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The Cleveland Clinic Lerner of College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University (CCLCM) is a five-year program dedicated to developing the next generation of physician investigators. Students are assigned dedicated physician and research advisors to help ensure they reach their goals. In their fourth year, students work with a mentor to develop a master’s-level thesis in basic science, translational medicine, clinical medicine or health systems. When the students graduate, they each receive an MD with Special Qualification in Biomedical Research from Case Western Reserve University.
The research in which students are involved is critical, timely and often results in presentations at national conferences and publication in scholarly journals. The examples below briefly describe two students’ research projects, one that involves efficacy of treatments for polycystic ovary syndrome, and another that involves testing the use of vitamin D to improve the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy for non-melanoma skin cancers:
“My clinical research project is titled ‘The Efficacy of Glucagon Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists (GLP-1RA) versus Metformin in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) Management,’ and my research mentor is Mindy Christianson, MD. My research focused on patients diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) from 2020 to 2024 who were treated with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), metformin or both. The primary outcome is a change in BMI to assess if the use of GLP-1RA compared to metformin leads to increased weight loss in patients with PCOS. A significant secondary outcome is whether use of GLP-1RA, because of this weight loss, leads to restoration of ovulatory function more frequently than metformin use alone. Results so far have demonstrated that the use of GLP-1RAs are by far superior to metformin in promoting weight loss in this population, when controlling for possible confounders such as age, hemoglobin A1c and more.”
-Temi Oladeji (’26)
“During our research year, I studied new ways to improve treatment for non-melanoma skin cancers, the most common cancers in the world. These cancers often develop a tumor environment that blocks the body’s natural ability to clear them through the immune system, which can make them more persistent. The research team and I focused on using photodynamic therapy (PDT), a light-based treatment that destroys cancer cells and can also stimulate immune responses, but which sometimes works less well on thicker or more aggressive tumors. Our project explored whether vitamin D could be used to boost PDT’s effectiveness. In experiments, we found that vitamin D not only increased the number of immune cells entering tumors but also strengthened their ability to attack cancer cells, possibly allowing for more complete tumor destruction. We also examined human skin cancer samples and discovered that more aggressive tumor types had stronger immune-suppressing features, which may explain why they are harder to treat. Building on these findings, we have designed a clinical trial to test whether adding vitamin D can improve PDT treatment efficacy for patients with non-melanoma skin cancer. Altogether, this work suggests that vitamin D may be a safe and effective way to enhance PDT and improve clearance rates for these patients.”
-Alan Shen (’26)
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