In the spirit of necessary reinvention placed on planned events at Wayne State University due to the COVID-19 public health crisis, the School of Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences held its first virtual research day April 15.

The 18 poster presentations, six scrolling presentations and two oral presentations on the virtual page, available at https://familymedicine.med.wayne.edu/research-day-2020, highlight the quality and cutting-edge research the department conducts that contributed to its rise to seventh nationally in research funding from the National Institutes of Health.

“The coronavirus pandemic has brought the relevance and importance of public health into sharp focus,” said Professor and Chair Tsveti Markova, M.D., FAAFP. “Our clinical faculty and residents deserve our accolades for being on the front line of patient care in these unprecedented times. It is through the lens of these rapidly evolving, uncertain events that we share with you the scholarly work of our students, trainees and department.

“In addition, we hoped to share the scholarly work of our Master of Public Health students, family medicine residents, faculty and colleagues within the broader Warrior community in the pursuit of greater and more equitable public health. We celebrate scholarship dissemination and everyone’s engagement in the event, which still occurred virtually despite these challenging times,” Dr. Markova added.

The theme for the fourth annual event – “Preventing Violence” – aligned with the American Public Health Association’s theme for 2020. A keynote panel was to feature three local public health programs whose mission is to prevent violence. The virtual program included WSU violence prevention resources from student organizations and campus services, administrative and academic policies, and procedures and related training opportunities.

The event attracts the department’s faculty, trainees, students and staff, as well as collaborators and like-minded colleagues from the broader campus community.

“We were looking forward to a day of scholarship and celebration with three amazing speakers representing three amazing public health programs in the city of Detroit,” said Associate Professor April Idalski Carcone, Ph.D., who served as the chair of this year’s planning committee. “Twenty-five abstracts from trainees, students and collaborators were reviewed by two faculty reviewers and accepted for presentation, with the top two recognized with an abstract award and the opportunity to deliver their presentation orally to the attendees. The day is always one of pride for this excellent scholarship, but also because it’s where our student awards are presented.”

The 2020 departmental student awards in Public Health, Primary Care and Family Medicine reflect a commitment to excellence in research and clinical practice. The winners are:

2020 John B. Waller Jr., DrPH and Menthele (Mikki) Waller Endowed Scholarship for Master’s in Public Health Students: Deja Wilson

2020 Excellence in Public Health Award from the U.S. Public Health Service Physician Professional Advisory Committee Award, United States Public Health Service: Raven Batshon

2020 Student Family Medicine/Primary Care Research Award, North American Primary Care Research Group: Shayla Patton