In 2023, we were honored to be among the 45 sites selected nationwide to participate in the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellowship (MSARF) program. FAER established the MSARF program with the goal of inspiring medical students to explore careers in anesthesiology and perioperative medicine research. This unique summer fellowship opportunity granted 68 exceptional medical students from across the United States an invaluable eight-week research experience within the selected academic anesthesiology departments.
Our 2023 MSARF fellows were Briana Clifton and Samir Yellapragada. These promising students not only engaged in rigorous research training, but also actively participated in clinical anesthesia activities. At the end of their training, they had the opportunity to present their scientific findings at ANESTHESIOLOGY 2023, the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).
Briana Clifton graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2022 with majors in biology and South Asian studies. Briana is currently a second-year medical student at the University of Minnesota Medical School. This past summer, she worked at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in the UPMC Division of Obstetric & Women’s Anesthesiology with Grace Lim, MD, MS, on several projects related to patients’ experiences with pain management during labor and delivery. They presented their primary project, "Psychophysical Pain Correlates with Postpartum Depression Symptoms in Postpartum People after Acute Birth Stressors,” at ASA 2023. Briana hopes that their research can be used to empower both patients and physicians to improve conversations and expectations surrounding pain management and mental health throughout pregnancy, labor/delivery, and the postpartum period.
Samir Yellapragada, a Pittsburgh native, is currently a second-year medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in anthropology and a BS in natural sciences. He obtained minors in creative writing and theatre arts. During his fellowship, he worked with his mentor Benedict Alter, MD, PhD, on a project titled, “The OMEGA Study: Offset Mechanisms in Evaluation of Lumbar Medial Branch Block Analgesia.” This research focused on differentiating between pharmacologically-induced pain relief vs. endogenous pain relief following the administration of lumbar medial branch blocks, nerve blocks which induce pain relief in the lower back. Samir presented this research at the 2023 ASA meeting and will be continuing the project under the guidance of Dr. Alter.
