Dr. Gray (cont.)

Dr. Gray earned her Bachelor's Degree in Biological Science from the Florida Atlantic University. Postgraduation, Dr. Gray completed a General Practice Residency (GPR) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

She sought a career in dentistry because she valued the “immediate impact that she can make on someone's life, making someone smile and feel good about themselves.”

Dr. Gray selected the LECOM School of Dental Medicine because the community outreach service opportunities offered by LECOM to the dental students (such as Give Kids a Smile, the Senior Living Center offerings, Remote Area Medical services, and Mission of Mercy) gave her the opportunity to enjoy hands-on patient interaction.

With a life motto of “Work Hard,” Dr. Gray has personified that credo, spending most of her free time volunteering at her church and serving in the children's ministry.

Currently, Dr. Gray works at a private dental practice in Omaha, Nebraska. She welcomed the time spent in surgical rotation during her GPR training at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and she looks forward to the opportunity to return to the hospital setting to provide dental care to patients with special needs.

Indeed, the challenging task put upon humanity in the Pandemic throes called many to find courage, to summon strength, to seek one’s better angels, and to meet the moment. Dr. Elizabeth Gray has done just that - and LECOM is proud.

Elmira Casino Night DrawsAttendees Seeking to Benefit LECOM Scholarship Fund

Southern Tier wagerers - philanthropists, community leaders, and patrons of all ages - were on hand for the Annual Elmira Casino Night Student Scholarship Fundraiser that took place on March 25, 2023, at the Elmira Country Club, in Elmira, New York.

Guests enjoyed a cocktail hour, dinner, casino games, a silent auction, raffles, music, and dancing. The affair has become a highly awaited event, and an evening that community members seek not to miss.

A $125.00 entry ticket included 100 playing chips and a promise for an evening of camaraderie and exciting chances to win prizes. LECOM at Elmira is committed to raising funds that will help attract and retain osteopathic medical students to Upstate New York.

Elmira Casino Night (cont.)

Students, staff, and guests mingled and mixed; and those who chose to play in the games vied to win fake casino chips in order to earn raffle tickets that would then be used to put into 20 different raffle baskets.

Some of the baskets included Buffalo Bills and Sabres tickets, various getaway trips, signed sports memorabilia, event tickets, a spa basket, and many other intriguing items. The 165 attendees and the more than 149 contributors to the event made the night a resounding success.

Additionally, more than 69 donors made contributions to the silent auction. The Elmira Casino Night raised $150,000 to benefit the Scholarship Fund. Student speakers at the event, LECOM at Elmira second-year, Kadidja Bayor, second-year, Stephen Howard, and first-year, Joel Rhinehart lauded the importance of the LECOM Student Scholarship and all that the Scholarship has meant to them.

Eclipsing the jubilation of the affair was the obvious purpose of the night: the future of medicine and the quality of the doctors, pharmacists, dentists, and podiatrists being nurtured by LECOM supporters. The commitment to excellence that LECOM exudes remains palpable at the end of the evening, those in attendance departed with a lighter pocket billfold, clearly they left behind more than dollars as they championed a cause that assuredly will change lives.

LECOM at Seton Hill fourth-year student, Cora Blodgett, participated in a juried podium presentation of a case report entitled, Vagus Broke Her Heart: A Case of Symptomatic Bradycardia from a Vagal Nerve Stimulator. Her presentation, made along with Madalyn Nelson, CPT, MD, from Carl Darnall Army Medical Center, in Ft Hood, Texas, took place at the Uniformed Services Academy of Family Physicians (USAFP) 2023 Research Competition.

The March 31, 2023 Competition was held in Orlando Florida. Blodgett won first place honors in the Medical Student Case Report Category.

Mohammed S. Razzaque, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., Professor of Pathology at LECOM Erie, authored an article with third-year student, Joanna Oh, entitled, Common Dietary Sources of Natural and Artificial Phosphate in Food. The piece was published in Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. See link for the full article: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91623-7_10

Dr. Razzaque also authored an article entitled, Antagonism Between Prdm16 and Smad4 Specifies the Trajectory and Progression of Pancreatic Cancer, published in the Journal of Cell Biology. See link for the full article: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202203036

Three LECOM-Bradenton third-year scholars, Kylie Caouette, Layth Alkhairi, and Jeremiah Earl, recently had a book published highlighting a host of tips to help students excel during clinical rotations. The book is entitled, 40 Tips to Ace Clinical Rotations.

As described by the publisher, "This book contains 40 practical and theoretical tips to help you be your best while on the wards. Written by three United States medical students at the tail-end of their third year, it provides you with pointers based on lived experiences.” The book is available at:

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZBQXMT1

Faculty/Student News (cont.)

Second-year, LECOM Bradenton student, Min Chae, received an Outstanding Presentation Award at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Florida Academy of Sciences, held on March 10, 2023. The award-winning presentation highlighted a Robust Na+, K+-ATPase Activity Assay for the Evaluation of Synthetic Inhibitors: A Screen for Potential Migraine Mitigation Pharmaceuticals. The poster was presented with those of two fellow research members: second-year scholars, Emma Barnes and Morgan Hatlovic. All three students are pictured here with LECOM Bio-

Alumni Notes

2001 - Erie

James Covalesky, D.O. is practicing internal medicine in New Jersey and he is affiliated with CentraState Medical Center, Victoria Health Center, Care One of Holmdel, and the Manor Health and Rehabilitation Center.

2003 - Erie

Rhonda Parker, D.O. will be representing Districts 3 and 4 in Western Colorado on the Colorado Medical Society Board.

2009 – Erie

Sarunas Sliesoraitis, D.O. is practicing medical oncology with University Knight Cancer Collaboration in Logan, Utah.

2017 – Erie

Thomas Fister, D.O. is seeing patients at Baptist Behavioral Clinic-North in Little Rock, Arkansas.

2018 - Bradenton

Aviral Yadav, D.O. has joined Capital Health Primary Care in West Windsor, New Jersey.

2018 – Seton Hill

Ashley Matter, D.O. is practicing gynecologic surgery with Cayuga Health in Ohio.

2019 – Erie

Jeffrey Tseng, D.O. is practicing emergency medicine at Penn Highlands Healthcare and Penn Highlands Mon Valley in Pennsylvania