Internal Research and Scholarly Activity Opportunities with OHIO Faculty
Medical Student Research and Scholarly Activity Registration
Heritage College Policy 2.22 requires all medical students to conduct research and scholarly activities under a mentor's direction and register these activities with the Office of Research and Grants through Salesforce. Students must ensure all requirements are met before starting any research or scholarly activity.
Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) Information:
Unregistered activities in Salesforce will not be considered for Research Distinction on the MSPE. Details about eligible activities for Research Distinction on the MSPE can be found here.
Ohio University faculty:
If you are interested in having our office communicate information on your research opportunities with our medical students, please complete this form to notify us of opportunities in which you are willing and able to accept medical students for research involvement. This information will remain on our webpage until you notify us to edit or remove it.
This list of opportunities is updated periodically. The list may not represent all potential opportunities available to medical students. Reach out to the faculty member directly to express interest in the research or scholarly activity opportunity. To search opportunities for topics or particular mentors, enter key words into box below.
Last updated 4/13/2026
| Faculty/ College Affiliation | Type of Research | Project Description/Research Foci | Opportunity for Remote Work? | Preferred OMS Year(s) | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine | Biomedical/Basic science | Our research delves into the neuromuscular system's response to stressors in diseased and frail mice, emphasizing skeletal muscle function as a key indicator of stress resistance, resilience, and adaptability. Our aim is to pinpoint the locations and mechanisms that bolster the neuromuscular system's capacity to mitigate stress, thereby enhancing the health span of vulnerable populations. | No | OMS-I, OMS-II, OMS-III, OMS-IV | The Baumann Lab |
College of Health Sciences and Professions | Human-based clinical research | Dr. Chertok and her team study maternal-infant health. Our current specific focus is the influence of gestational diabetes on breastfeeding and human milk. | Profile of Dr. Chertok | ||
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine | Community-Based Investigation | My research focuses on the implementation of evidence-based interventions for substance use disorders. I currently lead two studies focused on implementing buprenorphine for opioid use disorder in primary care and within hospital emergency departments. For these studies, we collect primary data through surveys and interviews, and test the impact of implementation support on buprenorphine prescribing in cluster randomized controlled trials. | Yes | Profile of Dr. Franz | |
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine | Community-based investigation | Transmission and control of Chagas disease in Ecuador (international experience) | Profile of Dr. Grijalva | ||
College of Health Sciences and Professions | Human-based clinical research | Neuroplastic and neuromuscular changes associated with orthopedic injury, rehabilitation and prevention | Profile of Dr. Grooms | ||
College of Health Sciences and Professions | Human-based clinical research | Investigating dietary intake, body composition and metabolism in those using GLP-1 medications for weight loss | Possibly | Profile of Dr. Hillman | |
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine | Biomedical/Basic Science Research | John J. Kopchick is an internationally recognized leader in the growth hormone field. Since 1987 he has been the Goll-Ohio Eminent Scholar and Distinguished Professor at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Dr. Kopchick attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) where he received his B.S. and M.S. degrees. His PhD was awarded in 1980 by the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at The M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He then performed postdoctoral studies in molecular virology at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, Nutley, N.J. Following that, he was a group leader in molecular medicine at Merck & Co., Rahway, N.J. Dr. Kopchick and his group were the first to discover and characterize GH receptor antagonists. With his friend and colleague, Rick Hawkins, they founded a company, Sensus, which applied his research to the development of an FDA approved drug called Somavert (Pegvisomant for injection) which is marketed for patients with acromegaly. Patients world-wide are benefitting by the safe and efficacious treatment with the drug. Royalties from the sales of Somavert has led to a Translational Medicine Doctoral Program at Ohio University. Dr. Kopchick has published more than 500 scientific articles and patents and serves on several Editorial Boards. He is Past-President of the Growth Hormone Research Society and has received many awards including the British Endocrine Society Transatlantic Award, the Endocrine Society Laureate Award for Outstanding Innovations, several honoraria degrees, and the title of Ohio University Distinguished Professor. He has advised over 400 PhD and undergraduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and visiting professors in molecular aspects of growth, diabetes, cancer, and aging. Finally, he has a dinosaur named after him, Yuxisaurus kopchicki 😊 | No | OMS-I, OMS-II, OMS-III, OMS-IV | Profile of Dr. Kopchick |
| Ke Li, PhD College of Arts and Sciences |
| Yes | Profile of Dr. Li | ||
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine | Biomedical/Basic science | Roles of apolipoproteins and neuropeptides in the control of energy homeostasis, lipid and glucose metabolism, and pathogenesis of obesity and diabetes diseases. | Profile of Dr. Lo | ||
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine | Human-based clinical research | Our studies are conceived from practical questions raised from clinical care and address the gap between basic science and clinical medicine. The current focus is insulin resistance in obesity and diabetes and chronic complications from diabetes. | Yes | Profile of Dr. Mao | |
College of Arts and Sciences | Biomedical/Basic science | Examination of fat deposition in swordtail fish to understand the side effects of obesity and weight gain, which could lead to diabetes. | Profile of Dr. Morris | ||
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine | My research program is focused on aging and includes research on social determinants of health. I do research looking into US-based populations and also at international populations that permit cross national comparisons. | Yes | Profile of Dr. Muniz-Terrera | ||
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine | Biomedical/Basic science | Our lab is studying a dual-action therapeutic to treat diabetes by protecting insulin-producing cells from death-inducing stressors and enhancing their ability to secrete insulin. | Profile of Dr. Nunemaker | ||
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine | Biomedical/Basic science | Pathogenesis and treatment of bone metastasis using molecular biology, cell culture, tissue culture, mouse models of metastasis, and in vivo bioluminescent imaging. | Profile of Dr. Rosol | ||
| Jeff Russell, PhD, AT | Community-Based Investigation | Performing arts medicine, including concussions in film/TV stunt performers and dancers, injuries in adolescent dancers, injuries in dance team, and injuries in professional circus. | Yes | Profile of Dr. Russell | |
College of Health Sciences and Professions | Human-based clinical research | Dr. Simon specializes in measuring the outcomes of various rehabilitation interventions as well as evaluating health-related quality of life of high school and college athletes who suffer sport-related injury, and the use and development of patient-based outcomes instruments for the purpose of outcomes assessment and measuring the end result of health care services. | Neuromuscular Biomechanics and Health Assessment Lab (NMBHAL) | ||
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine | Social determinants of health and aging outcomes in older adults. Broad topics include frailty, intrinsic capacity, lifestyle behaviors, sleep health, sedentary behavior, and functional status (ADL/IADL), as well as other factors influencing quality of life in later life. In addition, I conduct advanced psychometric analyses and computer adaptive testing based on item response theory, focusing on instrument development and validation to improve the efficient collection of self-reported data. I also apply machine learning methods to these data to predict key health outcomes of interest. | Yes | Profile of Dr. Xu | ||
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine | Biomedical/Basic science | Effects of how different risk factors such as aging and obesity interact to cause joint dysfunction that ultimately leads to osteoarthritis development using both in vivo genetic modified mice models and in vitro primary chondrocytes. | Profile of Dr. Zhu |