Author: Matiram Pun
Institution: University of Calgary
Date: August 2010
The JYI Research Department Award, 2009 - 2010
The Journal of Young Investigators has been recognizing its outstanding Research Department (RD) staff since 2009. The aim is to encourage and recognize staff members who have gone above and beyond their commitment to JYI and helped to improve scientific publication of the journal in various aspects.
The award this year primarily focuses on the involvement of those research editors (RE), who have been up-to-date throughout the year, kept their team abreast of all their papers and always kept the senior research editor and editor-in-chief up to date.
Working as an RE in JYI not only involves high quality academic activity but also needs strong leadership and communication skills, as well as patience. On top of that, it is all about voluntary involvement and helping fellow students from different Universities around the world of similar ambition, age and emotion which is not an easy task at all.
The award of RD in 2010 goes to those who have strong potential to be leaders in their field in the future, have great communication skills and believe in perseverance. Their team effort, ability to bear responsibility and good communication with colleagues makes our work easier.
JYI is honored to have these outstanding young talents in our staff. The first award goes to Selina Dobing who is a training RE and has been having a constant pool of associated editors who take more than six weeks to go through all those training modules, read them, and complete the assignment. She has been coordinating it and running it with a highest standard possible. The training part of editors in JYI is the backbone of her. Selina is currently a medical student of University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. She has been outstanding in her work round the year with a number of editors. Most of the current editors were trained by her. Some of them have already advanced to research editors.
The JYI is proud of her and is awarding her 2010 RD first prize! She has recently been appointed as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal. Congratulations to her!
The second prize goes to Akshay Sharma, research editor of biomedical sciences department. He is an intern medical student from India and has been great in handling research manuscripts, corresponding with authors and mobilizing editors to review manuscripts. JYI is honored to have him and proudly awards his outstanding work. The third prize goes to JYI's vibrant research editor who has taken up his department and handled it as a capable leader. He is Benjamin Lu, a physical sciences and mathematics RE. He has shown excellent leadership, participated well in meetings and decision making discussions about manuscripts. He has kept in communication with senior editors and junior editors throughout his tenure.
A biography of each winner, along with their picture is given below!
Congratulations to all of them!
JYI Editorial Team
The Journal of Young Investigators
The First Prize Winner:
Selina Dobing
Selina Dobing
Selina Dobing joined JYI as a Biology Associate Editor in July 2007. She was later promoted to the Training Research Editor position in October 2008 and is now responsible for training new Associate Editors for JYI.
Currently, Selina is a first-year medical student at the University of Alberta. She graduated with her B. Sc. in Biochemistry with Great Distinction from the University of Lethbridge in spring 2009. During her undergrad, Selina worked on research projects ranging from plant systematics to microbiology to biochemistry. Her honours thesis work on pseudouridine synthase TruB with biochemist Dr. Ute Kothe-Wieden is currently submitted for publication. Selina's research work for the upcoming summer will be with dermatologist Dr. John Elliott, examining the molecular basis of contact dermatitis from hair dye products in allergic individuals.
Selina would like to thank all of the JYI staff, especially all of the Associate Editors she's had a chance to work with over the past few years, and is excited to attend the AAAS conference this February.
The Second Prize Winner:
Akshay Sharma
Akshay with 2005 Nobel Prize for Medicine Winner Dr Robin Warren
Akshay Sharma is a 23 years old Indian medical student pursuing bachelor of medicine and surgery (MBBS) at the Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore (Manipal University), India. He is currently an Intern and will be graduating in August 2010. He joined JYI in November 2008 as an Associate Editor in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Division and is currently a Research Editor in the same department.
He is an amateur photographer and a keen medical researcher. His research interests vary from microbiology to genetics to parapsychology and he has acquainted himself with all these fields by taking up short-term research projects in the various departments. He wishes to be a hematologist-oncologist and is currently engaged in a systematic review regarding the efficacy of stem cell transplantation in various hematological malignancies with the Cochrane Library. He likes writing and has written short articles and ha also given his inputs for a guide book for amateur researchers. He is also on the review board of several medical journals.
He is a strong advocate for promoting medical research amongst students and was one of the organisers of the Medicon 2009 which was an Asian Medical Students Research Conference organized at Mangalore, India in June 2009. He is also the President of the Indian Forum for Medical Students' Research (INFORMER) and is closely associated with various medical student activities happening in this part of the globe.
He feels honored to be awarded the RD award and wishes to acknowledge the support of Alexander, Mati, Selina and all the AEs at JYI and his mentors for the same. He feels that it has been a great learning experience throughout with JYI where he has not just learnt the review and publication process better but has also gained from the papers that he reviewed. He looks at JYI as one of the stepping stones for students around the globe to get involved in research and writing to hone their skills. For JYI, he looks at it playing a major role in shaping the academic lives of students in the decade to come.
The Third Prize Winner:
Benjamin Lu
Benjamin Lu
Benjamin Lu, originally from Bridgewater, NJ, is an undergraduate at Rice University in Houston, TX. He will graduate in the Spring of 2011 with a Bachelors of Science in Bioengineering and a minor in Global Health Technologies. In addition to serving as the JYI Research Editor of the Physical Science and Mathematics Department and Associate Editor in the Engineering and Biological & Biomedical Sciences Departments, he also serves as the Vice President of the Biomedical Engineering Society chapter at Rice. Over the past three years, he has participated in several different research projects in the fields of tissue engineering, biomechanics, nanotechnology, applied physics, biomaterials, drug delivery, regenerative medicine, and global health. He has co-authored three papers published in professional journals and has presented his work at several conferences, including the Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium (RURS) and the Transition Technologies from Labs to LDCs inaugural meeting. After graduating, he hopes to attend medical school. He plans to continue his involvement in translational research, particularly in the fields of tissue engineering and global health.
He would like to thank his current and past research advisors, particularly Junichiro Kono, for their continued support. He is extremely grateful for this honor and is excited about continuing his involvement as a member of the JYI staff.