Chengxi "Tracy" Tan, a third-year medical student in the Asia Pacific Rim Development Program (APRDP), concluded her seven-week research program with Department of Anesthesiology researcher, Gurudutt Pendyala, Ph.D.
Tan researched the impact of oxycodone abuse in neurological development during her time in Dr. Pendyala’s laboratory. She will also co-authored a paper, and will soon publish her first paper in which she is the first author.
Her summer commenced with a presentation at the APRDP symposium in which she presented her work on the lab’s oxycodone research. The symposium was led by H. Dele Davies, M.D. and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, and Jane Meza, Ph.D. and associate vice chancellor for global engagement.
"This program brings the best of the best minds in China to us," said Dr. Pendyala. "Tracy did an amazing job in her time here and with her presentation. She will be missed."
The APRDP is an exchange student program in which medical students in Asia’s Pacific Rim come to UNMC to gain research experience, and foster relationships and cultural understanding, ultimately improving the world-wide healthcare system. Of the medical students in the APRDP, 15 percent return to UNMC after medical school to earn their Ph.D.
Tan returns to Shanghai Jiao Tong University Sept. 8, where she will finish her medical degree. Upon completion, Tan hopes to earn a Ph.D. and focus her career on obstetrics and gynecology with emphasis upon how drugs of abuse affect neurological development.