The winners of the annual Poster and Exhibit Day have been announced. This year's event took place on May 3 in the Kresge cafeteria. Posters and exhibits prepared by students or by a team on which a student was the first author and presenter were eligible for a $500 prize for the best poster or exhibit, as judged by the Faculty Council. The two winning posters will be on display in the glass display cases in the corridor that connects Building 1 to the Kresge Building.
First Place in Student Category
Shona Fang, doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health, won in the student category for her poster on "Vascular Responses to Metal-Rich Particulate Matter: Acute Changes in Arterial Stiffness among Welders." Co-authors are Ellen Eisen, Jennifer Cavallari, Murray Mittleman, and David Christiani.
Shona Fang
Fang explained that several studies from different countries have reported that welders experience an increased risk of poor cardiovascular health, including death from ischemic heart disease and non-fatal heart attacks and angina pectoris. Welders' primary exposure is to welding fume, which contains high levels of metal-rich respirable particulate matter (PM). Fang's team sought to determine whether short-term exposure to welding-derived PM would lead to alterations in vascular function, a physiologic state in the pathway to heart disease.
First Place in Postdoctoral fellow Category
Rebecca Robich, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, won in her category for "Intensified Maize Cultivation Enhances Malaria Transmission in Western Ethopia." Co-authors are Richard Pollack, Anthony Kiszewski, Asnakew Kebede, Yemane Ye-Ebiyo, Ambachew Tekle, Michael DiBlasi, James McCann, and Andrew Spielman. Maize produces pollen that may contribute to the development of the larvae of the type of mosquito that serves as the primary vectors of malaria in Africa.
Rebecca Robich
Copyright, 2009, President and Fellows of Harvard College
