AHS Research Day programming extended for 2024 event
AHS Research Day — an annual event for AHS students, faculty and staff to share their work and collaborate across disciplines — took place on November 20 with an expanded schedule of offerings for 2024.
Previous iterations of AHS Research Day were focused on graduate student poster presentations, but for this year’s gathering, associate dean of research Kharma Foucher added new programming to encourage more participation.
“One of my goals as associate dean of research has been to provide more opportunities for finding connection and community across our silos,” Foucher said. “So when we were forced to hold the event earlier in the day due to constraints of the venue, I took it as an opportunity to experiment with a new format.”
The reimagined event included presentation opportunities to undergrads, small group mentorship discussions and a visiting lecturer.
Approximately 50 posters were displayed from graduate, undergraduate, faculty and postdoc presenters representing all AHS departments. Presenters could select a focus area from a list of options, such as health disparities, aging, nutrition or disability. After the poster session, attendees broke into small groups for lunch and mentorship with AHS faculty.
Foucher was inspired by a meeting she attended last summer where she served as a “table mentor” and adapted the format for AHS. Physical therapy professor Tanvi Bhatt assisted, adding to the list of discussion topics and inviting faculty mentors.
A guest lecture followed, given by Lise Worthen-Chaudhari, assistant professor in The Ohio State University College of Medicine’s department of physical medicine and rehabilitation research. She presented on biomechanics, dance and music as tools for breast cancer survivors.
“An external speaker seemed like a nice way to bring the community together to engage over some new ideas,” Foucher said. “She also had an interesting career path, including a first career as a professional dancer, that I’ve always found inspiring — and I thought others in AHS would as well.”
The lecture included a demonstration of a modified Argentinian tango that Worthen-Chaudhari uses in her research, which was an unexpected highlight.
“I did not have ‘tango with Joanna Groden, vice chancellor of research, on my 2024 bingo card,” Foucher said.
Overall, the extended event was a major success, due to the team effort of Foucher and her collaborators in planning and executing the day: assistant dean of student affairs Viviana Kabbabe-Thompson, undergraduate office assistant Roshni Zar, and from the AHS Office of Research, Sandra Rahbe, Michelle Belcher, Duretta Johnson and John Lewis.
“It was gratifying to hear conversations among people that may not normally interact,” Foucher said. “I know of at least one new research collaboration that emerged!”