Wide-Ranging Opportunities Fuel the Talent Pipeline

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published in the fall 2025 issue of the UB Medicine alumni magazine.)

By Dirk Hoffman

A wide array of research opportunities is available to trainees in master’s degree and PhD programs, as well as undergraduate and medical students. Training the next generation of scientists and clinician-scientists lies at the core of a multitude of Jacobs School programs.

Remi M. Adelaiye-Ogala, PhD ’17, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, conducts research focused on why some cancers, especially prostate cancers, stop responding to treatment and how to develop better therapies that last longer.

After earning her doctoral degree in cancer pathology from UB/Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, she spent three years in a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research before joining UB as a faculty member.

She says the university’s collaborative research environment, supportive mentoring, and access to cutting-edge research facilities combined to provide a robust foundation for her pursuit of a doctoral degree at UB.

Adelaiye-Ogala says one of the most meaningful parts of her PhD journey was being part of a vibrant culture of interdisciplinary collaboration.

“I loved the opportunity to work across departments and institutions beyond UB,” she says. “This experience truly broadened my horizons and helped me develop a more innovative approach to solving scientific challenges.”

“The mentorship I received was incredibly warm and supportive, guiding me through my research and preparing me for academic and professional opportunities,” adds Adelaiye-Ogala, who also has appointments in the departments of Urology, and Pharmacology and Toxicology.

”Being part of such a collaborative and nurturing environment showed me that UB is a place where both scientific achievement and personal growth are valued.”

Adelaiye-Ogala is currently principal investigator on two R01 National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health grants, one of which is a MERIT R37 Award, providing her with two years of additional research support because her grant application was ranked so highly.

“My team examines what happens inside cancer cells, focusing on changes in genes and their regulation, to understand how drug resistance develops,” she says.

Her lab utilizes advanced tools to analyze cancer cells in detail, test new drugs in mini tumors (called organoids) generated from patients’ tumors, and in lab mice implanted with human cancer cells.

“By integrating this information, my team aims to identify the most effective treatment strategies for patients,” she says.

Introduced as part of the new Well Beyond Curriculum for Jacobs School medical students, the Health Sciences Scholarly Project (HSSP) is a comprehensive four-year capstone program designed to apply scientific literacy and inquiry into practice with the guidance of a research mentor.

The program aims to elevate students’ critical thinking and scientific reasoning to confidently engage with evidence-based medicine, according to 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 Lindsey Cunningham says when she began seeking research projects she could engage in, she knew she wanted to contribute to something longitudinal; work that could create tangible, positive change in people’s lives.

“I’ve always been drawn to the intersection of women’s health and public health,” she says.

“Part of that comes from my time spent prior to medical school working at a fertility clinic, where I saw the challenges patients face in their journeys to pregnancy, and through my past research on adolescent food insecurity, where I learned how data can drive meaningful change by highlighting disparities in underserved populations.”

Under the guidance of her faculty mentor, Amanda M. Ziegler, PhD ’22, MPH ’13, research assistant professor of family medicine, Cunningham is evaluating a program for pregnant women affected by substance use disorders in Erie County.

The research is centered on Positive Direction & Associates, Inc., a free community-based resource that uses a patient navigator model to provide substance use counseling, holistic support, education and empowerment to its participants.

The approach to evaluating the program is two-pronged: conducting both a direct evaluation of outcomes of the program and a workforce sector survey to examine the strategies used in Erie County to support pregnant women in accessing substance use disorder treatment.

“Much of my work has been focused on the survey, involving recruitment efforts to gain respondents across various workforce sectors,” Cunningham says. “I experimented with different outreach strategies, ranging from cold-calling eligible workplaces to mapping out sites for in-person flyer distribution.”

“This process taught me how challenging, yet rewarding, recruitment can be and gave me practical experience in community engagement.”

Once enough responses were received for preliminary data analysis, Ziegler walked Cunningham through the necessary steps.

“This too was an amazing opportunity, allowing me to learn how raw survey data can be transformed into meaningful insights that apply to the medical field,” Cunningham says.