NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowships (MSSRFs) are awarded to medical students whose research projects are aimed at the better understanding, treatment and prevention of neurological disorders as well as improved patient care. The NREF Board of Directors is pleased to announce the 2020 recipients of the MSSRFs.
The NREF awarded twenty medical student fellowships this year. Five of this year’s recipients were funded with ongoing support from Aaron Cohen-Gadol, MD, FAANS, through royalties from the sale of the COHEN™ Bipolar Forceps from Kirwan Surgical Products to the NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fund.
“Dr. Cohen-Gadol sets a terrific example for others to follow. His generosity demonstrates how one donor’s commitment can provide meaningful and impactful support for a program”
– NREF Chair Michael W. Groff, MD, FAANS.
The MSSRF program offers fellowships in the amount of $2,500 to medical students in the United States or Canada, who have completed one or more years of medical school and wish to spend a summer working in a neurosurgical laboratory, mentored by a neurosurgical investigator sponsor, who is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS).
2020 MSSRF Recipients
- Seth Stravers Tigchelaar, PhD, Stanford University
- Emily Fellows, University of Minnesota Medical School
- Steven Willden, Barrow Neurological Institute
- Oliver Young Tang, University of Pennsylvania
- Olgert Bardhi, University of Florida
- Meghan Price, Duke University
- Adrian Rodrigues, Stanford University
- Manish Paranjpe, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- Stephen Ward, University of Utah School of Medicine
- Nimay Kulkarni, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School
- John “Jack” Butterfield, University of Minnesota
- Kristie Liu, BS, MS, Keck School of Medicine – University of Southern California
- Emre Kiziltug, Yale School of Medicine
- Stephanie Casillo, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
- Nicholas J. Contillo, Wake Forest School of Medicine
2020 Aaron Cohen-Gadol MSSRF Recipients
- Andrew Scott Emmert, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
- Ashley Dunbar, Yale University
- Timothy Yushin Kim, The Johns Hopkins Hospital
- Phillip Kubica, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health
- Sakibul Huq, Johns Hopkins University
“This year’s awardees represent the future of our specialty. It’s an honor to play a role in furthering the NREF mission to support research and educational endeavors”
– Dr. Cohen-Gadol.
The application for the 2021 MSSRFs will be available through the NREF Online Grant Portal beginning November 1, 2020. The deadline to submit an application is February 1, 2021. Awardees will be notified in April 2021.
Best 2019 MSSRF Abstract Winner
Sricharan Gopakumar, MD, Anderson Cancer Center
