Congratulations to Hacina Gill, a fifth-year PhD candidate, and Alexandra Schmidt, a second-year Master’s student –  both in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia – for receiving presentation awards at the 2025 UBC Department of Medicine Research Expo.

Hacina was awarded Best Oral Presentation in the Biomedical Theme for her project, Fibrotic Tissue Ingrowth of Transcatheter Heart Valve Frames. Her research focuses on structural degeneration of bioprosthetic heart valves and is supervised by Drs. Stephanie Sellers and Geoffrey Payne. Hacina has also received several prestigious awards, including the Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral (CGS D), the Four Year Doctoral Fellowship (4YF), and the President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award.

Alexandra won Best Poster Presentation in the Clinical Focus Theme for her project, Investigating the Effect of Vaping on Lung Structure-Function with 129Xe MRI and CT. Supervised by Drs. Rachel Eddy and Don Sin, her research explores how vaping impacts lung structure and function. She recently presented this work at the American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Francisco and earned Best Poster Presentation earlier this month at the UBC Department of Radiology’s Clinical and Fundamental Science Research Day.

The UBC Department of Medicine Research Expo, hosted by the Department’s Research Office, Postgraduate Medical Education Program, and Experimental Medicine Program, brings together the 41st Annual Resident Research Day and the Experimental Medicine Research Expo to showcase cutting-edge work from trainees, residents, and faculty.

Congratulations again, Hacina and Alexandra!