Binita Adhikari noticed a common theme as she carefully studied the variety of health-focused research posters on display inside the lobby of UNLV's Science and Engineering Building.

“There are a lot of research gaps,” said Adhikari, a master’s student in the School of Public Health. “But there are a lot of students from different fields here, and their research is very interesting. I think this lets us publish and grow as an institution.”

Adhikari’s research poster, "Knowledge and Preventative Practice of Breast Cancer Among Graduate Students: A Scoping Review," was one of nearly 90 projects at UNLV’s health research symposium. 

The event, spearheaded by Peter Kaufmann, associate dean of research for UNLV’s School of Integrated Health Sciences, included representation from the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine; the schools of Public Health, Nursing, and Integrated Health Sciences; the Department of Psychology; Touro University Nevada’s College of Osteopathic Medicine; and the University of Nevada, Reno.

“The vision of this symposium was to address and emphasize the breadth and depth of research at UNLV and our local sister institutions,” Kaufmann said. “We wanted to bring together scholars who are health-related, everything from undergrads to some of our renowned faculty investigators, in an interdisciplinary setting.”

Expanding UNLV’s Academic Health footprint

As the university works toward building an Academic Health Center, administrators have emphasized the importance of interprofessional educational opportunities to strengthen the quality of research and improve patient care.

Several of the event’s projects featured collaborations between UNLV’s Division of Health Sciences schools.

Sharon Joseph, a third-year medical student, worked closely with Thessa Hilgenkamp, a physical therapy professor, and graduate student Victor Beck on the research project "Criterion Validity of the 2-Minute Step Test in Predicting VO2 Max in Adults with Down Syndrome."

Working in UNLV’s Cardiovascular Research and Exercise (CARE) Lab, Joseph relished the opportunity to learn from Hilgenkamp, who has studied the health of adults with Down syndrome for nearly two decades.

“It’s been such a humbling experience to learn from Dr. Hilgenkamp and to draw from her knowledge,” Joseph said.

She added that her pre-clinical experience as a medical student allowed her to bring a different perspective to their collaboration. Joseph also used the opportunity working with Hilgenkamp and Beck, both a part of the School of Integrated Health Sciences, to improve her writing proficiency.

“Dr. Hilgenkamp and Victor have been great in helping me develop the language for my research paper, which has been an amazing part of this experience. It’s been so educational for me,” she said.

Other research projects features included: 

• "The Impact of Telemedicine on Chronic Disease Management"
• "Sleep Behaviors and Cardiometabolic Health Among Older Adults"
• "Socioeconomic and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in ACL Reconstruction Patients"
• "Exclusive Breastfeeding Reduces Infant Mortality in Two Sub-Saharan African Countries" 

“What this signaled to me was that if you create an exciting setting for people to show their work, they will rise to the occasion,” Kaufmann said. “We are an R1 institution, part of a larger community. A university’s role is manyfold, including advancing the public good. Generating knowledge is one of the key ways that a university contributes to the public good.”

Adhikari and her group spent the past year collecting data from 16 countries for their research project. The health research symposium, she said, provided a glimpse into the scope of research her UNLV colleagues are undertaking to make the world a better place.

“As a public health student, we work with faculty members from different schools, so this symposium is important for us as students as well as researchers,” she said.

Kaufmann was also encouraged by the support of Sable Systems International, a company supporting metabolic and behavioral research, for providing cash prizes for the winning research posters. He hopes the event can become a larger part of UNLV’s research footprint and encourages others in the medical and health sciences field to participate in the future.

“I think this was a landmark event for biomedical research in Southern Nevada,” he said. “Knowledge in the health sciences is constantly evolving, and sharing new developments in these types of settings is a vital catalyst for change.”