Congratulations to the Award Winners & Finalists at the 2026 Interprofessional Health Showcase!
Award finalists were selected by an interprofessional committee of abstract reviewers. Winning teams were determined by judges consisting of faculty, practitioners, staff, and community members across professions.
Winners & Finalists: Synchronous Oral Presentations in Major Project Categories
Community Engagement
1st Place: C-19 Jared Saklad; Valerie Garza; Ayssa Corona; An Pham; Rachel Le; Sierra Aguilar; Phuong Do; Kelley Gallant; Olivia Ramey; and Kelly Reveles. When Pills Meet Plates: Common Drug-Food and Drug-Supplement Interactions. Professions: Pharmacy and business.
2nd Place: C-22 Daniel Callahan; Aidan Smith; Hayes Miller; Paul Fliedner; Anthony Lopez; Phillip Schnarrs; Mark Townsend; Aliza Norwood; Anton Avanceña; Michelle Osuna; Ty Ford; and Kyle Murphy. Building a Community-Engaged Practice-Based Research Network to Advance Queer Health Outcomes in Austin. Professions: Medicine, research, pharmacy, and human ecology.
3rd Place: C-02 Dhruva Athreya; Tanvi Kongara; Chumeng Wang; Myrah Sheriff; Susan Dubois; DeLawnia Comer-HaGans; and Anupama Kapadia. Project LIGHT: Inclusive Diabetes Education at the Austin Lighthouse. Profession: medicine.
Finalist: C-06 Isabella Coleman; Minh Nguyen; Morgan Losabia; Marie Ayoub; Kimberly Cuellar; Hannah Farris; Emily Kane; Gizza Armendariz; Shaina Molina; Kira Alarcòn; Maria Ortega Herranz; Kevin Nguyen; Monica Milonovich; Rucha Bond; and W. Renee' Acosta. The Effects of an Educational Workshop on Diabetes Knowledge in an Older Adult Living Community. Professions: Pharmacy and dietetics.
Quality Improvement
1st Place: Q-18 Alexis Nerenberg; Hanna Doan; Peter Dao; Qamar Alsankari; Kelsey Barabas; Brandon Contreras; Carmen Cardenas-Ornelas; and Veronica Young. PATH: Promoting Awareness of Transportation in Health at a Federally Qualified Health Center. Professions: Pharmacy, nursing, and public health.
2nd Place: Q-10 Chumeng Wang; Myrah Sheriff; Colin Wei; Sonali Ajwani; Suhritha Bolisetty; Priyanka Subramanian; Maria Ghaly; Pallavi Gorantla; Kashish Sawant; Daniel Callahan; Sahana Prabhu; and James Hubley. Referral Outcomes and Care Continuity at a Student-Run Clinic Serving Individuals Experiencing Homelessness. Professions: Medicine and natural sciences.
3rd Place: Q-22 Hari Srinivasan; Tanvi Kongara; Daniel Callahan; Ruoming Fan; Aadil Razack; Suhritha Bolisetty; Ryan Wong; and Eileen Bowden. A Retrospective Chart Review of Ophthalmic Visits at a Student-Run Free Clinic. Profession: medicine.
Finalist: Q-03 Paul Fliedner; Austin Herrmann; Richard Sames; Ashwin Jhawer; Jacki Hecht; and Mary Velasquez. Outcomes of an Ongoing SBIRT Curriculum for Second-Year Medical Students in the Emergency Department. Professions: Medicine, nursing, and social work.
Research
1st Place: R-25 Karyssa Nelson; Henry Weresh; Regan Cooper; Philip Swigon; Aubrie Rich; Sadia Ali; and Carlos Brown. Intubating Under Pressure: The Role of Push-Dose Pressors in Hemodynamic Augmentation During Rapid Sequence Intubation. Professions: Medicine and public health.
2nd Place: R-20 Lauren Comer; Nikitha Gangasani; Juan Pablo Robayo; James Wise; Christopher Jolly; Marissa Burgermaster; Kelly Reveles; and Linda A. Feagins. Feasibility of Beta-hydroxybutyrate Supplementation Combined with New Advanced Therapy to Improve Inflammation in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Professions: Medicine, human ecology, natural sciences, and pharmacy.
3rd Place: R-18 Anvitha Kondapi; Swati Misra; Geetika Polavarapu; Tonita Duran; and Jung Kwak. Defining Interprofessional Team Roles in Dementia Care Transitions. Professions: Natural sciences, statistics and data science, liberal arts, public health, and nursing
Finalist: R-08 Jinwon Choung. How Physically Active Are U.S. Adults? Comparing National Estimates. Profession: Kinesiology.
Finalist: R-30 Natalia Pastor Navarro; Amudalat B. Aweda; Samantha Little; and Travis Crook. Concordance of Large Language Model (LLM) Skin Cancer Treatment Recommendations with National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines. Professions: Natural sciences and medicine.
Literature Review
Winner: LR-05 Brittany Herman; Marissa Johnson; Gaby Libretti; Claire M. Zagorski; and Lindsey J. Loera. Drug Checking and Emerging Contaminants in the Unregulated Drug Supply: A Literature Review. Profession: Pharmacy
Finalist: LR-08 Brianda Ramirez and Liz Rohlich. Creating Guidelines to Address the Gap in Assessing Psoriasis in Adults with Diverse Skin Tones. Profession: Nursing.
Health Innovations
Winner: H-01 Emmerich Benavides; Kavya Malgi; and Anthony Lopez. Pancreas Pal: An AI-powered tool helping newly diagnosed Type One Diabetes Patients. Professions: Natural sciences and medicine.
Winners & Finalists: Asynchronous Awards
Project-in-Progress
Winner: Q-24 Chumeng Wang; Michelle Lee; Alexandra Navard-Keck; and Pooja Varshney. Improving Access to Care: Assessing Allergy/Immunology Consultation for Children with Anaphylaxis Seen in the Pediatric Emergency Department. Professions: Medicine and natural sciences.
Finalists:
- C-11 Emma Ableman; Jonathan Dinh; Esteban Pantoja; Jane Uduji; Elham Almahmoud; and Madalyn Rosenthal. Needs Assessment for Nutrition Education Intervention in a Produce Prescription Program. Professions: Medicine and dietetics.
- R-29 Isabel Otero; Jennifer Casillas; Tania Aburto; and Megan Gray. Project SUEÑO. Professions: Dietetics and medicine.
- H-06 Anthony Lopez; Sonali Ajwani; and Luke Boyer. A Hybrid AI Chatbot Framework for Non-Medical Communication and Care Navigation in Outpatient Neurology Clinics. Professions: Medicine and natural sciences.
- H-14 Vivek Mathesh; Navnit Mohan; Srinivas Pulipaka; Meenakshi Subha Vipin; and Zunnoorain Unnissa. South Asian Food for Robust, Optimal Nutrition - A Culturally Tailored Digital Tool for South Asian Dietary Transitions. Professions: Medicine, dietetics, and public health.
Interprofessional Project
Winner
C-06 Isabella Coleman; Minh Nguyen; Morgan Losabia; Marie Ayoub; Kimberly Cuellar; Hannah Farris; Emily Kane; Gizza Armendariz; Shaina Molina; Kira Alarcòn; Maria Ortega Herranz; Kevin Nguyen; Monica Milonovich; Rucha Bond; and W. Renee' Acosta. The Effects of an Educational Workshop on Diabetes Knowledge in an Older Adult Living Community. Professions: Pharmacy and dietetics.
Best in Visual
Winner
H-05 Samuel Liaw; Coleman Zee; Celine Doan; Dean Enriquez; Nikita Nutalapati; Seongri Kim; Maygen Nolan; Tara Garza; Jenny Hoang; Phuong Do; and Laura Cannon. Standardizing Oncology Social Work Onboarding to Strengthen Interprofessional Integration and Patient-Centered Care in Community Oncology. Professions: Pharmacy and social work.
People's Choice
1st Place: R-35 Isaac Wang; Maria Arredondo; Ashley Lucke; and Catherine Echols. Prenatal Bilingual Language Exposure and Early Neural Language Processing in Preterm Infants. Professions: Psychology, human development & family sciences, and medicine.
2nd Place: C-03 Diya Ballal; Annie Nguyen; Riya Thangada; Vidya Sampathkumar; Reyna Wang; Maheen Ali; and Isha Kalpaguri. Better Sleep, Brighter Futures: Promoting Sleep Health in Austin Youth. Professions: Natural sciences and public health.
3rd Place: C-08 Abbey Johnson; Connie B. Lerma Cervantes; Jared Ewald; Cristhy Herrera; Marisa Washington; Kevin Nguyen; Ashley Castleberry; and Tonia Guida. Infectious Ideas: Cultivating Antimicrobial Stewardship in Ninth Grade Students. Profession: Pharmacy.
Best Gerontological Poster
Winner
C-19 Jared Saklad; Valerie Garza; Ayssa Corona; An Pham; Rachel Le; Sierra Aguilar; Phuong Do; Kelley Gallant; Olivia Ramey; and Kelly Reveles. When Pills Meet Plates: Common Drug-Food and Drug-Supplement Interactions. Professions: Pharmacy and business.