-to-day lives.”

More than 126 judges with various fields of expertise devoted their time during the four days of poster sessions.

R!L’s symposium also featured seminars, presentations and lectures on a variety of subjects, including nursing research, research security and foreign influence, environmental health sciences, core facilities, anti-racism research and more. Highlights included presentations by research scholars who received funding by the Jewish Heritage Foundation for Excellence, the Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences’ series of presentations, the Kentucky Science Center’s seminar for seventh to 12th grade students with a focus in biomedical sciences and, most notably, a media event/announcement of a $5.5 million grant from Kosair Charities to fund the Pediatric NeuroRecovery program and an additional $900,000 to other children’s health programs at UofL ().

R!L’s keynote speaker Mary Jo Turk, professor of microbiology and immunology with Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine and co-director of the Immunology and Cancer Immunotherapy Program, Norris-Cotton Cancer Center, presented the lecture, “Lymph node resident memory T responses to metastatic melanoma.” Other keynote speakers included Derrick L. Franklin, acting chief of investigative operations, U.S. Department of HHS/OIG; Heather Hardin, assistant professor of nursing with Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing; and Michael L. Blakey, National Endowment for the Humanities professor of anthropology, Africana studies and American studies and director of the Institute for Historical Biology, College of William & Mary.

��

Through a collaborative effort by the University of Louisville, Greater Louisville Medical Society and the Louisville Women in Medicine and Science (L-WIMS), students participated in a variety of health-sciences sessions at the Kentucky Science Center.

Dr. Sara Petruska and two third-year medical students, along with Kevin Martin, director of the Paris Simulation Center, conducted an OB/GYN workshop and demonstration utilizing the Lucina Delivery Mannequin. Petruska serves as the steering committee chair for L-WIMS and also as its designated representative to the Group of Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS) at the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Martin has participated in the R!L program at the Kentucky Science Center for at least three years.

“I always enjoy speaking with future students and having the Science Center as a backdrop is nice,” he said.

In addition to the simulator work session, the students participated in a variety of activities, including:��

• Galvanized Skin Response (GSR): A reaction demonstration whereby students were connected to a device that monitored their GSR level as they were exposed to both scary and soothing images.
• See Your DNA: Students extracted DNA from their saliva using salt water, dish soap and alcohol.
• Anatomy of Vision: Students were provided visual models and engaged in discussion about visual sciences to learn more about their own vision.��
• MakerPlace 3D Pen Cardiac Design-Build: Students were challenged to create a device that could help clear clogged arteries and used 3D pens to connect the “arteries.”��
• Heart Monitoring Technology: Students were shown the latest in heart-monitoring technology.

Organized by the UofL Office of Health Sciences Research, the symposium offers an opportunity for research scholars in need of gaining essential presentation skills and experience. More than 180 judges with various fields of expertise devoted their time during the three days of poster sessions.��

The event also included poster presentations by a diverse group of medical, dental, nursing, public health and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, research associates, research staff, bioengineering co-op students, PharmDs, residents, fellows, faculty, NCI-R25 undergraduates and high school scholars.

Seminars, presentations and lectures honed in on a variety of subjects, including nursing research, updates on brain health and Alzheimers, advances in cancer therapeutics/research, exploration of the legacy of housing discrimination and more. The event also included program at the Kentucky Science Center geared toward 7th through 12th grade students with a focus on biomedical sciences.��

R!L’s keynote speaker, Cheryl Lyn Walker, PhD, director of the Center for Precision Environmental Health at Baylor College of Medicine, is recognized as one of the preeminent scholars in the field of environmental epigenomics. Her lecture, “Environmental Epigenomics: What the Epigenome can Teach us about Environmental Causes of Disease,”��

Other distinguished presenters included:

• Kelly Willenberg, MBA, BSN, CHRC, CHC from Kelly Willenberg, LLC and Michael Roach, JD, Meade Roach & Annulis, LLP
• Jiying Ling, PhD, MS, RN, Michigan State University College of Nursing
• Les Hollie, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, Department of Health and Human Services
• John Wise, Sr., PhD, UofL professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology
• Sam Cotton, PhD, Trager Institute
• Joshua Poe, MA, Acknowledge, Recognize, Connect (ARC) LLC
• Dr. Gaya Amarasinghe, Washington University, St. Louis, UofL Drs. Venkatakrishna Jala, Matt Lawrenz and Juhi Bagaitkar
• And an upcoming presentation by Nancy M. Albert, PhD, Cleveland Clinic’s Kaufman Center for Heart Failure, scheduled on Sept. 27th at Baptist Health Louisville

Friday’s closing ceremony was held at the Kosair Charities Clinical and Translational Research Building with J. Christopher States, PhD, R!L co-chair and associate dean for research officiating the program and introducing sponsor representatives, Robert Keynton, PhD, UofL interim vice president for research and innovation, and Dawn Diehl, director of research compliance & regulatory affairs at Norton Healthcare. States also recognized the sponsorship of a new award, “Excellence in Quality Improvement in Patient Care,” by the Kentuckiana Medical Reciprocal Risk Retention Group, represented by Sandy Pugh, RN.

Jon Klein, MD, PhD, R!L co-chair and vice dean for research, presented certificates to the R!L award winners.�� NCI-R25 undergraduate award winners were presented certificates by David Hein, PhD, endowed chair, professor and chair, Pharmacology and Toxicology, and La Creis Kidd, PhD, associate professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology, and “Our Highest Potential” endowed chair in cancer research.��

At this month’s Beer with a Scientist, Sam Cotton, PhD, program manager of Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program at the and director of the Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias program, will share the latest updates on what we all can do to prevent development of Alzheimer’s disease. For those who have developed Alzheimer’s and their caregivers, Cotton’s talk also will include how to care compassionately for people who have the disease.

This month’s Beer with a Scientist event is part of , a citywide event going on Sept. 10-13 highlighting health research for physicians, nurses, researchers and other health care providers and students. In addition, September is Optimal Aging month, with a focus on aging well.

Cotton’s talk begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at , 8023 Catherine Lane. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

Walker is internationally recognized for her work in environmental health and elucidation of molecular mechanisms of disease. Because of her impact on the science of toxicology and the more than 30 years she has spent in dedication to advancing the field, Walker was awarded the 2019 Society of Toxicology Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award.

Her studies on the role of the epigenome in gene-environment interactions have yielded significant insights into mechanisms by which early life environmental exposures influence health and disease across the life-course.

The epigenome is often described as the “software” that operates our genome. This epigenomic software is installed very early in life at key developmental windows in utero and during early childhood and adolescence. Adverse environmental exposures experienced early in life can re-program the epigenome and increase susceptibility to many diseases in adulthood.

Walker’s research is providing new insights into how the environment molds the epigenome, and how developmental reprogramming induced in early life exposures can change normal physiology to increase risk for diseases such as obesity and cancer.

Research!Louisville runs Sept. 10-13. More details about this lecture and other presentations, seminars and research showcases are .��

Specifically, Petrosino will highlight the CMMR’s study of the microbiome and autoimmune disease, neurodevelopmental disorders, cancer and Type 1 diabetes. The center’s research efforts include benchmarking and validation of protocols and strategies for metagenomics analyses. Petrosino’s presentation will explain how research and development of advanced technologies have contributed to the understanding of how the human microbiome impacts health and disease, and the translation of this knowledge into microbiome-based therapeutics and diagnostics.

The keynote address and awards recognition ceremony will conclude Research!Louisville’s week-long series of health-related research forums. .��

The event was part of (R!L), an annual week-long event focused on medical research in the Louisville Medical Center.

Instructors said the students enjoyed the one-on-one stations in the lab where they had the opportunity to speak with medical students and instructors, as well as the hands-on mini-labs where they could ask questions and see structures first hand.

The R!L event at the Kentucky Science Center is sponsored by the University of Louisville and the Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Foundation/KentuckyOne Health, and organized in collaboration with the Greater Louisville Medical Society and Louisville Women in Medicine and Science (L-WIMS).