Research

All BEST students complete a research project under the supervision of an experienced faculty mentor. For both students and faculty, the research project and final capstone presentation serve as the highlight of the program.

With the opportunity to learn about topics ranging from computer simulation of genetic disorders, to classification trees, to models for clinical decision making, students go far beyond traditional classroom education in order to synthesize and integrate all they learn. In doing so, students are able to demonstrate and better appreciate the importance of statistical methods in biomedical research.

Schedule

The program allocates 6-8 hours per week over about 7 weeks to trainee-mentor research time. Students are assigned a faculty member prior to arriving on campus.

From weeks two through seven, students work intensively with their mentors on their research projects. During the eighth and final week, students, faculty, coordinators, and mentors gather for a capstone symposium, where students present a summary of their research project.

2021 Project Titles

“Tumor Immune Microenvironment of Breast Cancer by Early Onset Status: Systematic Review”

“Effects of Maternal Experience of Discrimination During Pregnancy on Neonatal Brain Connectivity”

“COVID-19 Outcomes: Examining the Connection Between Neighborhood Vulnerabilities and Chronic Air Pollution Exposure”

“Comparison of Biological Aging Between White and Asian American Young Adults During 2015-2018”

“Exploring the Impact of State-Level Marijuana Laws on Substance Use among Adolescents”

“Mapping and analyzing brain networks in Alzheimer's disease”

“Incidence of clinical suicidal ideation and its clinical predictors”

“Studying the Effectiveness of Typical v.s. Atypical Antipsychotics in the CATIE Trial”

“Causal network analysis of gene expression data”

“Identification of Genetic Variants of Lp(a) levels and Relationships to Disease States”

“The Impact of COVID-19 on Elderly Minorities with Heart Failure”