Scholarly Project Profile: Ankedo Warda

The Scholarly Project — a four-year, longitudinal research experience — is a key component of the college’s curriculum. Requiring medical students to complete a substantiative research project promotes greater medical information literacy, encourages life-long learning, and inspires students to practice evidence-based medicine and ethics. It also serves as a key differentiator during the residency interview process.

Meet Ankedo Warda

As a first-generation Assyrian American and college graduate, Ankedo Warda always prioritized the pursuit of a higher education, a luxury afforded to him through the sacrifices made by his parents who had immigrated to the United States from Baghdad, Iraq.

His passion for caring for the sick materialized by his experience watching his late mother battle cancer. That hardship, coupled with his love for learning, led to his decision to dedicate himself toward becoming a physician.

Shortly after obtaining his degree in exercise science from Arizona State University (ASU), Warda went on to matriculate into medical school with the Class of 2024 via the Pathway Scholars Program. Through that program, he earned his master’s in medical studies — building a strong foundation in the basic medical sciences and positioning himself to excel in medical school.

During the Class of 2024 Match Day, Warda successfully matched into the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency at Southern Illinois University. As a prior orthopaedic patient himself, he looks forward to helping restore form and function for his future patients, contributing to their quality of life.

Warda credits his father as being an unwavering source of inspiration. Watching him work tirelessly for his family, sacrificing for them always, has taught Warda what it means to have a strong work ethic, be a provider and put others’ needs before his own. He couldn’t be prouder that those lessons have led him through the journey of becoming the first doctor in his family.

About His Research

What did you think about completing a four-year research project as part of your medical education?

I believe the Scholarly Project to be an invaluable part of my medical education. While not all medical students will wish to pursue research in their future careers, the skills and lessons that are learned and developed as a result of having undergone a longitudinal research project are foundational, in my opinion, to our practice as physicians.

Medicine is evidence-based and, therefore, requires physicians who have a critical eye when presented with new information. At a minimum, the Scholarly Project allows students to become better acquainted with the process of performing and analyzing research. At a maximum, it provides a great platform for those who seek to one day be at the cutting edge. Those who are published in The New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA started somewhere, too.

What did you learn from the research process?

Research takes lots of time, patience and, believe it or not, grit. This holds especially true in the basic sciences. From the time you develop your hypothesis to the time you get the congratulating email from the journal you’ve submitted to, you will have had countless failed experiments, delays, sets of contradicting data, associates who have come and gone, and rejections from editors.

Nonetheless, all the struggles and challenges quickly become eclipsed when you finally get to see your published work, knowing you’ve contributed in some way to the growing body of medical literature.

How did you choose this specific research focus and what was the aim of the project?

My work in the laboratory of Peter Jurutka, PhD, began during my post-baccalaureate studies at ASU, well before my matriculation into medical school. As an undergraduate student — and since becoming a physician was my end goal — my objective was to become part of a prolific research group in the basic medical sciences that also provided the chance to perform translational research. The Jurutka Laboratory provided me with this exact opportunity.

Since being involved in this lab, the vast majority of my work has been focused on drug design/development and biological analysis with an aim to develop more efficacious pharmaceutical therapies for Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma (CTCL).

When it comes to the treatment of refractory CTCL, the current options available for clinicians are unfortunately quite limited; and the standard therapy, Bexarotene, can be quite harmful to the patient. My work has focused on finding more effective and safer alternatives and we have had some promising results!

And what was the outcome of the research?

Out of the several novel compounds that we developed, a few demonstrated to be promising potential competitors of the standard therapy for CTCL based on our biological assessments. In particular, one of our analogs showed greatly enhanced transcriptional activity and reductions in CTCL cell proliferation compared to the standard. Our work was published open access in Cells on November 4, 2023.

Did your research influence your choice of specialty for residency?

Although my Scholarly Project research was not in the field of orthopaedics, having done this research brought me to the realization that I value the critical thinking skills and inquisitiveness involved in performing research in general. I knew that I wanted to specialize in a field that can continue to provide me with this challenge. Orthopaedics is a rapidly evolving specialty with much to still uncover, and I look forward to hopefully being a part of its advancement in the future.

How do you think this project helped to prepare you for your career in medicine?

Since research is something that I am interested in continuing to pursue in my career, this project has helped me build a strong foundation. As a result of having participated in this project, I’ve learned many useful skills that will continue to pay dividends — such as developing a research question and study protocol, performing biological assays, analyzing data, presenting work at national conferences, writing abstracts and manuscripts, and understanding the peer-review process.

If there is one piece of advice you could give to incoming medical students about this project, what would it be?

Look at this project as an opportunity to learn and develop skills that will likely contribute to your overall practice as a future physician. Whether or not you decide to continue doing research, there are many valuable takeaways from this project that will leave you as a more competent and well-rounded physician.

There is no better way to learn than to do, and by doing research, you will simultaneously be improving upon your ability to digest medical literature and apply it to your chosen field. Remember, to be a physician is to also be a lifelong learner in constant pursuit of new truths. That process begins now!