Indiana University School of Dentistry (IUSD) is proud to announce that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has accepted D2 Drashty Mody into its 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. Located at the NIH Intramural Research Program in Bethesda, Md., 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 ever to be accepted into this prestigious NIH program.
“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. “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.
At IUSD, Mody has been researching the dental disease process on multispecies biofilm models under the mentorship of Dr. Simone Duarte and post-doctoral 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,” Mody said. “He was my first science teacher and made me appreciate the big impact of little things. 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.”
The NIH MRSP is an immersive residential experience, where student scholars share the excitement of new discovery with like-minded fellow scholars from multiple academic institutions. They receive mentorship within and across disciplines, advising, independent research time, team science, and peer collaboration, and professional networking.