2023 UC San Diego Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program
The 2023 UC San Diego Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program had a great summer with trainees working on aging research with UC San Diego faculty mentors.
Funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), this training grant has been offered at UC San Diego for over 25 years. Each summer up to 18 medical students from UC San Diego and across the country receive a stipend to decipher aging-related issues with UC San Diego faculty mentors. The program also aims to offer medical students a unique opportunity to gain clinical exposure to geriatrics and geriatric psychiatry.
Thank you so much to our trainees, mentors, and speakers for making this program a success!
Announcing the New MSTAR MPIs
It is with great pleasure that we announce new leadership for our Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program. Following the recent retirement of Dr. Dilip Jeste, Alison A. Moore, MD, MPH, FACP, AGSF, Professor and Chief of the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Care, is now the Interim Chair of the Stein Institute for Research on Aging and current co-Principal Investigator of MSTAR at UC San Diego. She has appointed co-PIs Ellen Lee, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Chief of Geriatric Psychiatry at UC San Diego, and Benjamin Han, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor in the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Care in the Department of Medicine at UC San Diego.
Ellen Lee, MD.
Benjamin Han, MD, MPH
This Summer's MSTAR Students and Mentors
Noorhan Amani, The Effects of Social and Built Environment of Refugee Camps on Cognitive Aging Among Refugees
Mentor: Tala Al-Rousan
Pallavi Chandrasekhar, Past Oral Contraceptive Use and Age at Initiation Relates to Late Life CognitiveOutcomes
Mentor: Erin Sundermann
Jessica Daly, Assessing the Gap: Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancer Screening & Surveillance in Older Adults
Mentor: Samir Gupta
Matinder Dhillon
Mentor: Melody Schiaffino
Jacquelyn Ferguson, Creatinine Filtration as an Indicator of Muscle Mass and Functional Status in Older Adults
Mentor: Alison Potok
Dylan Lawton, Examining the Cost Burden Analysis of Dietary Supplements in Older Adult Drivers: An Analysis from The AAA LongROAD Study
Mentor: Ryan Moran
Sidney Lin, Multimorbidity and Stimulant Use Disorder Among Veterans with Criminal Legal System Involvement
Mentor: Benjamin Han
Sydney Maraat, Review of Disparities in Transgender Medicine and Care of Older Adults Utilizing a NIMHD Research Framework
Mentors: Benjamin Han, Maile Karris
Shay Nakahira, Using Digital Passive Metrics to Assess the Impact of Sedentary Activity and Sleep on Cognition within the Hispanic Population
Mentor: Raeanne Moore
Pearse O’Malley, Cannabis Use Increase Among Older Adults in the US Since Widespread
Legalization of Cannabis and More Permissive Drug Use Attitudes Among Baby Boomers
Mentor: Alison Moore
Vy Pham, Evaluating the Safety of Mohs Micrographic Surgery in the Elderly: Measuring Infection
Rates Across Patient Populations
Mentor: Brian Jiang
Emma Rice, Correlations between activity levels and hippocampal tau using the CHAMPS questionnaire
Mentor: Sarah Banks
Liz Timple, The Intensive Care Unit's (ICU) Bustling Environment Designed for the Care of Acutely
Ill Patients and the Lighting Conditions
Mentor: Biren Kamdar
Michelle Trinh, Characterizing the Relationship Between Meta-Temporal Cerebral Blood Flow and Fuctional Ability in Cognitively Impaired Adults
Mentor: Katie Bangen
Abigail Zaratan, Neuropsychological Criteria for MCI Better Predicts Neuroimaging-Based Markers of Neurodegeneration in Aging Veterans
Mentor: Lisa Delano-Wood