30th Annual Academic Excellence Day Showcases Work of Arizona Residents and Fellows

Through the cultivation of young talent and emerging research, the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix continues to be a hub that sheds light on clinical and bench research.

An annual reminder of that focus is the Michael D. Grossman, MD, MACP, Academic Excellence Day. 

Now in its 30^th year, Academic Excellence Day — which was part of the second annual, week-long Research Week — brought together residents and fellows from across Arizona, providing a platform for promising researchers and physicians to highlight their clinical and translational research efforts. Named after its founder, Dr. Grossman, the event was envisioned as a collaboration between residents and fellows to foster breakthroughs and to better identify patients’ needs.

Cheryl O’Malley, MD, vice dean for Graduate Medical Education (GME) at the U of A College of Medicine – Phoenix, talked about her past experience with Academic Excellence Day, participating when she was in training, and how it helped her build upon her presentation skills.

“It really was an important part of my own career to be able to synthesize the case and be able to share it with the community,” Dr. O’Malley said. “The tradition continues because it is valuable … We now have more GME programs across the state who can come together to share what they’ve learned.”

The event’s continued success represents the incredible importance of having a community-sponsored event dedicated to celebrating the research and quality improvement projects early career physicians are conducting and presenting.

“The overall mission of Academic Excellence Day is to promote an environment of academic excellence among residents and fellows in training programs to showcase the volume of bench and clinical research and quality improvement initiatives being performed,” Dr. O’Malley said.

This year’s Academic Excellence Day saw 130 submissions from residents and fellows in programs from the College of Medicine – Phoenix/Banner Health, HonorHealth, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Barrow Neurological Institute, Creighton University Arizona Health Education Alliance and Onvida Health. A total of 67 volunteer judges from all parts of Arizona looked at the submissions.

Academic Excellence Day receives sponsorship from the Mutual Insurance Company of Arizona (MICA) Medical Foundation. Since 2015, MICA has generously provided monetary prizes for the event’s awardees and has recognized the importance of retaining skilled physicians to serve in Arizona.

2026 AED Awardees

Resident Clinical Research Oral

1. Kian Bagheri, MD, HonorHealth.
2. Poonam Tawde, MD, MS, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.
3. Esra Uyanik Erden, MD, Creighton University East Valley Arizona.

Fellow Clinical Research Oral

1. Kathy Mostajeran, MD, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.
2. Divya Shastri, MD, HonorHealth.
3. Cassandra Haworth, DO, Creighton School of Medicine – Phoenix.

Resident Clinical Research Poster

1. Fatima Hamid, MD, Creighton University East Valley Arizona.
2. Tatiahna Rivera-Rodriguez, MD, MS, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.
3. Megan Sluga, MD, MPH, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.
4. Jahnavi Shriram, MD, Barrow Neurological Institute.

Fellow Clinical Research Poster

1. Jeffrey Brichta, DO, Creighton School of Medicine – Phoenix.
2. Adam Zakkar, DO, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.
3. Jennifer Fernandez, MD, RD, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.

Resident Case Report Poster

1. Karen Melara-Hernandez, MD, Onvida Health.
2. Parth Patel, MD, MPH, Onvida Health.
3. Vishnu Dantu, MD, Barrow Neurological Institute.
4. (tie) Noor Farghaly, MD, Creighton University East Valley Arizona.
5. (tie) Giovanni Zlaket, MD, HonorHealth.

Fellow Case Report Poster

1. Cece Ibeson, MD, MPH, HonorHealth.
2. Siddhant Arora, MD, Barrow Neurological Institute.
3. Blake Marmie, MD, Barrow Neurological Institute.

Photos from the event