Soon to be future doctors inched closer to earning their medical degrees from UConn School of Medicine with the successful presentations of their scholarly Capstone Projects on March 19.
It’s all part of the annual Clinician Scholar Symposium at UConn School of Medicine. The student presentations are one part of the culmination of their medical school journey as they march toward UConn Health’s 55th Commencement on May 11.
UConn Health’s Dr. Amanda Hernandez who holds both an MD and Ph.D. delivered the keynote address for the 2026 Clinician Scholar Symposium entitled “Pathways Towards Incorporating Translational Research into Your Medical Career, the Importance of Curiosity.”
Hernandez cares for neuroimmunology patients at UConn Health experiencing conditions such as multiple sclerosis, neuropathy, and other inflammatory immune system diseases. She has expertise in using botox and Electromyography (EMG) for her patient care. She graduated from Columbia University with a BA and completed her MD and Ph.D. at Yale University along with her neurology residency and neuromuscular fellowship training.
“It’s phenomenal that UConn School of Medicine has a capstone project as part of its curriculum,” says Hernandez sharing how research experience early on in medical school can be “transformative” for the careers of future doctors and their patients.
“We can use patient care experiences as a lens as we work to move discoveries from the bench to the bedside,” she says. “Physicians can be in patient care and also engrossed in research too! It’s important to keep patients at the forefront of all that we do.”
Read the full article from the UConn Today