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Rehabilitation Research Experience for Medical Students (RREMS)

The Association of Academic Physiatrists is proud to announce the four recipients of a brand new scholarship program, the Rehabilitation Research Experience for Medical Students (RREMS). This program is generously supported by the Ernest W. Johnson fund, the Roosevelt Warm Springs Foundation, the Foundation for PM&R (Education Research Fund), and the AAP. The RREMS was developed for medical students with strong research interests. This program will benefit the recipients by giving them an exciting and structured research experience and by exposing them to some of the most successful and respected faculty mentors in our field. The four recipients are Adam Tenforde, Arun Rajasekhar, Kopal Kulkarni, and Roger Mignosa.

Adam Tenforde is a medical student at Stanford University School of Medicine who is also enrolled in the Bioengineering Scholarly Concentration with the Cardiovascular Pulmonary Academy. He will be working under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Fredericson at Stanford. Adam will be evaluating female long distance runners to identify possible modifiable risk factors for stress fractures. This study will also lend evidence to which training techniques may be useful for prevention. Adam received a BA in Human Biology from Stanford and is a former All-American collegiate distance runner.

Arun Rajasekhar is a student at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Under the mentorship of Dr. Gwen Sowa, also at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Arun will be examining serum levels of biomarkers in a rabbit model to determine if specific inflammatory markers can be identified as measures of disc degeneration. Improving identification of pain generators with biomarkers will enhance diagnostic techniques above and beyond what imaging provides. Arun obtained a BA in Economics from Northwestern University.

Kopal Kulkarni, a student at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, will be mentored by Dr. Pablo Celnik, also at Johns Hopkins. Kopal will examine transcranial direct current stimulation as a way to modulate learning of motor tasks in unimpaired interventions. This study has potential clinical application for the rehabilitation of individuals with motor impairment from stroke and other neurological conditions. Kopal has a BA in Human Biology and an MA in Sociology from Stanford.

Roger Mignosa is a medical student at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine in California and will be mentored by Dr. B Jenny Kiratli at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. He will be studying the energy expenditure, fitness parameters, and exertion effort in wheelchair propulsion using power assist wheels in individuals with Spinal Cord Injury. His work will help guide development of evidence-based clinical guidelines for prescription of these devices. Roger earned a BS in Biochemistry from the University of California, Irvine and a Graduate Diploma in Clinical Exercise Science from the University of Queensland, Australia. Roger is also an All-American Triathlete.

Each applicant was required to submit a proposal. The titles of each winning proposal are detailed below:

Identifying Modifiable Risk Factors for Stress Fractures in Young Female Distance Runners (Tenforde)
Investigation into the Utility of Inflammatory Serum Biomarkers to Assess Intervertebral Disc Degeneration (Rajasekhar)
Non-Invasive Cerebellar Stimulation to Improve Hand Skill Learning (Kulkarni)
Determining parameters affected by use of power assist wheels in persons with spinal cord injury (Mignosa)

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