Department of Psychiatry - Scholarly Projects

Every student at the College of Medicine – Phoenix designs and successfully completes a hypothesis-driven research Scholarly Project (SP). Under the direction of Matt McEchron, PhD, our students work closely with faculty mentors during their four years at the College of Medicine. Beyond gaining expertise on a particular topic, through the SP process our students learn about medical information literacy, life-long learning, teamwork, effective communication, research methods, evidence-based medicine and ethics related to scholarly inquiry. Faculty interested in mentoring our students should contact Dr. McEchron.

Department of Psychiatry faculty colleagues currently mentoring medical student Scholarly Projects include:

• Amal Sharifi, MD: Alexia Tatem, Class of 2020 – Participation in a Comprehensive Lifestyle Program and the Effects on Quality of Life and Cognitive Function in the Elderly.
• Gretchen Alexander, MD: Shelby Hoebbe, Class of 2020 – Psychiatry Diagnoses of Prisoners Injesting Foreign Objects.
• Ron Hammer, PhD: Zachary Morrison, Class of 2020 – Viral Introduction to Ventral Tegmental Area of Rats Affecting Drug Induced Cross Sensitization and Stress.
• Deveroux Ferguson PhD: Sandy Peoples, Class of 2020 – Does Exposure to Chronic Stress Alter the Level of SIRT1 in the Nucleus Accumbens?