GW Medical Student Research Day is scheduled for Wednesday, April 26, 2023 as a live in-person event at the University Student Center. There will be a plenary speaker and students will have an opportunity to share their research projects with a poster and oral presentation. Videos of past poster presentations are available on our Research Guide and YouTube channel.
Poster abstracts for Medical Student Research Day 2023 will be due on March 1st, a week from today! If you’re just starting to put an abstract together, or putting on the finishing touches, Himmelfarb Library has resources to help.
You can find much of what you need on our Research Day Resources: Writing Abstracts page. The guide outlines the basic components of a scientific abstract and provides both recommendations and examples for producing a quality abstract.
If your poster abstract is accepted, congratulations! Come back to our GW Research Day Resources Research Guide for valuable information and tips for designing a winning poster and presenting it effectively.
Knowing what needs to be included in your abstract before you get started is key. Your abstract should include four specific aspects:
Abstract Do’s: 4 Things to Include
Problem Statement/Introduction: Explain why your research is important, and be sure to make this engaging enough to grab the reader’s attention!
Methods: Explain how you did your research and obtained the results. Research design, setting, population and sample size, study duration, research instrument, and treatment or procedure should all be included here.
Results: Explain your findings, but don’t analyze the results here - save your analysis for the conclusion!
Conclusion: Analyze the results and implications of your findings here.
Knowing what not to include in your abstract is just as important as knowing what to include. Avoid including the following four pitfalls:
Abstract Don’ts: 4 Things to Avoid
Too Much Information: An abstract should be succinct: keep it short and to the point. Don’t overload your abstract with information. A good abstract should be between 250-400 words, so keep it simple.
Incomplete Sentences: Don’t use bullet points or incomplete sentences. An abstract is a short narrative of your project, so writing in complete sentences is a must.
Jargon: Avoid using abbreviations, acronyms and jargon in your abstract.
Images, Tables, Graphs, and References: Images of any kind, or references to them, should be avoided. Save the graphics for your poster.
For a more in-depth explanation of best practices for writing research day abstracts, watch Himmelfarb’s How to Create and Write Your Abstract video.
Looking at examples of well written abstracts can also be helpful. Stay tuned to Himmelfarb’s blog in early April for more information on creating an effective poster!
The GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences celebrated Medical Student Research Day on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. More than 160 medical students submitted abstracts on a broad range of topics pertaining to medical education, public health, and clinical and translational research.
We congratulate all who participated in the event. Awards were presented to the following medical students:
Donald H. Glew Prize
Nyshidha Gurijala
Faculty Mentor: Laura Olivieri, Division of Cardiology, Children's National
Category: Clinical and Translational Research: Cardiology
Title: Cardiac Magnetic Resonance with Parametric Mapping to Predict Rejection in Pediatric Heart Transplant Recipients
Best Abstract Awards
Nicole Casasanta
Faculty Mentor: P Sheena Khurana, Department of Medicine, GWU
Category: Clinical and Translational Research: Cardiology
Title: Comparison of average and lowest home and office blood pressure recordings and implications on the management of chronic hypertension
Eric Chalif
Faculty Mentor: Jonathan Sherman, Department of Neurosurgery, GW SMHS
Category: Clinical and Translational Research: Neurosurgery
Title: CyberKnife Radiosurgery Treatment of Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Single Institution Examination with Long Term Follow-Up
Marie-Claire Partridge
Faculty Mentor: Shana Jacobs, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, CNMC
Category: Clinical and Translational Research: Genomics
Title: Pharmacogenetics of Ondansetron Failure in Pediatric Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting
Spencer Brodsky
Faculty Mentor: Komal Patel, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, GWU
Category: Public Health: Health Policy
Title: An examination of data from 700 crashes involving mopeds and scooters in Washington, D.C., from 2016 to 2019
Kelsi Knapp
Faculty Mentor: Lamia Soghier, CNMC
Category: Public Health: Community and Urban Health
Title: The effects of neighborhood and individual socioeconomic status on parental engagement and psychological distress in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Theodore Quan
Faculty Mentor: Ali Pourmand, Department of Emergency Medicine, GWU
Category: Public Health: Community and Urban Health
Title: Racial Demographics and Resource Utilization Among Teenagers with Firearm-Related Injuries Presenting to the Emergency Department, 2010-2015
Brianna McKiernan
Faculty Mentor: Kate Douglass, The Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine, GWU
Category: Medical Education
Title: Introduction of formative assessment tool in a post-graduate training program in India: a mixed methods evaluation
William Beaumont Research Awards
Akshay Reddy
Faculty Mentor: Michael Whalen, Department of Urology, GW SMHS.
Title: Comparison of Oncologic Outcomes for Robotic Vs Open Radical Cystectomy Among Locally Advanced and Node-Positive Patients: An Analysis of the National Cancer Database
Guido Pelaez
Faculty Mentor: Alejandro Villagra, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, GW Cancer Center, GW SMHS.
Title: Functional Characterization of Next Generation Histone Deacetylase 6 Inhibitors
Erin Felton
Faculty Mentor: Andrea Hahn, Infectious Disease, Children’s National Health System
Title: Bacterial Functional Profiling of the Cystic Fibrosis Airway Across Clinical States
Doris DeFord Speck and George Speck, MD Endowed Prize for Student Medical Research
Are you starting to think about GW Research Days 2019? Learn more about Research Days by hearing from some of the presenters and faculty mentors at GW Research Days 2018:
Want to learn about projects from GW's Research Days 2018? Watch the videos!
Each year, GW Research Days provides a showcase for research and scholarship occurring at The George Washington University. Over two days, faculty and undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students showcase their research and highlight the scope of research occurring at GW.
Himmelfarb Library interviewed eighteen GW Research Days presenters. Watch the videos to learn more about health sciences research at GW!
You put all that hard work into preparing and presenting your poster at Research Days....don't let it sit in a closet! Archive a digital copy in Himmelfarb Library's Health Sciences Research Commons and make it available to the global community of scholars.
Including your work in the Health Sciences Research Commons has several advantages for you:
Your poster will have a unique URL which you can use to promote your research and include in your CV. This URL will remain active even after you graduate from GW.
Your work will be more 'findable' and other researchers will be able to identify your research from Google Scholar. For authors who originally indicated 'Yes' to archiving on the Research Days abstract submission form, this is already true.
Email the completed Author Agreement form and a copy of your Research Days poster to: hsrc@gwu.edu
You will your unique URL which links directly to your poster. You can Tweet, Facebook, and share the new URL with your colleagues, family, and friends!
Please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We can be reached at hsrc@gwu.edu or 202-994-8357.
On Wednesday, March 22 from 12 noon to 1 p.m., you can get feedback from experienced faculty on your Research Day poster and presentation. In this session, you will learn what are judges are looking for when reviewing poster presentations, and techniques to impress the judges and succinctly convey your research posters' main concepts and data.
Date:03/22/2017 Time:12:00pm – 1:00pm Location: Ross Hall, Room 529 & online via WebEx
[Register]
Workshop: Do you need to create graphs for your poster? The workshop will teach you how to create Excel graphs, pie charts and tables to help display your data. Date:03/07/2017 Time:12:00pm – 1:00pm Location: Ross Hall, Room 602 & online via WebEx
[Register]
Are you starting to think about 
Want to learn about projects from GW's Research Days 2018? Watch the videos!
You put all that hard work into preparing and presenting your poster at Research Days....don't let it sit in a closet! Archive a digital copy in Himmelfarb Library's 