KARE Scholars present undergraduate research at national conference -

KARE Scholars at the November 2024 ADAR conference

Back row, left to right: Katie Campbell, PhD, Josh Guggenheimer, PhD, and Sofia Pehrson ’27. Front row: Hadley Ninow '27, Kenzi Marrone-Lloyd '24, Marcie Myers, PhD, and Shavonnye Rath '24.

On November 13, three Katies for Aging Research and Equity (KARE) Scholars presented their KARE-funded research in Seattle, Washington, at the Summit Conference, part of the national conference. Kenzi Marrone-Lloyd ’24, Hadley Ninow ’27, and Sofia Pehrson ’27 were all first-time national conference presenters. In addition to the ADAR Summit Conference, Marrone-Lloyd also presented a poster at GSA with international geroscience and gerontology attendees.

��ɫӰ��’s KARE program is funded by the , which aims to support students in addressing health disparities and promoting healthy aging through geroscience-related coursework and research experiences. Historically, the KARE Program has accepted 6–12 new scholars each year to reach a maximum capacity of 24 students. Students who enter the program have interests in various disciplines, including psychology, public health, biology, chemistry, biochemistry, exercise science, nursing, and more.

Other ADAR programs are located at research-intensive universities across the country, each taking their own approach to aging research. St. Kate’s KARE Program is unique in that it recruits early MSTEM (Medical, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) students in their first or second undergraduate year, and offers holistic mentorship, community, and internal or external research opportunities throughout their entire time at St. Kate’s.

At the annual ADAR Summit, held since 2020, students of various ADAR programs give poster presentations internally to the ADAR community and explore research interests of other ADAR students and faculty attending the conference. Programmed into the conference are NIH and NIA keynote speakers, a PhD and MD graduate school panel, and a variety of networking opportunities. New this year was the "Lunch and Launch Graduate School Networking Hour," in which students completed a bingo sheet upon networking with select faculty and graduate school program representatives.

Kenzi Marrone-Lloyd ’24: "Assessing falls risk and balance systems protocols in adult cancer survivors"

Hadley Ninow ’27: "Patient-reported outcome measures used in clinical trials involving elbow orthosis: A scoping review"

Sofia Pehrson ’27: "Improving balance in women 50 and older through immersive virtual reality training"

“Conferences like ADAR are transformative experiences for St. Kate’s students,” said Katie Campbell, PhD, associate professor of interprofessional education and director of Collaborative Research and Competitive Fellowships. “They offer our undergraduate researchers the opportunity to practice skills in presentation and networking, helping to shape their undergraduate and postgraduate trajectories.”

For KARE Scholar Ninow, presenting at ADAR was “an incredible experience,” she shared. “It empowered me to feel confident presenting my work and gave me a sense of the breadth of opportunities there are in occupational therapy research, in which I am interested in pursuing a career. Meeting my [ADAR] peers across the country who will soon be my colleagues in the field of science gave me immense hope for all the future work we will do.”

Katies for Aging Research and Equity (KARE)

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