Outstanding high school students receive awards to stimulate research interest in digestive diseases

The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Research Foundation has announced the 2012 Student Research Fellowship Award recipients. Funded by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, the awards are intended to stimulate interest in research careers in digestive diseases.

"These gifted students will help guide the promising future of the gastroenterology field through their ground-breaking research," said Nicholas F. LaRusso, MD, AGAF, chair of the AGA Research Foundation. "We are honored to recognize and award these outstanding high school students, and strive to be the pre-eminent foundation that supports young researchers in gastroenterology and hepatology."

A total of 11 awards of $2,500 each were given to support high school students interested in performing digestive disease or nutrition research for a minimum of 10 weeks. This year's grant recipients are:

• Yiyun Cao, Illinois Math and Science Academy, Aurora, IL
• Alexander R. Cohen, Newton South High School, Newton, MA
• Peter G. Delaney, University School, Hunting Valley, OH
• Andrea R. Hughes, Centennial High School, Ellicott City, MD
• Aileen M. Martin, Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, Miami, FL
• Kei Nakagawa, Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA
• Jordan M. Poles, Horace Greeley High School, Chappaqua, NY
• Pooja N. Prasad, Bellaire High School, Houston, TX
• Sidharth K. Sengupta, Westview High School, Portland, OR
• Katherine K. Wu, Episcopal Academy, Newton Square, PA
• William Yao, Walton High School, Marietta, GA

The Student Research Fellowship Awards program was created by the AGA more than a decade ago to stimulate interest in gastroenterological research careers in high school, college and medical school students. To date, the program has identified nearly 223 high school, undergraduate, graduate and medical students to participate in the program. Selected through a rigorous national application process, the students have participated in research at such distinguished institutions as Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Chicago, Case Western Reserve University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and others.

Participants in the program have subsequently been admitted as undergraduates at prestigious universities nationwide, including Harvard University, Notre Dame University, Rice University the University of Southern California, the University of Virginia and others. Virtually all have indicated an intention to continue their studies in medically related fields.

Provided by American Gastroenterological Association