UNC Medical Student Brooke Namboodri Wins Harold C. Pillsbury, MD Student Research Award for Excellent Clinical Sciences Oral Presentation

Brooke Namboodri, UNC Medical Student, Class of 2022 was honored with the “Excellent Clinical Sciences Oral Presentation” Award at this year’s Student Research Day for her work on predicting other cause mortality for men with prostate cancer.

Brooke’s mentor for this project and another recent project supported by a prestigious AUA Summer Medical Student Fellowship was UNC Urology Assistant Professor Hung-Jui (Ray) Tan, MD, MSHPM.

“Working with Dr. Tan and the UNC Urology Department this past summer has been a great opportunity for me to grow as a student researcher and (hopeful) future urologist.”

Brooke Namboodri
UNC Medical Student, Class of 2022

About The Research

“During the Student Research Day held by the John B. Graham Research Society, I presented on ‘What Really Matters When Predicting Other Cause Mortality for Men with Prostate Cancer: A Machine Learning Approach to Variable Selection.’

Prostate cancer is unique in that the overwhelming majority of men diagnosed with this disease will die from another cause. Because of this, life expectancy is a core consideration in the management and treatment of prostate cancer.

While several tools have been developed to aid clinicians in estimating health status and life expectancy for men with Prostate Cancer, few urologists report using these tools. Our study aimed to use a Lasso regression to identify the most influential variables for predicting other causes of mortality for men with prostate cancer and build a more usable model.

We discovered that estimating other causes of mortality can be accomplished by using relatively few data inputs when incorporating different types of data in combination with novel machine learning techniques.”

Brooke Namboodri
UNC Medical Student, Class of 2022

About The John B. Graham Medical Student Research Society

The John B. Graham Medical Student Research Society was established in 1987 and recognizes and promotes the research efforts of the medical student body at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in basic science, public health, and clinical sciences. Students who participate in the annual Student Research Day, an event dedicated to showcasing the research projects of medical students, are inducted every year to the Society. Throughout the year, members exchange ideas and share their experiences about conducting research. In addition, the Society serves to encourage collaboration with faculty to promote productive research opportunities for students. Learn More

About The AUA Summer Medical Student Fellowships

The Summer Medical Student Fellowship Program is a chance for outstanding medical students to pursue urology research by engaging them in summer research fellowships alongside world-class urologic scientists. Awardees receive $4,000 stipends to support them during a ten-week mentored research experience. These awards are made possible thanks to the generous support of the Herbert Brendler, MD, Research Fund; the Arkansas Urologic Society; the Florida Urological Society; and the Urology Care Foundation, the official foundation of the AUA. Learn More