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COMP Assistant Professor Sebastian Fuchs, MD, PhD, third-year COMP student Fady Guirguis, and COMP Associate Professor Hendrik Szurmant, PhD.
Vishwanath Venketaraman, PhD, Professor, WesternU College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific.
COMP student accepted as NIH “They supported me every step of the way,” Guirguis
said. “I am very glad I am offered this opportunity
Medical Research Scholar because I realize the significance of the experiences and
the skills I will acquire from the MRSP in preparing me
Western University of Health Sciences College of
for my career.”
Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific student Fady Guirguis
is the first WesternU student to be selected for a prestigious WesternU professor receives HHS
National Institutes of Health (NIH) research program.
grant for tuberculosis research
NIH’s Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP) attracts
the brightest talent from across the country. Medical, U.S. Rep. Norma J. Torres (D-Pomona) announced that
dental and veterinary students live on the intramural the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
campus of NIH in Bethesda, Maryland and conduct basic, (HHS) has awarded a $386,934 Academic Research
clinical or translational research for one year. Enhancement Awards (AREA) grant to Western
Guirguis credited the support he received at WesternU for University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic
motivating him to apply. He joined COMP’s Biomedical Medicine of the Pacific Professor Vishwanath
and Clinical Research longitudinal track as a first-year Venketaraman, PhD, for his research into the links
student, led by COMP Associate Professor Hendrik between diabetes and tuberculosis.
Szurmant, PhD. Among his many research In the past 10 to 15 years, there has been increased
accomplishments since starting medical school are documentation and evidence that people with type 2
multiple poster and oral presentations at the American diabetes are increasingly susceptible to Mycobacterium
Physician Scientists Association Western Regional tuberculosis infection, Venketaraman said.
Meeting at UC Davis in December 2018 and at the
“Approximately 10 million new cases of active TB were
Western Medical Research Conference in January 2019 in
reported worldwide in 2017, and 1.6 million people died
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, along with several
because of TB in the same year, making TB the number
published abstracts. Szurmant, COMP Assistant Professor
one cause of death from an infectious disease,”
Sebastien Fuchs, MD, PhD, and WesternU Provost and
Venketaraman said.
Senior Vice President David Baron, DO, MSEd, helped
Guirguis prepare for his MRSP interview. They also “For more than four decades, WesternU has trained
provided letters of recommendation, along with COMP physicians to provide families throughout Southern
Dean Paula Crone, DO ’92. California with the expert health care and attention they
need,” Torres said. “In the Inland Empire, that focus is
44 | WESTERNU VIEW Summer/Fall 2019
