DOM Research Day 2026: connection, collaboration and celebration

Research Day poster session in full force.

The University of Wisconsin Department of Medicine (UW DOM) held its annual Research Day on May 1, 2026. 

2026 Research Day by the numbers.

The signature event is an opportunity for faculty, staff, and trainees from all 11 DOM divisions—along with UW School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) student investigators and UW–Madison undergraduates—to present and engage with cutting-edge basic, clinical, translational and health services research. 

This year set several records—with number of registrants, overall attendees and research poster presentations.

Below, a few of this year’s attendees and Research Day Event Chair Nicole Rogus-Pulia, PhD, CCC-SLP, associate professor and the Linda Banov and Howard Stern Faculty Fellow in Dysphagia, Geriatrics and Gerontology, share highlights from the day.

AI and beyond

The day began with a Grand Rounds delivered by Westyn Branch-Elliman, MD, MMSc, chief of infectious diseases for the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System. 

Dr. Branch-Elliman’s talk—Robot Replacement or Re-Enforcement? AI Implementation in Healthcare: Successes, Failures, and a Lot of Unknowns—reviewed the current and possible future state of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine.

Dr. Branch-Elliman during the morning’s Grand Rounds.

Dr. Branch-Elliman also led a breakout session later in the morning called Robots to Help Us Work Smarter, Not Harder: A Workshop on AI Research Needs in Medicine, which focused on the real-world application of artificial intelligence in clinical and health services research.

Additional breakout sessions, led by subject-matter experts in the DOM and across campus, allowed attendees to explore different ideas that may enhance their research. 

Topics included navigating research funding, developing an academic elevator pitch, building successful partnerships to transform rural and public health, and leveraging the power of team science to advance research collaborations.

From left: Farah Kaiksow, MD, MPP, associate professor, Hospital Medicine, leads the afternoon breakout session “Transforming Rural and Public Health through Novel Partnerships, Programs and Implementation Science,” with panelists Noelle LoConte, MD, associate professor, Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care; Nicole Bonk, MD, assistant professor, Hospital Medicine; and Christie Bartels, MD, MS, division chief, Rheumatology.

Posters, presentations and awards

Research Day featured 151 scientific posters.

Twelve of the posters were honored in two categories: basic science and clinical research comprising clinical, translational and health services projects. The presenters on each received a ribbon and funds for professional development and research expenses. 

Two posters received a Chair’s Poster Award for outstanding visual appeal and layout that clearly presented significance, innovation and approach.

Eleanna Melcher, an MD/PhD graduate student research assistant at the UW SMPH Center for Health Disparities Research (CHDR), discusses her project at the poster session.

In the afternoon, the lead authors from among the highest-scoring abstracts also presented their research to the entire community:

  • Basic: "JAK/STAT Blockade Corrects IFN Driven Inflammation in B6.Aec1Aec2 mouse" by Eiko Yamada, DDS, PhD, scientist II, Rheumatology
  • Translational: "Systemic Interleukin-6 Levels in Adults with Asthma are Associated with Adverse Quantitative Thoracic Computed Tomography Body Composition Metrics: The Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP)" by Elizabeth Fasbender, fourth-year medical student, UW SMPH (working with Cardiovascular Medicine mentors)
  • Clinical: "Low Sensitivity of Commercial Assays for Measles Seroprotection in Adult Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease" by Yash Hegde, MD, PG-3, UW Internal Medicine Residency (working with Gastroenterology and Hepatology mentors)
  • Health Services: "Comparing prognostic performance and reasoning between large language models and physicians: An embedded mixed methods study" by Megan Gjertsen, MD, PG-3, UW Internal Medicine Residency (working with Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine mentors)

View the complete list of event honorees [PDF].

James Lewallen and Steve Barczi with the DOM Leader of the Pack trophy.
Above, from left: James Lewallen, MBA, division administrator, and Steve Barczi, MD, division chief, Geriatrics and Gerontology, accept the Leader of the Pack Award on Research Day. The award is presented to the division with the greatest number of research poster abstract submissions (weighted by the division’s total faculty population).
Banner: the 2026 Research Day poster session in full swing. All photo and video credit: Clint Thayer/Department of Medicine.
Matt Mallum, MFA