Womack Army Medical Center hosted its Annual Research Symposium at the Weaver Auditorium, showcasing podium and poster presentations from learners across the Graduate Medical and Health Science Education programs: Orthopedic Surgery, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Optometry, Occupational Therapy, Interservice Physician Assistant Program (IPAP) and the US Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing (USAGPAN).
Staff and trainees engaged the presenters by asking questions, and provided feedback on projects previously submitted to major national conferences such as Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS), Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS) - Society of Federal Health Professionals Annual Meeting, Society of Military Orthopedic Surgeons (SOMOS) Annual Meeting, Uniformed Service Academy of Family Physicians (USAFP) Annual Meeting and Tri-Service American College of Physicians (ACP) Annual Meeting.
“What we have is a robust Department of Clinical Investigations, and we deliberately provide opportunities to do scholarly activity and actual research,” said Lt. Col. Wendra Galfand, Director of Medical Education and Research at WAMC. “Pretty much everyone, every program has that requirement, and so we facilitate it, and then display the posters and the podium presentations from those researchers.”
Capt. Kendall Dean opened the podium session with the Family Medicine team’s AMSUS selected study on stress fractures in Army trainees. The project led by Maj. Angelina Matherly, was selected for the 5th Annual DHA CIP Young Investigator Competition. The Family Medicine project was noted as one of the top ten across the DHA and was selected for “strong military relevance, clear and unique scientific questions with detailed methodology”.
The program’s centerpiece was a demonstration by USAGPAN graduates Capt. Samantha Mazarella, Capt. Steven Craig, and Maj. Brent Turpin, who presented their project on training and skill retention for the UPAC–Hamilton T 1 ventilator setup. Their instructional video enabled 100% of participants to successfully assemble the device. A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (cRNA) who had not participated in the research project used the video to rapidly assemble the ventilator in front of the audience, demonstrating the utility of the training tool created during the capstone project. The USAGPAN team’s goal is to integrate this training material into the Deployed Medicine platform in support of operational medicine.
“It's great to be able to spread the word on the types of great things that people at Womack are doing,” said Capt. Mazarella regarding the symposium. “A ton of people are here and have put so much work into their graduate programs and doing these research projects. Focusing on new things that are out there in medicine is a great way to improve patient outcomes.”
During the poster session, WAMC residents and learners from multiple specialties presented case reports, joined by colleagues from Naval Medical Center Camp LeJeune. Notable recognition included Capt. Prashanth Jaisankar’s nominated case report on reversible Anti Hu limbic encephalitis and IPAP candidate OC Gabriel Nickle’s work on congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries, which he credited with strengthening his academic and collaborative skills.
Capt. Jaisankar says learning is not just for the audience. “As a result of this project, I got to speak with folks from the Naval Medical Center in Lejeune who have their own interesting clinical challenges, rare presentations of rare diseases,” he said. “Because of this, I am getting to understand how their processes work. I think the more you have military physicians from different sorts of approaches and disciplines working together, talking to each other, and learning from each other. I think the more opportunities you have for good stuff to happen for us to work together.”
Col. Sean Reilly, Womack’s incoming Chief Medical Officer, said he was amazed by the event. “As the new Chief Medical Officer with little prior background experience at Womack Army Medical Center, I was pleasantly surprised by the volume and depth of scholarly activity occurring within the organization,” he said. “Womack’s vision to be a model defense health center of excellence could never be fully realized without commitment to research and clinical investigation.”
WAMC also highlighted participation from learners graduating in the 2026 cycle. Congratulations to our GME resident project team members completing their residencies and GHSE graduates completing their capstone research projects:
• CPT Bryson Merrill – Family Medicine
• CPT Ashley Foulkrod – Internal Medicine
• CPT Lauren Olmstead – Optometry
• OC Gabriel Nickle – IPAP
• 1LT Alex Mutascio – Baylor Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program (OTD)
• Capt. Samantha Mazarella, CPT Steven Craig, MAJ Brent Turpin – Baylor USAGPAN