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Medical College of Wisconsin Orthopaedic Surgery - Medical Student Summer Research Program

About the program

This program is part of the Medical College of Wisconsin Student Summer Research Program, and is subject to the rules and requirements under which that program operates. A limited number of eight week summer research fellowships are available for M1 and M2 students at the Medical College of Wisconsin, wishing to participate in an intensive research experience with one of the many outstanding clinical and basic science faculty investigators in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. A maximum of two students may work with any one faculty member. The program is designed to expose students to research and research careers through extended experiences that are not available in the regular medical school program, geared to students who have little or no prior research experience. Students are integrated into the research process and actively participate as members of the research team, under the supervision of faculty preceptors. Summer Program for Undergraduate Research
Medical Summer Research Student

Program Details

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Funding
Limited funding is available through the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and may not be at par with funding available through external agencies. Students considered for funding will be those who have applied for and not received funding through other sources available through the MCW Summer Student Research Program. Information on these external grants may be obtained through Medical Student Summer Research Program at the Medical College of Wisconsin. The amount of funding available varies from year to year, and the applications are very competitive. It is important for both the student and the preceptor to discuss this issue during the application process, and understand that their individual project may not be funded. Those applicants who are not funded through Medical Student Summer Research Program are then considered for departmental funding. Awards are ranked on the project’s compatibility with the goals of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, on the quality of the research proposal, its appropriateness as a short-term research experience, and the student’s well-defined role in the research project. Students should recognize that the research projects may not be completely executed during the summer period, and should be prepared and committed to see the projects to fruition.
Program Requirements
Per the MCW Summer Student Research Program, attendance is mandatory at the following:
  • Program Orientation and Scientific Integrity and Ethics in Research Seminar 
  • Enrichment Seminars (scheduled during the summer training period) 
  • Medical Student Summer Research Poster Session (typically held in late September) 
  • Oral Presentation at the Orthopaedic Surgery Grand Rounds (typically held in January)

In addition, students must complete all weeks of the fellowship and write an abstract of their research in preparation for the research poster session. It is recommended that preceptors arrange for their fellows to present a brief oral discussion of their project at a departmental meeting. 

Poster and paper presentation at national meetings and publication of the research project in prominent orthopaedic surgical scientific journals is the anticipated goal for all research projects. Funding may be available for students who present papers at the national annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons or similar major subspecialty societies.


The Research Project
The research project must be hypothesis-driven and can be in any of the basic or clinical orthopaedic surgical sciences. Research areas that meet the scientific interests of the funding agencies available that year should be specifically explored. The role of the student must be well defined and reflect a significant level of participation and commitment. The project should focus on a specific scientific question or definitive part of a larger project and be reasonable in scope so that a student can complete a component of work. The research plan submitted with the application must have a clear, well-defined hypothesis, which can be tested by the aims and methods outlined. Independent, student-driven research projects are not eligible for funding through this program. Rather, students must work on some aspect of an existing investigation being conducted by a full-time faculty member of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Previous Medical Student Projects

2019 Medical Student Projects

Project Title:  Energy Flow Analysis of Professional and Collegiate Baseball Pitchers

Student Name and Year:  Maxwell Albiero (M2)

Faculty Preceptor: Janelle Cross, PhD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Clinical Outcomes of Upper Extremity Ambulators Post Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty

Student Name and Year:  Logan Andryk (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  Steven Grindel, MD

Funding Source:  Scott Sprtel Summer Research Fund

 

Project Title: Long-term Gait and Strength Analysis of Surgically Repaired Tibial Shaft Fractures

Student Name and Year: Zoe Bartynski (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  Gregory Schmeling, MD, FAAOS, FACS and Jessica Fritz, PhD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Mid-term Outcomes of a One-stage Revision with Non-modular Components for Total Knee Arthroplasty Prosthetic Joint Infections

Student Name and Year:  Hunter Cameron (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  Edward Nelsen-Freund, MD

Funding Source: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Exposure to Non-thermal Infrared Light is Protective in A Murine Hindlimb Model of Ischemia-reperfusion Injury

Student Name and Year:  Tyler Compton (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  James Ninomiya, MD, MS

Funding Source:  National Heart, Lung Blood Institute Training Grant T35 HL072483 (Harder)

 

Project Title:  Comparison of Three Surgical Procedures for Treatment of the Supracondylar Humerus Fracture

Student Name and Year:  Jason Cummings (M2)

Faculty Preceptors:  Benjamin Escott, MD and Xue-Cheng Liu, MD, PhD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC) Injection for the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis

Student Name and Year:  Kyle Fredrickson (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  Karie Zach, MD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Comparison of the Functional Outcomes Between Patellar Tendon and Semitendinosus/Gracilis Autograft Reconstruction of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament

Student Name and Year:  Fernando Garcia-Ramirez (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  Xue-Cheng Liu, MD, PhD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Carpal Contact after SL Tear: A Correlation to SLAC Arthritis

Student Name and Year:  Erik Grover (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  Anthony LoGiudice, MD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Clinical Outcomes of Diffuse PVNS of the Knee Following Arthroscopic Complete Synovectomy +/- Posterior Open Resection

Student Name and Year:  Alexander Kerschner (M2)

Faculty Preceptors:  David King, MD and Carole Vetter, MD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Post-operative Recovery Time Assessment of Smoking, Age, Tear Size, Tear Location and Fat Atrophy on the Upper Extremity Following Rotator Cuff Repair

Student Name and Year:  Vishwajit Kode (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  Steven Grindel, MD

Funding Source:  National Institute on Aging Training Grant T35AG029793 (Meurer)

 

Project Title:  An Evaluation of Post-Operative Infection Rates in Adult Orthopaedic Surgery Patients Who Received Immediate-Use Steam-Sterilized Implants

Student Name and Year:  Justin Laridaen (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  JC Neilson, MD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Use of Bipolar Sealer in Sarcoma Resection

Student Name and Year:  Troy Lenz (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  JC Neilson, MD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Functional Assessment of Concussion Tool (FACT) Development

Student Name and Year:  Katherine Lumetta (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  Shayne Fehr, MD and Danny G. Thomas, MD, MPH

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Long-Term Gait and Strength Analysis Following Post-Operative Repair of Femoral Shaft Gunshot Fractures

Student Name and Year:  Mitchell Maisel (M2)

Faculty Preceptors:  Gregory Schmeling, MD and Jessica Fritz, PhD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Epidemiology Study of Clubfoot Cases in the Wisconsin Region

Student Name and Year:  Brooke Olson (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  Scott Van Valin, MD and Xue-Cheng Liu, MD, PhD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Correction of Angular Deformities in Children with Tension Bands

Student Name and Year:  Christian Robertson (M2)

Faculty Preceptors:  Scott Van Valin, MD and Xue-Cheng Liu, MD, PhD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  A Prospective Analysis of the Efficacy of Speech Therapy and Active Intervention on Dysphagia Following 1-3 Level Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion

Student Name and Year:  Julia Specht (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  Brandon Rebholz, MD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Long-term Evaluation of Serial Casting in Children with Infantile Scoliosis

Student Name and Year:  Cordell Spellman (M2)

Faculty Preceptor:  J Channing Tassone, MD and Xue-Cheng Liu, MD, PhD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

 

Project Title:  Barefoot and Shoe Plantar Pressure Assessment of Scandinavian Total Replacement (STAR) Implantation Patients

Student Name and Year:  Dylan Wiese (M2)

Faculty Preceptors:  Brian Law, MD and Jessica Fritz, MD

Funding Source:  Department of Orthopaedic Surgery