Student Research Spotlight Eddie McCray, Class of 2022

Edwin (Eddie) McCray, Class of 2022, has been accepted as a research fellow for clinical neurosurgery at Duke University. He is taking a gap year between his 3rd and 4th year of medical school to complete the fellowship and to get a Master’s in Healthcare Administration.

Student Doctor McCray's research is mostly related to spinal cancer or other types of cancer that have metastasized and spread to the spine and various factors that may lead to disparities in outcomes.

ABOUT STUDENT DOCTOR MCCRAY’S RESEARCH

We’re looking at multiple myeloma, which is a type of cancer that often presents itself in the spine. That [type of cancer] is normally treated with chemotherapy or radiation, but if that’s not working over time you’re prone to your spine collapsing because the bone is becoming damaged.

You would have to have surgery to get rods and screws put in to stabilize your spine. Looking at the outcomes after those surgeries, there’s actually a lot of disparities based on gender, race, insurance status – whether you have private insurance, Medicaid, or no insurance.

We look at the data and use statistical analysis to determine if there’s a difference between the subgroups. This allows you to be aware of how you may have some type of intrinsic bias that you’re not aware of that is causing you to treat one group of people differently than others. Sometimes it’s not something you’re doing – so, is there something in the system? This allows you to try and mitigate those issues to try and have equal outcomes.