Rebecca Satz and Brandon McConnell (rear), Sarah Michaud and Ana Cruz (front).
Seven members of the Florida Recovery Center research and assessment team completed their undergraduate degrees at UF this month.
These dedicated students committed a minimum of three full semesters in the lab, and come from majors including biology, psychology, and health education and behavior, and all were on a pre-med track. The experiences gained during this time will serve as a solid foundation for their futures; not only for graduate school studies, but hopefully will be reflected upon as they enter their roles in health and patient care.
The students were trained to conduct in-depth patient-reported outcomes survey assessments with addictions treatment patients on a regular basis. Additional training included completing selected readings about addiction, developing hypotheses, development and modification of excel and REDCap databases, development and writing of standard operating procedures, and much more. All students participated in presenting their own research study results at the 2020 College of Medicine Research Day. Reanne Mathai, a team member since December, 2017 excelled in her work in the lab, and was accepted into the UF Scholar’s Program, and was honored with the 2019 Best Undergraduate Research Paper in the Social, Behavioral & Education Sciences category.
“I want to thank you for the amazing opportunity you gave me to learn more about substance use disorders and treatment. I can honestly say there isn’t a facility or team I would have rather worked with. You taught me so many skills that I will be able to use on my journey to becoming a doctor”.
–Sarah Michaud