Beyond Locust Research Club

Thanks so much to Rayan Jawa for sharing his research experience working at the Hua Lab at Abramson Cancer Center/Penn Medicine, where he studies the development of CDH17CAR T cell therapies against gastrointestinal tumors. This past summer, he also worked as an Investigative Toxicology Intern at Bristol Myers-Squibb, continuing work on CAR T's in the context of gastric organoid models.

Looking forward to our next meeting TODAY at 8 pm as we hear from physician Dr. Anupama Shetty at CHOP! Zoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/7517022868

JOIN OUR CLUB! Interest form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1E6Tv3OoW1Te9X_0_MSEX3gY5NdDJaU68h9Yj0eG_rcE/edit

Thanks so much to Omar Elsakhawy for sharing his research experience working as a research assistant for the PAIR Center!

The PAIR (Palliative and Advanced Illness Research) Center at Penn Medicine generates high-quality evidence to advance healthcare policies and practices with the goals of improving the lives of all people affected by serious illness and removing the barriers to health equity that seriously ill patients commonly face.

Omar explained that in the palliative care setting, having realistic expectations is key for goal-concordant care. He uses qualitative analysis to investigate how clinicians discuss future health expectations with patients and how these conversations can be used to elevate patient care.

Looking forward to our next meeting on July 19th at 8pm!

Beyond Locust Interest Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/u/1/d/1E6Tv3OoW1Te9X_0_MSEX3gY5NdDJaU68h9Yj0eG_rcE/edit?usp=drive_web

Thanks so much to Madison Woods and Catherine McInerney (the Co-Founders of Beyond Locust!) for sharing their research experiences as clinical research coordinators at Penn Medicine and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia!

Catherine works at CHOP's Center for Lymphatic Disorders under Dr. Yoav Dori and Dr. Chris Smith, two interventional cardiologists. She discussed the lymphatic system (the "forgotten system"), the types of disorders seen, treatments and interventions performed at CHOP, and current research studies.

Madison's lab is studying how to improve Achilles tendon loading by identifying tendon profiles that explain long-term functional outcomes. While a tendon loading environment can be easily manipulated during surgery, there is little way to control how patients load their healing tendons once they leave the operating room. She works under Dr. Josh Baxter in the McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory at Penn Medicine, and has been working with clinicians to identify and recruit patients for these studies, as well as assisting with data collection and processing.

Thank you so much to everyone who attended our meetings throughout the summer! We hope to see you very soon 🙂