Third-year medical students present at American College of Physicians state chapter meeting

Third-year medical students, from left, are Sridhar Karne, Peter Doan, Harris Bolus, Brandon Schonour, Megan Rasmussen, and Will Gannaway.

By Michelle Ryan-Day

A group of third-year Whiddon College of Medicine students recently presented their research at the 2025 Alabama and Mississippi Chapters American College of Physicians (ACP) Scientific Meeting in Gulfport, Mississippi.  

Peter Doan

Peter Doan, Will Gannaway, Sridhar Karne, Megan Rasmussen and Brandon Schonour all made poster presentations during the three-day meeting. 

Harris Bolus, also a third-year medical student, was appointed as the medical student representative from the Whiddon College of Medicine to the Alabama chapter of the ACP by Ross B. Vaughn, M.D., FACP, ACP Governor, Alabama chapter, and internal medicine physician in Tuscaloosa. In this role, Bolus will serve on the Governor’s Advisory Council, which advises the chapter governor on resolutions pending before the national Board of Governors.  

“My role is to represent students from the University of South Alabama, as well as to serve as a contact person for students interested in ACP meetings and events,” Bolus said. “I'm excited to learn more about the process of connecting and advocating for physicians in internal medicine and physicians in general.” 

For Doan, this was his first time making a presentation at a professional conference, which he described as a meaningful and rewarding experience. 

Sridhar Karne

“Presenting my poster provided a valuable opportunity to refine my communication skills and share a unique case report with fellow trainees and experienced physicians — some of whom may not have encountered a case like it before,” he said.  

The aim of his poster was to demystify a case involving Familial Mediterranean Fever, which is difficult to diagnose because of its transient nature. Patients often present with recurring fever, abdominal pain, and serositis, which can be commonly mistaken for acute infections, autoimmune disorders, or other periodic fever syndromes.  

“Beyond the presentation itself, the conference offered a great platform for networking with practicing physicians from Mississippi and Alabama,” Doan said. “Engaging in conversations about their clinical experiences and perspectives gave me deeper insight into the realities of medical practice in the region and helped shape the way I think about my future role as a physician.” 

For Karne, an experienced conference presenter, this was his first time traveling with medical students from his class, which he said made the meeting more enjoyable. 

Brandon Schonour

“At the ACP conference, I presented a case report on a patient who presented with an undiagnosed autoimmune condition called Immune-Mediated Necrotizing Myositis that I had the opportunity to be a part of the care team for during my internal medicine rotation,” he said. “This was a patient that I saw on admission, throughout the hospital course, on discharge, and then followed up with at his two-week outpatient primary care visit.”  

Karne credited second-year internal medicine resident Lauren Healey, M.D., and first-year internal medicine resident Wilhelm Basegoda, M.D., and his mentor, Katherine Glosemeyer, M.D., a hospitalist at USA Health and assistant professor in the Whiddon College of Medicine, for their guidance and collaboration on the project. He also acknowledged the departments of surgery and pathology for assisting with biopsy and diagnosis. 

“Conferences also serve as a great learning experience for me because they have interactive forums where they present interesting and rare cases where there is a lot of discussion amongst physicians that I can absorb from up close,” Karne said.  

Schonour found his participation in attending and presenting to be motivation for his future goals. 

Will Gannaway

“Attending and presenting at the ACP Alabama and Mississippi Chapters Scientific Meeting was a valuable experience,” he said. “It gave me the chance to share my work, receive meaningful feedback, and connect with physicians and students who are passionate about internal medicine. It reaffirmed my excitement for residency and lifelong learning.” 

Another experienced presenter, Schonour highlighted an instance in which the patient’s complex anatomy caused by wandering spleen syndrome masked an appendicitis diagnosis. Consideration of such anomalies and high clinical suspicion can be important in exploring all scenarios, he said.  

Gannaway’s research explored a rare case of a cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection that presented as an ampullary mass. No malignancy was found, but he concluded the case highlights the importance of tissue diagnosis to distinguish infection from malignancy, noting that such early consideration or recognition could prevent unnecessary surgical interventions.   

Megan Rasmussen

Rasmussen’s poster explained how sarcoidosis, a disease characterized by the formation of small clumps of inflammatory cells, can develop when cancers are treated with Nivolumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor. A patient with a history of urothelial cancer developed Nivolumab-induced sarcoidosis, which is rare but important to recognize, as it can be mistaken for cancer progression. Such a scenario should be considered, she suggested, as misdiagnosis could lead to unnecessary changes in therapy or invasive procedures.  

The American College of Physicians is a prestigious organization that recognizes specialists from the internal medicine field and strives to improve patient care. Founded in 1915, ACP is the largest medical specialty organization in the world with 161,000 members in more than 172 countries. 

It promotes the science and practice of medicine, and it supports internal medicine physicians in their quest for excellence.  Through its physician specialist and subspecialists members, ACP leads the profession in education, standard-setting, and the sharing of knowledge to advance the science and practice of internal medicine.