2012-2013 Alex Halevi

Alexandra Halevi graduated with honors from the University of Colorado at Boulder, College of Engineering with a BS in Chemical Engineering, a minor in Biochemistry, and a focus in Bioengineering. She recently completed her third year of medical school at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Her research focus this year will be using synthetic tissue scaffolding and umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells for auricular cartilage engineering. Alexandra hopes that this research will contribute to the improvement of ear construction outcomes for children with congenital malformations.

2012-2013 Sonya V. Patel

Sonya Patel is a native of North Carolina and received her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from NC State.She has just completed her third year of medical school at UNC, and will be working this year to expand a data registry for Palestinian children with congenital anomalies. Her particular focus is on refugee populations, and how and why rates of congenital defects may differ in this subgroup. Sonya hopes that this project will be a model for other chronic disease databases, while also serving as a resource for healthcare professionals to effectively allocate resources in the region.

2011-2012 Matt Skancke, MD

Matt graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia with a BS in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering and anticipates a degree in Medicine in 2013 from the UNC School of Medicine. He is currently a fourth-year medical student at UNC, planning to apply to a General Surgery program. His research focuses on the stimulatory effects of connective tissue growth factor on umbilical cord-derived elastic cartilage development aiming to improve the elasticity of tissue engineered cartilage for use in microtia repair. During his fellowship, Matt also worked developing a porcine alveolar cleft model, a collaboration between UNC and NC State to develop a transitional animal model with future application to young children suffering from cleft lip and palate.

2011-2012 Hala Borno, MD

Dr. Borno graduated from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill in 2008 with a degree in Biochemistry. While a medical student at UNC, she has conducted a year of global health research in 2011-2012, piloting a medical database in the occupied Palestinian territories and advised by Dr. John van Aalst. She will graduate with a medical degree in 2012 and will pursue a residency in Internal Medicine.

Dr Madan  graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a BS in Biology & English Literature and received her Masters in Physiology and Biophysics from Georgetown University School of Medicine. Gita received her degree in Medicine in 2011 at the UNC School of Medicine.