Photos by Eli Burakian D'00
On Wednesday, September 18, Geisel School of Medicine and Dartmouth Health (DH) celebrated their first-ever Biomedical Research Day. The landmark event, held at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), was a celebration of the breadth and impact of the institution’s research enterprise and was marked by strong attendance with well over 260 faculty and trainees taking part.
The event inspired lively interactions between researchers from across the Dartmouth community, and featured presentations from senior to junior faculty members, PhD students, MD students, MPH/MS students, as well as undergraduate students.
Members of Dartmouth and Dartmouth Health leadership—including Dartmouth College President Sian Beilock, PhD, CEO and President of Dartmouth Health Joanne Conroy, MD (D’77), Geisel Dean Duane Compton, PhD, Geisel Senior Associate Dean of Foundational Research Susan Roberts, PhD, and Dartmouth Hitchcock Chief Research Officer and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research Steven Bernstein, MD—kicked off the event, welcoming all attendees and providing an overview of the goals of the symposium.
“It was almost a year ago today that I spoke at my inauguration about what I really hoped for Dartmouth as a whole, as a community,” said Beilock. “And I continue to hope that Dartmouth will be a different kind of institution. One that comes together across boundaries, across the hospital, across the university and really thinks about a flywheel of innovation to impact.
”I continue to hope that Dartmouth will be a different kind of institution. One that comes together across boundaries, across the hospital, across the university and really thinks about a flywheel of innovation to impact.”
- President Sian Beilock, PhD
“I think that’s only possible if we have the kind of collaboration that you see here today,” she said. “And Geisel is really a great example of that kind of collaboration.”
Compton, who conceived of Biomedical Research Day, said, “I hope this will be an annual event. We have a remarkable breadth of science that we cover in the school and I thought it would be fantastic to get everyone together to celebrate that and the impact that we make through that science.
“Medical research is not a money-maker—but that’s not why we are in medicine,” said Conroy. “Translational research performed at DHMC in partnership with our Geisel colleagues improves our ability to deliver the best care possible. Additionally, clinical programs, research, and education are what drive the national reputation of academic medical organizations like Dartmouth Health.
“Recent efforts like the creation of SYNERGY, the major grant awarded to Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering, and work that many of our researchers are doing at the national level with organizations like PCORI and NIH, are emblematic of the strong partnership between Dartmouth Health and Geisel, and how by working together, our research has the most potential to change and save lives.”
In a session entitled, “Research Advances and Bridge Building: Faculty Research Updates from Across the Giesel/Dartmouth Health Academic Enterprise,” seven presenters gave brief talks on a range of research topics.
As part of a panel discussion that followed, moderated by Marnie Halpern, PhD, chair and Andrew J. Thomson Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology at Geisel, and Barbara Jobst, MD, chair and Louis and Ruth Frank Professor of Neurology, presenters were asked to comment on meeting the many challenges of rural medicine.
“A lot of my research focuses on things that I see in my clinical work, things that don’t show up in textbooks,” explained JoAnna Leyenaar, MD, MPH, PhD, a professor of pediatrics and health policy and clinical practice at Geisel whose talk focused on caring for children with complex chronic illnesses in rural hospitals.
“So, a lot of my work is motivated by observing something and documenting it, because then it becomes fact and can be used to directly inform health policy and provide justification and funding in areas where it’s needed.”
In a session called, “Building the Biomedical Research Ecosystem,” Roberts and Bernstein gave overviews of new research initiatives at Geisel and DH respectively. With moderator Dean Madden, PhD, vice provost for research at Dartmouth, they discussed how Dartmouth could best identify the breakout discoveries of the future.
“There are still silos to break down, so having regular meetings with time to connect and build collaborations might go a long way towards supporting new scientific directions,” said Roberts. “And we’ve got, I think, a host of outstanding scientists, so many entrepreneurs would probably love to come in and brainstorm with us about some of the things we could do together.”
”And we’ve got, I think, a host of outstanding scientists, so many entrepreneurs would probably love to come in and brainstorm with us about some of the things we could do together.”
- Susan Roberts, PhD
“I think as institutions, we have to be nimble enough and vigorous enough to maintain and sustain a research enterprise devoted to discovery science and mechanistic science, but also to have the later-stage translational scientists, learning health system folk, who know how to operationalize those discoveries, so we can do the bidirectional work,” said Bernstein.
Before breaking for a networking lunch, attendees gathered near the rotunda of the medical center to watch the dedication of a new bookcase featuring textbooks and books for the lay public, written by authors at Geisel and Dartmouth Health.
In the afternoon, the symposium featured presentations on research opportunities by faculty members Jeremiah Brown, PhD, professor of epidemiology and biomedical data science at Geisel, Fred Kolling, PhD, associate director for shared resources at Dartmouth Cancer Center, and Alka Dev, MHS, DrPH, associate professor of health policy and clinical practice.
In the discussion that followed, moderated by David Leib, PhD, chair and professor of microbiology and immunology at Geisel, and Michael Whitfield, PhD, chair and professor of biomedical data science, the group was asked to share their thoughts on the accessibility of shared resources within the organization.
“I think sometimes there’s a sense that the cancer center shared resources are only for the cancer center, but we really are accessible to everybody,” Kolling explained. “While a lot of the workflows are put in place with cancer in mind initially, those technologies can be much more broadly applied and there are a lot of services that we build out that are applicable to other areas of research.”
The day’s final session featured five trainee presentations on recent research. With Leib and Whitfield moderating, the trainees reflecting on the most important part of their experience thus far at Dartmouth.
Daniel Ryvkin, a second-year medical student at Geisel whose talk focused on the utility of answering patient questions using large language models like ChatGPT, said, “It comes down to the small things, like not having to feel overwhelmed or stressed about sending an email to a mentor.
“Receiving a response, sometimes even within hours, helps to establish that mentor-mentee relationship,” he said, “where you can count on them to be there for you with the guidance and support you’re going to need.”
In their closing remarks, Compton, Roberts, and Bernstein encouraged symposium attendees to view some of the more than 100 posters that were on display, and to visit with their authors. The posters received a lot of attention, and many people stayed late to talk and build connections.
When asked to comment on what was special about the day, Alicia Bostwick-Galaviz, a fifth-year PhD student at Geisel whose research focuses on how to make killer T-cells better at fighting cancer, said, “Being a graduate student in a basic science lab, we participate in a lot of hard-core science symposia. It’s been interesting to see more of the clinical and administrative sides of research. Hearing about those different perspectives and ways of sharing information has been informative and engaging.”
