Geisinger Commonwealth medical student receives AOA fellowship

After a highly competitive application process, about 50 awards are made annually “to foster the development of the next generation of medical researchers.” AOA is the national medical honor society.

Singhal’s winning proposal is entitled, "Mapping Glucocorticoid Receptor Variants with Clinical Outcomes of Breast Cancer Patients in the Geisinger MyCode Electronic Health Record-linked Biobank."

“It’s a project looking at glucocorticoid receptor variants across breast-cancer subtypes to see if certain variants may correlate with earlier or worse prognosis,” Singhal said. “We hope the findings will ultimately guide personalized treatment plans – the essence of precision medicine.”

As part of the award, Singhal will present his research findings at AOA’s national conference in 2019. “Our school is still relatively young,” Singhal said. “But I believe awards like this and the many other thoughtful basic and clinical science research projects in which my peers are engaged is a testament to how strongly GCSOM encourages and nurtures students in the basic research process of asking and answering questions.”

According to AOA, the fellowships are extremely competitive and are meant to provide support for clinical investigation, basic laboratory research, epidemiology, social science/health services research, leadership or professionalism. Funds from the fellowship are expected to be the major source of support for the student. Only one candidate from each school may be nominated. A student may only receive one fellowship during medical school. The fellowship program honors Carolyn L. Kuckein, long-time administrator of AOA and an honorary member of the society, who died in 2004.

About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the non-profit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 134 care sites - including 10 hospital campuses, and Geisinger Health Plan, with 600,000 members in commercial and government plans. The Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,600 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $14 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country.  Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.