New Class of MCRE Awardees

The MVTCP is excited to announce the Medical Cancer Research Experience (MCRE) awardees for AY24-25! The goal of the MCRE is to support Vanderbilt medical students in their pursuit of cancer health disparities research. The program accepts five Vanderbilt medical students/year and provides $6K for research activities and travel to a conference to present their work.

Please welcome the five students below, listed alongside their research projects and mentors.

1. Nikita Bastin
   • Project: Disparities in Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis and Outcomes
   • Mentor: Alania Brown, MD, MPH
2. Joy Justice
   • Project: Impact of Glucose Homeostasis on Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Outcomes by Sex
   • Mentor: Doug Johnson, MD, MSCI
3. Marissa Khalil
   • Project: Retrospective Cohort Analysis of Outcomes Among Young Onset Breast Cancer in Kijabe, Kenya
   • Mentor: Rondi Kauffman, MD, MPH, FACS
4. Allison Morris
   • Project: Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Awareness of Potential Treatment-Related Infertility Risk Among Patients with Early-Onset Cancers
   • Mentor: Andreana Holowatyj, PHD, MSCI
5. Grace Xu
   • Project: Dietary Polyphenols and the Risk of Prostate Cancer in the Prospectice Southern Community Cohort Study
   • Mentor: Martha Shrubsole, PHD