Medical students present studies at M3 Case Report Symposium

Third-year medical students at the USA Health College of Medicine talk about their research during the annual M3 Case Report Symposium.

Rising fourth-year medical students at the USA Health College of Medicine presented interesting, rare and novel case studies from their third-year rotations at the Third Annual M3 Case Report Symposium at the Strada Patient Care Center on May 31.

The symposium, hosted by the College of Medicine, drew 40 entries on cases involving a variety of diagnoses from cancer to infectious diseases.

Tyler Kaelin earned the first place award. He presented on the case of a patient with a small bowel obstruction, a common complication in the first year following gastric bypass surgery.

“The case was unique because of the patient’s surgical history of gastric bypass 14 years prior,” he said. “This experience has been beneficial because it challenged me to understand complicated post-gastric bypass anatomy in a new way.”

Dr. T.J. Hundley, right, associate dean of medical education 

and associate professor of internal medicine at the USA 

Health College of Medicine, asks third-year-medical student 

Anu Pandit about her research. 

Sara Anne Stringfellow earned for second place for her report on the case of a pregnant women who presented with abdominal pain and nausea. Surgery determined that the woman had a small bowel obstruction and uterine rupture -- each rare during pregnancy -- that were determined to be the result of past surgery for uterine fibroids.

Stringfellow said the case showed why pregnant women who experience sudden, severe abdominal pain should be assessed thoroughly for more acute complications. It also highlighted the importance of counseling women on the risks associated with pregnancy following extensive abdominal surgery, she said.

Anna Stevens took third place for her report on a case of severe relapsing neuromyelitis optica, highlighting the course of the patient’s disease and lack of response to different therapies over time.

“The case highlighted a challenge in disease management while demonstrating a need for further investigation to identify which patients may be refractory to therapy and why,” Stevens said. “I also discussed the need and potential of emerging therapies to better treat refractory disease.”

“It was exciting to get to hear what all of my classmates chose to present and see them discuss topics they were passionate about,” Stringfellow said. “Our class has been very close knit throughout our years of medical school, so I’ve loved watching everyone come into their own this year and decide what they want to do with their career and this experience was a great culmination of that.”

View more photos from the symposium on Flickr.