The Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2026 conference was held during the first week of May, and The Independent received the opportunity to cover the science conference. Big names in academic research and teaching hospitals were at the conference like Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Northwestern Medicine and Rutgers. If that sounds intimidating for NEIU pre-med students, they should not fret because there were state universities attending the conference too. To provide some perspective, the Independent interviewed a couple of key individuals from the University of Florida and the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern.
At the conference, different people gave tips on furthering one’s medical journey. “The most beginner-level and the most senior-level, they all encounter problems in their research. So, it’s important to know that you are not alone,” Dr. Raphael Shankman, MD, Medical Resident at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and DDW Poster Presenter, said. “Talk to people who’ve been there. They can give you advice. I know specifically I reached out to different attendings and different residents who they’ve encountered problems on their behalf, and I asked them what they did.”
Dr. David M. Troendle, MD and Associate Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, gave one piece of advice that any NEIU pre-med student can do to transform themselves into highly competitive applicants for a rigorous graduate or medical program like his. “Honestly, it’s being genuine and enthusiastic and understanding that you learn procedures to treat diseases, and no one wants to train and hire a proceduralist per se,” Dr. Troendle advised. “They want to train [and] hire a doctor or a person who wants to own a disease and help a patient.”
Dr. Troendle suggests that NEIU pre-med and prospective nursing students “play lots and lots of video games because that’s going to take over,” Dr. Troendle said. “Robotics is going to take this over, as we saw with one of the booths today. They’ve already got robots that can do colonoscopy with a PlayStation controller.”
“We’re starting to see AI be looped into medical care in the asthma and allergy space,” Hannah Jaffee, Research Director at Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), said. “We’re just kind of hitting the tip of the iceberg. So, I imagine by the time that they graduate, there’s probably going to be a lot more innovation and a lot more things that they can explore in terms of allergy, immunology, gastroenterology and just overall improving patient care.”
When it comes to NEIU’s undergraduate students, it is crucial that they pick their professors’ brains about their pre-med journey. “Be respectful of time, and when you ask for their time and if they give you their time, make sure you use it wisely,” Dr. Troendle offered tips for NEIU students.
Dr. Shankman gave more advice to NEIU students. “At the beginning, it [would] definitely [be] difficult especially when you’re just getting your ground in with studying,” Dr. Shankman said. “Entering master’s level or medical school curriculum is very time-consuming and I would say definitely at the beginning of your studies really hone down learning the material, but as you get more comfortable studying, it’s important to at least dip your toes in the water into the research field even if it’s daunting at the beginning, just doing a little bit of research on your own [like] talking to people in the research field can get you a little bit more comfortable.”
By using an NEIU professor’s time appropriately, students can do replication studies after finding fascinating research for themselves. Dr. Shankman did just that at his university. “It was based off of a very similar study evaluating YouTube using a different GI problem,” Dr. Shankman said. “And this study got a lot of positive attention.”
Through researching this topic, he was allowed to work with a fellow resident who had experience with this idea. “Maybe there are other GI issues that people have questions about,” Dr. Shankman said. “Maybe something that’s either more personal to you, or something you’ve learned about recently.”
“Personally, I had one research experience when I was an undergrad. I did a summer program at a hospital where I was under the guidance of a primary investigator, specifically looking at social media use in adolescence with cancer,” Dr. Shankman said.
It can be stressful with the rigorous demands of clinical work or graduate studies for NEIU students. Chloe Jian, MPH, third-year PhD candidate, international student from China and Poster Presenter from the University of Florida at Gainesville, recommended something for them. “I would say: have a dog. I have a dog” Jian said. “Once you have a dog, you will have time for them. If you have some anxiety from your school work, you can just take her for a walk and just pat her, and she will be your emotional support.”
Dr. Shankman wanted to leave NEIU students with words of wisdom. “There’s only two people that you ever need to impress, and that is 80-year-old you and 8-year-old you,” Dr. Shankman said.
“I always tell people who is younger than me, like your life is not just about research, not just about study, your life is about being happy. So just do something that will make you happy,” Jian said.
