Residents and fellows compete at annual academic expo

Chelsea Miller, M.D., with Christina

Talerico, M.D. 

USA Health residents and fellows competed at the 2025 Resident and Fellow Academic Exposition on April 30 in the Atlantis Room. Hosted by the Office of Graduate Medical Education, the annual event is an opportunity for residents and fellows to display and share their scholarly activities with the USA Health and Whiddon College of Medicine community.

This year, 39 highly rated abstract submissions were selected to be presented in the poster competition. The three top-rated abstract submissions were selected as oral presentations. Participants presented clinical vignettes; research projects; quality improvement projects; case reports; and patient safety, education and advocacy projects. 

Cash prizes of $300 were awarded to the winners in the oral presentation category and three poster categories:

Oral Presentation
Chelsea Miller, M.D., a fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry, won for her oral presentation, “The School to Prison Pipeline: The impact of in-school and out-of-school suspension on future criminal legal system involvement and the urgent need of mental healthcare in prevention.”

Mackenzie Cummings, M.D., with

Judy Blair-Elortegui, M.D. 

Clinical and Translational Research
Mackenzie Cummings, M.D., a first-year fellow in gynecologic oncology, won for her poster presentation, “Combination of carboplatin and CHK1 inhibition to overcome platinum resistance in high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC).”

Quality Improvement/ Performance Improvement
Angela Mosley-Johnson, M.D., a fourth-year obstetrics and gynecology resident, won for her poster presentation, “Perspectives on abstinence-only sexual health education.”

Clinical Vignette
Jakarinya Mangalamoorthy, M.D., a first-year pediatrics resident, won for her poster presentation, “A 15-year-old male diagnosed with 46 XX karyotype.”

Miller, who won first place for her oral presentation, said presenting her research gave her the opportunity to connect with other physicians at USA Health, foster potential collaborations, and raise awareness about a topic that is deeply important to her. Her project centered on the school-to-prison pipeline — a troubling phenomenon in which exclusionary school practices and policies contribute to funneling students into the juvenile and criminal legal systems. 

Jakarinya Mangalamoorthy, M.D., with

Judy Blair-Elortegui, M.D. 

“Traditionally, it's been thought that out-of-school suspension increases risk for future criminal legal involvement due to reduced supervision. However, our findings challenge that notion,” Miller said. “In our study, we examined the comparative impact of in-school suspension (ISS) versus out-of-school suspension (OSS) on future criminal legal contact. Surprisingly, we found that ISS was associated with higher odds of adverse outcomes — including arrest, time spent in jail, criminal charges, guilty pleas, and court trials — compared to OSS alone.”

Miller, who was a high school biology teacher before entering medical school, said this is particularly concerning in light of recent policy shifts in Texas, which now allow for unlimited use of ISS and extend exclusionary discipline practices to children as young as kindergarten.

“As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I see firsthand how school behaviors shape the mental health trajectories of young people,” she said. “About 80% of my outpatient cases stem from school-related behavioral issues. I consider myself deeply invested in keeping kids in school, because school exclusion is linked to lower academic achievement — and academic achievement, in turn, is associated with lifelong health outcomes.”

Angela Mosley-Johson, M.D., with

Judy Blair-Elortegui, M.D. 

Mosley-Johnson said the topic of her poster presentation — abstinence-only sexual health education — is important, as Alabama has one of the highest teen birth rates in the country. 

“Teen pregnancies have lasting consequences on individuals, families, and communities,” she said. “It is my hope that we will continue to have conversations and do the necessary work to educate and advocate to reduce our teen pregnancy rate.” 

The judges were as follows: Becky Pomrenke; Kristen Noles; Nathan Polite, D.O.; Maryann Mbaka, M.D.; Omar Alkharabsheh, M.D.; Jose Sanchez, M.D.; Jatinder Kumar, M.D.; Sakteesh Gurunathan, M.D.; and Binata Mukherjee, M.D., MBA. 

View more photos from the expo on Flickr.