Research Day

All DOM faculty, staff, trainees and students working with a department faculty member are invited to submit basic, clinical, or translational and health services research abstracts for the poster session. 

Why share your work?

• Your research matters. Gain recognition from your peers.
• Inspire others. Spark conversations that lead to breakthroughs.
• Shape the future. Collaborate with others who are as energized by research and discovery as you are. 

You may be the lead author on only one abstract, but you can co-author multiple submissions. Abstracts previously submitted to national meetings are welcome. Case studies will not be accepted.

Formatting

Write your research abstract in Arial font, size 11 or larger.

Suggested structure for your abstract:

• Introduction (2–3 sentences): Explain why your project matters in a clinical setting.
• Methods (2–4 sentences): Describe how you carried out the research.
• Results (4–6 sentences): Summarize what you discovered.
• Discussion (2–3 sentences): Explain what your results mean and how they connect to your introduction.

You can include images or figures if they help explain your work.

Resources:

• National Library of Medicine: How to write a good abstract for a scientific paper or conference presentation
• NC State Tips for Writing Conference Abstracts
• EventAct: Writing Abstracts for a Conference

Submission Process

How to submit your research abstract:

1. Fill out the submission form and attach your abstract as a PDF file (.pdf).
2. Save the form using this format: First Author’s Last Name.First Initial_Date of Submission
   1. Example: Smith.A_02.12.26

3. Register and upload your completed form and abstract to the Registration & Abstract Submission Portal before 5:00 PM on Friday, February 20, 2026. Late submissions will not be accepted.

    

Review Process

All eligible abstracts will be reviewed and scored by the Research Education Committee. They look for effective and efficient communication of your research's relevance and key findings. Here's what they consider:

1. Introduction: Does it concisely describe the main subject, purpose, and importance of the research? Are they connected to the research's relevance and context?
2. Methods: Is there a clear description of what was done, with enough detail to conclude the methods were appropriate to the research?
3. Results: Are the findings and observations concisely described and interpreted logically?
4. Discussion: Do the concluding comments relate the results back to the research question, purpose, and the broader field?
5. Format and Submission:  
   • Well-written, complete sentences with correct grammar and punctuation
   • Free of spelling errors; all acronyms are defined
   • Follows the formatting guidelines in the submission form
   • Abstract is attached as a PDF

Author Honors & Awards

Lead authors will be chosen from amongst the top-scoring abstracts for each of the categories: basic, clinical, and translational and health services.

Those selected will be honored with a speaking slot, a prize ribbon and $150 in funds for professional development/research expenses.

All authors are invited to display a poster at the event, regardless of score, if criteria is met and space permits.

DOM Division "Leader of the Pack" Award

The Department of Medicine division with the most submissions, weighted by the division’s full faculty population, will be recognized with the “Leader of the Pack” traveling trophy. The award gives bragging rights and remains with the division until the next year, when it will be awarded again.

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Required Poster Sizes & Specifications

All posters are required to be 48" wide x 36" tall with a 1" border or 48" square with a 1" border to align with NIH-recommended dimensions. Abstracts do not need to be included on posters, but they can be if so desired.

Designing & Printing Posters

The DOM Communications team has created a department-branded template for research posters. It uses consistent colors, logos and layouts in line with campus and department brand standards.

• Research poster templates (PPT, download from Box to edit)

Printing resources:

• DoIT Digital Publishing & Printing Services
• UW-Madison Libraries Poster Printing Services
• UW-Madison Media Solutions

Additional helpful links:

• The Art of Making Academic Posters presented by Carole Wilson, PhD - PowerPoint slides and training video
• UW Design Lab: Designing Research Posters - Video Tutorial
• The UW Writing Center: Creating a Poster
• UW Design Lab: Research Posters
• American Journal Experts: Making a better research poster - Video

Poster Review Process

Event judges will review and score all posters based on whether significance, innovation, and approach have been adequately presented. They also take into consideration the quality of the overall presentation and the knowledge and enthusiasm of the presenter. Final scores will be comprised of 50% the poster score and 50% the abstract score.

Poster Honors and Awards

Multiple awards will be given in various non-tenured rank or level categories. Winners will receive award ribbons and $150 in departmental funds for professional development or research expenses.

Dr. Schnapp, the department chair, will also recognize two additional posters that stand out for their visual appeal and layout while clearly presenting their significance, innovation, and approach. To be competitive, review the "Designing & Printing Posters" section for tips on making posters.

2025

View a Department of Medicine story and video recapping the event.

Event Day Links

Agenda (PDF)

Index of Posters (PDF)

Event Recognition (PDF)

Award Winners (PDF)

Event Pictures

Breakout Session Slides

Interacting & Partnering with Industry

Tips on Manuscripts

Using AI in Research

Grand Rounds Speaker

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“Healing ICU Care: Harnessing the Power of Science and Humanism" (YouTube video)

E Wesley Ely, MD, MPH

Professor of Medicine
Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Grant W. Liddle Chair

Dr. Ely is an internist, pulmonologist, and critical care physician. Dr. Ely earned his MD at Tulane University School of Medicine, in conjunction with a master's in public health. He serves as the Grant W. Liddle endowed chair in medicine and is a physician-scientist and tenured Professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is also the Associate Director of aging research for the Tennessee Valley Veteran’s Affairs Geriatric Research Education Clinical Center (GRECC) in Nashville TN. He is the founder and co-director of the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center, and a pioneer in the investigation of delirium and long-term cognitive outcomes, including dementia, in survivors of critical illness, with continuous NIH and VA funding for 25 years and over 600 peer reviewed publications. Dr. Ely is the author of a work of narrative non-fiction entitled Every Deep-Drawn Breath, from which he’s donating 100% net proceeds to help COVID survivors and family members rebuild their lives.

Afternoon Session Speakers

• "Glutamine-fructose-6 phosphate transaminase 2, a rate limiting enzyme of the Hexosamine Biosynthetic Pathway, is increased in cultured human precision cut lung slices, an ex vivo model of human lung fibrosis" - Angie Tebon Oler, researcher II, Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
• "Longitudinal evaluation of 18F-MK-6240 in patients with Alzheimer’s disease dementia or mild cognitive impairment compared to healthy volunteers" - Anna Giarratana, MD, PhD, resident, Nuclear Medicine Residency, UW Department of Radiology
• "Bringing NCI’s Moonshot Cancer Center Cessation Initiative to UW Carbone Cancer Center: A Pilot Centralized Proactive Outreach Approach to Offer Tobacco Treatment for Patients with Cancer" - Jesse Kaye, PhD, scientist III, UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention
• "Gender Disparities in Sodium-Glucose Co-transporter 2 Inhibitor Prescribing: Insights from an Academic Endocrinology Clinic" - Victor Compres Matos, MD, fellow, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism

2024

View a Department of Medicine story and video recapping the event.

Agenda (PDF)

Index of Poster Presentations (PDF)

Health Equity Resources (PDF)

Event Recognition (PDF)

Poster Award Winners (PDF)

Grand Rounds Speaker

“Respiratory Health Disparities: Root Causes and Opportunities for Action”

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Fernando Holguin, MD, MPH

Professor of Medicine 
Professor of Pediatrics 
Associate Vice Chair for Research, Department of Medicine

Dr. Fernando Holguin is a pulmonologist and professor of medicine and pediatrics in the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado. He grew up in Mexico City, where he went to medical school. He did his pulmonary and critical care training and was a junior faculty at Emory University in Atlanta, where he also worked as a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He was subsequently recruited to the University of Pittsburgh, prior to joining the University of Colorado. 

Throughout his academic career, Dr. Holguin has focused much on his work on translational research and patient care. He has been in practice for more than 25 years and has many clinical interests including air pollution, obesity as an asthma comorbidity, and treatment of severe asthma. Dr. Holguin is currently Director of Asthma Clinical and Research Programs at the University of Colorado. He also served as the co-chair of the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society Task Force on severe asthma. He has been continuously funded throughout his academic career by the NIH, DOD, ALA and the EPA. His work initially focused on air pollution, epidemiology of chronic airways diseases, and lung physiology, but more recently, his work is focusing on airway epithelial metabolism as it relates to airway dysfunction in obesity and asthma. Dr. Holguin has authored or co-authored more than 220 papers and is internationally known for his work in asthma, COPD and air pollution. 

Dr. Holguin enjoys spending time with his family (wife Shanta, and sons Mateo and Diego), skiing, reading, and traveling to new places.

Afternoon Sessions

To represent the excellence and breadth of research being conducted by the Department of Medicine, the lead authors of the top-scoring abstracts from the four categories of research (i.e., basic, translational, clinical and health services/health equity) presented their work.

• "Mechanistic Insights into Sphingomyelinase-Mediated Pathways in Cardiomyocytes: From Calcium Signaling Disruption to ROS Production” presented by Zach Spears, BS, student, Cardiovascular Medicine
• "Differential Patterns of Immune Infiltration in the Tumor Immune Microenvironment Associate with Therapeutic Response in Primary Prostate Cancer Following Chemohormonal Therapy" presented by Erika Heninger, PhD, scientist III, Hematology, Medical Oncology, and Palliative Care
• "Pre-transplant malnutrition, particularly with muscle depletion is associated with adverse outcomes after kidney transplantation” presented by Jessa Engelken, MPH, RDN, and Katrina Kennedy MS, RDN, both clinical nutritionists, Nephrology
• "Destigmatizing Clinical Documentation Using Spell Check" presented by David Sterken, MD, assistant clinical professor, Hospital Medicine

2023

No event was held in 2023.

2022

Agenda

Index of Research Day Posters

Research Day Acknowledgements

Poster Award Winners

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Grand Rounds Speaker

“AT(N) Biomarkers Among Diverse Populations: Re-Thinking Alzheimer’s Disease.”

Sid O’Bryant, PhD

Executive Director, Institute for Translational Research, University of North Texas Health Science Center

As the population of those aged 65 and over continues to grow, so does the diversity of the U.S. population. In fact, by 2060 approximately 27.5% of the population will be Hispanic, 15% will be African American, and 44.3% will be non-Hispanic white.

Dr. Sid O'Bryant is the principal investigator of the Health & Aging Brain Study – Health Disparities (HABS-HD), which is the most comprehensive study of Alzheimer’s disease among the three largest racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. ever conducted – African Americans, Mexican Americans, non-Hispanic whites.

The goal of the HABS-HD program is to understand the life course factors, including biological, sociocultural, environmental, and behavioral, that impact risk for Alzheimer’s disease in late life. This work will ultimately lead to population-specific precision medicine approaches to treating and preventing Alzheimer’s disease (i.e., “treating your Alzheimer’s disease”).

In addition to being a global leader in Mexican American cognitive aging, Dr. O’Bryant is a global expert in precision medicine approaches to novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Alzheimer’s disease among adults with Down Syndrome.  

Keynote Speaker

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“Stem Cell-derived Islets: A Potential Beta Cell Replacement Therapy for All?”

Jon S. Odorico, MD, FACS, FAST

Dr. Odorico is Director of the Pancreas and Islet Cell Transplantation Programs and Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Organ Transplantation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.

He received his Chemistry BS from Duke University and M.D. from New York University. He completed General Surgery training as well as a post-doctoral research fellowship, at the University of Pennsylvania and an Organ Transplant Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin.

The University of Wisconsin Pancreas Transplant Program consistently ranks among the highest volume programs in the world and has developed many field-leading innovations. 

Dr. Odorico has an active, extramurally funded research laboratory that focuses on beta cell differentiation from pluripotent stem cells. He previously served as President of IPITA and Chair of the UNOS Pancreas Committee. He is also the scientific co-founder of Regenerative Medical Solutions, Inc.