UNC medical student Mary Shen has won a Looking to the Future scholarship from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The award includes free registration and hotel room and travel expenses for the 2016 STS annual meeting, which will take place in Phoenix in January.
The main goal of the scholarship program is to provide mentorship to general surgery residents and medical students training in the United States or Canada who are considering a career in cardiothoracic surgery.The scholarship winners have the opportunity to meet cardiothoracic surgeons who could be mentors, and to participate in workshops and labs.
Mary Shen, a second-year medical student at UNC, is conducting research with Jennifer Nelson, M.D., of the UNC Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, using the STS congenital cardiac surgery database to describe practice patterns in the United States related to valve choice in pediatric aortic valve replacement.
Ms. Shen, who received a B.S. in nutrition from UNC and a master’s degree in nutrition from Columbia University, is interested in surgery, particularly cardiothoracic surgery, as a career. She has a special interest in the impact of nutrition on surgical outcomes.