On one side of the ballroom, a doctoral psychology student explored how worry before sleep may quietly influence cardiovascular function through the night. A few steps away, a pharmacy student examined whether widely used GLP-1 medications could carry differing risks for pancreatitis.
Despite their different questions and disciplines, they shared a common goal: advancing the science that shapes how people live and receive care.
Those conversations, and hundreds more like them, filled the USF Marshall Student Center during the 36th annual , the university’s largest celebration of health sciences research.
This year’s event brought together a record-setting 524 presenters and more than 500 research projects, spanning fields from cancer biology and immunotherapy to neuroscience, clinical medicine, public health and health education. The work showcased researchers across the USF Health colleges of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and public health along with collaborators in other USF programs.
Susan Rodriguez, fourth-year psychology doctoral student
Susan Rodriguez, a fourth-year doctoral student in psychology in the USF College of Arts and Sciences, presented research examining how pre-sleep rumination and worry affect cardiovascular function during sleep. Her project was conducted in collaboration with investigators from the , a partnership that helped her translate basic behavioral science into insights relevant for clinicians.
“As a non-clinical psychology PhD student, we focus a lot on basic research, but we don’t always focus on how we can translate our findings into a more applied setting,” Rodriguez said. “Collaborating with the College of Nursing helped me think about how I can take my findings and inform clinicians about potential considerations in applied settings.”
Rodriguez’s interest in bridging science and patient care began before graduate school, when she spent eight years working as a paramedic.
“In my experience as a first responder, I saw how many individuals struggled to comply with medical interventions for reasons that weren’t purely physiological but were often rooted in psychological factors,” she said. “Now I’m able to study all those factors. Thanks to partnering with the nursing faculty, I’m able to tap into the full picture of basic research and then deliver these results into a more applied perspective.”
Sean Karlen, third-year PharmD student
Nearby, Sean Karlen, a third-year PharmD student at the , was presenting for the first time at USF Health Research Day. His project examined whether the risk of pancreatitis differs among types of GLP-1 medications, a class of drugs rapidly expanding in use for diabetes and weight management.
Originally developed as an elective research project, the study quickly became an opportunity to collaborate with other investigators. The experience has since motivated him to pursue additional research studies.
“It is one thing to do a research project; it is another to stand there and answer questions and talk about your research with other people who are involved in it,” Karlen said. “It is very helpful to engage and share ideas with other researchers looking to solve similar problems.”
, senior associate vice president for research at USF Health and vice dean for research at the Morsani College of Medicine, said the gathering represents one of the most vivid expressions of USF Health’s expanding research enterprise.
“There is nothing like the experience of seeing 500 presenters and all the people who want to see them in one room,” Liggett said. “What impresses me even more than the quantity is the quality of research that we are now seeing at the event.”
Research Day also featured a keynote lecture from Jacques Ravel, PhD, a leading microbiome researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Ravel’s work focuses on understanding the vaginal microbiome and how disruptions in microbial communities can increase the risk of sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy complications and infertility. His presentation highlighted how emerging genomic and systems biology tools are helping scientists unravel the complex microbial ecosystems that influence human health.
With hundreds of conversations unfolding across poster boards, lectures and oral presentations throughout the day, , executive vice president of USF Health and dean of the , emphasized a fundamental principle of scientific progress: discovery thrives where ideas and perspectives intersect.
“When we gather to learn from each other,” Lockwood said, “we celebrate both the fierce determination of scientific curiosity and the humble recognition that there is always more to learn and much we do not know.”
