Drashty Mody, a second year student at the Indiana University School of Dentistry (IUSD), will participate in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP).
Mody will spend the 2021-2022 academic year at NIH in a comprehensive, residential research enrichment program for medical, dental, and veterinary students at the NIH Intramural Research Program in Bethesda, Maryland, according to IUSD.
MRSP scholars engage in a mentored research project in an area that matches their interests and career and research goals. Mody is the first IUSD student to be accepted into the MRSP.
“Drashty has shown a passion for research throughout dental school, and her acceptance into this highly competitive NIH training program is well deserved,” said Dr. Angela Bruzzaniti, associate professor and director of dental student research at IUSD.
“Not only will she be given a world-class research experience, she will be a great ambassador for our school and a role model for other dental students who have an interest in advancing evidence-based dentistry,” said Bruzzaniti.
At IUSD, Mody has been researching the dental disease process on multispecies biofilm models under the mentorship of Dr. Simone Duarte and postdoctoral research fellow Dr. Beatriz Panariello in the Department of Cariology, Operative Dentistry, and Dental Public Health.
“I was seven when my grandfather gifted me a microscope to help me visualize the finer structures of the plants that we were growing that summer. He was my first science teacher and made me appreciate the big impact of little things,” Mody said.
“Since then, it has been my passion to integrate theoretical research to understand real-world processes and problems. I am beyond honored to continue this research immersion and represent IUSD at the NIH Medical Research Scholars Program,” she said.
The NIH MRSP is an immersive residential experience where student scholars share in the excitement of new discovery with like-minded scholars from multiple academic institutions, IUSD said. They receive mentorship within and across disciplines, advising, independent research time, team science, peer collaboration, and professional networking, IUSD said.
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