Full Year Research Scholarship

Since 2002, the Alumni Fund of the Alumni Association-College of Medicine has been offering a scholarship to support full-time research for medical students. This scholarship provides up to $60,000 for a student(s) to conduct full-time research for one academic year. The Alumni Association of SUNY-Downstate Medical College offers funds to support one or more medical students who are planning a year of full-time research during the academic year 2026 - 2027. Priority is given to projects that are planned to occur at SUNY-Downstate or an affiliate, but all applications will be carefully reviewed. 

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Applications for the Alumni Fund Research Grant need to include the following:

1. Completed application form (click here to download)

2. Original copy of a transcript of a medical school record

3. Description of the research project.

4. Letter from the research sponsor endorsing the proposed study and offering to support the research project, and a letter from the faculty advisor, if applicable, about the research project.

Application Deadline: March 13, 206

The research sponsor is the laboratory director where the project will be done.  That may be the same person as the faculty advisor.  However, for off-campus projects at another university or research center, a SUNY Downstate faculty advisor is also required. A report to the Alumni Fund, including copies of publications, is to be made mid-year and at the conclusion of the scholarship year.

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Please contact Richard.Sadovsky@downstate.edu if you need guidance.

Application Deadline: March 13, 206

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2025-2026 Awardees

• LeeAnn Marcello - "Restoring Symmetric Facial Movement Through Electrical Recording 
  and Stimulation"

• Dario Fucich- " Using shear wave elastography to track postoperative bone-tendon healing  following upper extremity tendon repair surgery."

• Alex La Poche - "Characterizing the Acute Phase Response in Pediatric Neuromuscular Scoliosis Patients Undergoing Spine Fusion Surgery"

• ​Favour Ononogbu-Uche - "Enhancing Precision and Recovery in Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery: 
  Evaluating Awake Spine Surgery and Fluoroscopy-Based Instrument Tracking System"

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Past Recipients 

• Sandra Leskinen - "Inhibiting Glioma and Neuronal Interactions in IDH-Mutant Glioma"(2024-2025)

• Jacquelyn Xu - " Use of shear wave ultrasonography and power doppler imaging to determine the quality of tendon repair and its impact on patient reported outcomes after shoulder and elbow tendon repair surgeries" (2024-2025)

• Margaret Kabakov - "Combination light emitting diode red light photography with BRAF and MEK Inhibitor as a synergistic therapy for melanoma" (2024-2025)

• Tobi Somorin - "STRIVE (Structural Training, Research, and InterVEntions) for Health Equity" (2024-2025)

• ​Sophie Queler - "Magnetic Resonance (MR) Neurography of Peripheral Facial Nerve Palsy" (2024-2025)

• Leon Kamen - "Rhesus Ocular Changes" (2023-2024)

• Alex Liu - "CR Cancer Drug" (2023-2024)

• Jennifer Wang - "Psoriasis Drug (NIR-DNA)" (2023-2024)

• Patryk Krzesaj - "Membrane-Expressed HDM-2 as a Marker for Malignancy in Liquid PAP Smear and Fine Needle Aspirate Samples" (2022-2023)

• Perri Vingan - "Textured Implant Management" (2022-2023)

• Joanna Tabor - "Relationship Between Meningioma Genomics and Their Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes"(2022-2023)

• Ryan Bender – "Towards Personalized Breast Cancer Care: A Vascularized, Three- Dimensional Biometric Platform for Patient Specific, Ex Vivio Studies of Breast Cancer " (2020-2021)

• Natasha Masub - "Blue Light Photodynamic Therapy as a Modulator of Gene Expression in Squamous Cell Carcinoma" (2019-2020)

• Nadlie Toussaint - "Overcoming Chemoresistance in Pancreatic Cancer by Blockade of EXTL3" (2019-2020)

• Jin Kyun Oh - "Outcome Measurements of RHO Retinopathy to Monitor the Efficacy of Ablate and Replace Gene Therapy" (2019-2020)

• Eric Schoenfeld - "Early Life Stress (ELS) and Serotonin-Transporter Gene (STG) Polymorphism Interactions: Impact on Hippocampal Volume Asymmetry" (2019-2020)