Medical Students Pursue Passions in HSSP Research

By Dirk Hoffman

Introduced as part of the new Well Beyond curriculum for Jacobs School medical students, it requires students to complete an in-depth scholarly project in an academic area of interest related to medicine or health care with a research mentor.

The program aims to elevate students’ critical thinking and scientific reasoning to confidently engage with evidence-based medicine, according to HSSP program director Kyle Kelleran, PhD, assistant professor of emergency medicine.

“As medicine evolves, so do our future physicians,” he says. “The next generation of physicians are being trained to think beyond the clinic and how to shape the future of medicine.”

“The HSSP helps students explore their research and specialty interests but also prepares them to be lifelong learners that strive to improve our health systems, communities and patient care,” Kelleran adds.

Second-year medical student Maulik Masaliya says he is driven by a mission-oriented approach to medicine — one that bridges scientific curiosity, service and a vision for the future of human exploration.

Commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy Reserve Medical Corps, he will be commissioned as a lieutenant on active duty once he graduates medical school.

A recipient of a U.S. Navy Health Professions Scholarship, he plans to serve as a Navy physician through its aerospace medicine residency program, with the long-term goal of joining the NASA Astronaut Corps.

Masaliya’s life experiences guided his choice for a research project in the HSSP program.

When he first moved to the United States from India in 2018, he says he struggled deeply, living with undiagnosed ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder).

“I carried social anxiety and a fear of public speaking that kept me from pursuing many opportunities,” he says.

“The journey from being that anxious kid — avoiding the spotlight and questioning his own worth — to becoming someone who understands, accepts, and even celebrates his ADHD has been both brutal and profoundly transforming,” Masaliya adds.

“Embracing my diagnosis helped me strip away distorted self-perceptions and discover the healing power of compassion — first for myself, and then for others.”

Masaliya has come to see ADHD not as a disability, but as a unique gift.

“It has allowed me to connect more deeply with others, to appreciate neurodiversity, and to recognize the very traits that once held me back — curiosity, energy, and a restless drive for stimulation — are the same traits that now fuel my passion for medicine, research and exploration,” he says.

Masaliya’s research project with faculty mentor Jamal B. Williams, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry, begins with the question: “Why do some children with ADHD struggle mainly with focus, while others struggle with hyperactivity or emotional regulation?”

He says he wants to find out what’s happening in the brain and genes behind those differences.

Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study — the largest long-term study of child brain development in the U.S. — Masaliya is helping to create continuous “behavioral fingerprints” for ADHD.

By measuring specific traits like inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and emotional dysregulation and linking them to genetic differences and to structural brain scans, researchers can begin to build a “gene-brain-behavior” model,” he says.

Masaliya feels the public health vision of the research is powerful: One day, clinicians could use these models to identify children who are genetically at risk for certain ADHD traits even before symptoms become obvious.

Masaliya says he appreciates the fact Williams took the time to listen to his life story.

“He didn’t just see me as another student looking for research experience — he recognized where my passion came from and helped me channel it into a project where I could make the most impact,” he says.

“Watching how he translates his passion and mentorship and science is a constant reminder of the kind of physician-scientist I aspire to be,” Masaliya says. “He has provided me not only with the vast resources and expertise of his lab, but also with a model of how to conduct research that is both rigorous and deeply human.”

Williams says there are still many unknowns about the genetics, neurobiology and pathophysiology of ADHD, but researchers in his group have discovered highly prevalent comorbid psychiatric disorders that increase suicidal behaviors in ADHD children, in addition to examining the risk of substance abuse disorders that are highly prevalent in adulthood in this population.

“Much of what we are grappling with in the lab tracks with families that we engage with in the community, positioning ADHD as not just being fidgety and inattentive, but also posing a serious risk to physical and mental health,” he says.

Williams says one of the most rewarding experiences in his research is working with students who bring their own personal experiences into the lab, like Masaliya.

“Typically, many medical students join my lab as a way to enhance their research experience in hopes of matching to a competitive residency,” he notes. “However, Maulik is a much different case. As a part of his service program, he is already slated and confirmed for residency.”

“Yet, from his own personal experiences and his passion to solve a lot of the problems that are still unsolved related to ADHD, he decided to join my lab.”

Williams says Masaliya’s personal experience not only drives him to seek answers but also introduces new questions and perspectives to existing research.

“Maulik is one of the most inspiring students I have ever had the pleasure of working with, and his ongoing research will help us identify a deeper understanding of existing ADHD subtypes and is instrumental in mapping novel subtypes that have not been publicly identified yet,” Williams says.     

At his core, Masaliya says he has always felt driven by what he calls the “ADHD explorer genetics.”

“I’m wired to push into the unknown — to wonder what lies beyond and to set sail looking for answers,” he says. “For me, that frontier is space. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have found a career path that bridges my two deepest passions: medicine and space exploration.”

For her HSSP project, second-year medical student Haley Tyburski is working with researchers on the Easing Pelvic Pain Interventions Clinical Research Program (EPPIC), a National Institutes of Health-funded clinical trial investigating behavioral therapies for managing urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS).

UCPPS is a condition that can be debilitating and difficult to treat. The study is exploring which specific behavioral strategies are most effective, why they work, and which types of patients benefit most.

Tyburski says since the interventions are non-pharmacologic, they provide an alternative for patients whose pain has not responded well to medications or surgery.

Her role thus far has involved obtaining informed consent from participants, assisting with scheduling, and preparing and uploading study materials such as homework assignments and surveys for participants.

“I also have had the opportunity to observe the logistics of running a clinical trial from seeing what each session entails, how the intervention is delivered, and watching participants complete the program,” she says.

Tyburski has a research background in breast cancer pathology from her undergraduate studies at the University of Rochester but says she wanted to transition into a more patient-facing project with immediate clinical impact.

“Behavioral medicine stood out to me because it empowers patients to take an active role in their health and provides them with long-term coping skills that extend beyond the specific medical issue at hand,” she says.

“As my interest in urology continues to grow, this project felt like the perfect intersection of my interests in patient care, research and long-term quality-of-life improvement.”

Tyburski has multiple faculty mentors on her HSSP project.

Jeffrey M. Lackner, PsyD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Behavioral Medicine, is the principal investigator on the EPPIC study, and Tyburski says he has guided her “in understanding the trial’s designs and aims.”

Tyburski says Andrew H. Rogers, PhD; and Sonia Sharma, BDS, PhD; each an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Behavioral Medicine, are both greatly experienced in chronic pain research and “have provided invaluable mentorship in shaping my project and helping me think about how to analyze and apply the data.”

Tyburski feels the greatest benefit of the HSSP program is the number of opportunities it offers.

“Medical students can engage in projects ranging from laboratory-based research to clinical trials, allowing them to pursue areas that align with their personal interests,” she says.

Tyburski says another key advantage is the longitudinal nature of the program — allowing students to stay connected to mentors and continue developing their projects throughout all four years of medical school.

“This continuity makes the research more meaningful and provides a strong foundation for future research projects and ultimately, our careers as physicians.”