The University of South Alabama College of Medicine Student Assembly hosted the fourth annual M3 Case Report Symposium on June 5. This year, because of social distancing constraints, 38 rising fourth-year medical students presented case reports via Zoom.
The following students won awards for their presentations:
1st Place
Jacob Rosner: "Gynecologic-Oncology Surgery: A Case Study in Surgical Candidate Decision-Making for Stage IA Grade 2 EMCA"
Faculty sponsor: Jennifer Scalici, M.D.
2nd Place (Tie)
Jordan M. Smith: "A Rare Case of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Penis"
Faculty sponsor: Christopher Keel, D.O.
Zachary B. White II: "Safety and Efficacy of Treatment with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICIs) in a Patient with Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) Class C Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)"
Faculty sponsor: Moh’d Khushman, M.D.
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Morgan Roberts presents 'Incidental Discovery of Colorectal
Cancer in a Patient with Fournier’s Gangrene' during the
M3 Case Symposium.
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3rd Place (Tie)
Morgan Roberts: "Incidental Discovery of Colorectal Cancer in a Patient with Fournier’s Gangrene"
Faculty sponsor: John Hunter, M.D.
Alexis L. H. Kentros and Kay Ann Simmons: "Urine Leaking from Surgical Site"
Faculty sponsors: Paul Rider, M.D., and Lorie Fleck, M.D.
Jacob Rosner, who received first place for his presentation, collaborated with Jennifer Scalici, M.D., chief of gynecologic oncology at USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute. Their case concerned a patient with stage IA grade 2 endometrial cancer.
"Although surgical intervention is the gold standard for this stage and grade, Dr. Scalici and I discussed her significant comorbidities and how some patients do not perfectly fit into algorithms," Rosner said. "She presented to USA Health a few months after surgery with various medical problems that were not directly related to her cancer but may have been exacerbated by her surgery."
The case highlighted other issues such as how socioeconomic status and living in rural Alabama contributed to the patient's limited access to care and follow-up treatment, Rosner said.
Stuart McFarland, student assembly president, said many students already had started preparing for the case symposium before COVID-19 restrictions prevented medical students from clinical rotations in the hospitals. McFarland said the assembly decided the best way to proceed was to host the symposium online in lieu of traditional poster presentations.
"Due to the limitations of small computer screens instead of posters, we went with short oral presentations with PowerPoint presentations," McFarland said. "This style was new to many of us. I believed the added challenge forced us to think outside the box and resulted in excellent presentations."
Rosner said the format, in which participants were separated into four Zoom rooms, seemed to work well. "Although we were not able to see everyone's poster presentation as in years past," he said, "it was nice to listen and focus more clearly on a select few."
McFarland added, "Because of the new format we also needed significantly more judges. I was very grateful for all the faculty members who stepped up and offered their expertise."
