The winners of the WVU School of Dentistry annual research awards have been announced.
The dental school alumni association has supported the annual research awards event for third-year dental students for 53 years. This is the 4th year the competition has also been sponsored by the Annual Association of Dental Researchers/Densply Sironia.
Faculty members Dr. Juan Bugueno, Dr. Matthew Harper, Dr. Valerie Perrine, Dr. Fotinos Panagakos and Dr. Gian Pietro Schincaglia served as judges as the ten teams presented their findings. Teams had seven minutes to explain their research followed by three minutes for questions from the judges.
D3 Research Winners
First place
David Maxwell, Paige Durkin, Krishna Patel, Anna Tram Do
Second place
Mona Sivaneri, Marissa Fletcher, Tristan Quinones
Third place
Savannah Bryner
Megan Pycraft
Renee Engle
The first place team’s study was titled “Exploring the impromptu switch to online learning due to COVD-19 among dental students”. They focused on the depression, anxiety and stress levels among dental students nationwide as they navigate school during a pandemic. They fabricated a survey that was distributed to every dental school in the nation. Some of the most significant findings included:
- 1/3 of participants categorized as moderate to severe depression
- 1/3 of dental students indicated some sort of eating disorder (women more than men)
“Our research shows to be imperative because it sheds light on normalizing the feelings of psychological distress. This study can ultimately open the door for health professional students to realize they may need help and give them the courage to seek it,” David Meadows, DDS student, said.