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Annual Research Forum and Litwack Lecture

FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 2023

The Annual CVM Research Forum sponsored by the Faculty Committee on Research is scheduled for Friday, August 11 at the CVM. The forum will be followed by an awards ceremony.

The forum includes the Litwack Lecture, given annually in honor of the late Dr. Martin Litwack, a Raleigh veterinarian and an early advocate of the College of Veterinary MedicineThis year’s lecture will be presented by Dr. Ellen Foxman. Dr. Foxman currently is an Associate Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Immunobiology at the Yale School of Medicine as a senior investigator. Dr. Foxman’s recognitions include the 2018 Hartwell Foundation Individual Biomedical Research Award, the 2021 ASCI Young Physician-Scientist Award, and the 2021 Rita Allen Foundation Scholars Award..

The Research Forum will include three levels of participation:

  • A poster session, open to DVM students, graduate students, undergraduate students, house officers, and staff.
  • Oral presentations by DVM students, graduate students/house officers, and staff.
  • Third Annual Research Image Competition – Do you have a scientific image that is beautiful enough to share? Enter your science images in the Research Image Competition at the CVM Litwack Research Day! Images will be enlarged and displayed on Research Day, and winners will be selected by popular vote (fan favorites). The rules are simple:
    – All types of images are welcome – microscopy, protein structure predictions, western blots, clinical photos – anything that you think is visually appealing and is/was part of a research study
    – Everyone is eligible to submit – students, house officers, post docs, staff, faculty
    – The only restriction is that the image must be yours and associated with a past or present research study

CVM faculty will judge poster & oral presentation sessions. Prizes for oral and poster categories will be awarded as follows:

  • The top 2 posters, oral presentations will receive a Top Honor award – $150 each.
  • The next 2 posters and oral presentations will receive an Honorable Mention award – $75 each.

Oral presentations will be limited to 10 minutes (eight minutes for presentation and two minutes for questions). Presentations will be strictly timed to ensure that all are completed in a reasonable time frame. Poster presentations will be on display all day at the Research Forum. Poster presentations must be set up by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 10th. All CVM faculty are asked to attend.

The abstract deadline is 5:00 pm, July 28. Each participant has the option of requesting either an oral or poster presentation.

Abstracts must be submitted by email to ceregistration@ncsu.edu and should indicate the preference for oral, poster, or either oral or poster presentation. Litwack Research Forum Abstract Constraints 2023

Dr. Ellen Foxman, M.D., PhD. is an Associate Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Immunobiology at the Yale School of Medicine.

Her laboratory studies antiviral defense in the human respiratory tract, focusing on innate immunity, an inborn system of protective mechanisms that guards against harmful viruses or bacteria, even when the body has never encountered the infection before. The overarching goal of her research is to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of illnesses caused by respiratory viruses.

Dr. Foxman trained in medicine and immunology at Stanford University. She became interested in respiratory viruses during her residency training in clinical pathology at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, due to the advances in testing that were beginning to reveal a previously unappreciated very high prevalence of these viruses. She later joined Dr. Akiko Iwasaki’s group at Yale as a postdoctoral associate, where she demonstrated suppression of innate immune responses in the airway epithelium by cool ambient temperature. In 2016, she established her independent research group at Yale. Contributions of the Foxman Lab include defining biomarkers to track innate immune responses in the human respiratory tract, and uncovering evidence for viral interference, in which general antiviral defenses triggered by common cold viruses protect against unrelated viruses such as influenza and COVID-19. Dr. Foxman’s recognitions include the 2018 Hartwell Foundation Individual Biomedical Research Award, the 2021 ASCI Young Physician-Scientist Award, and the 2021 Rita Allen Foundation Scholars Award.

Previous Litwack Lecture Distinguished Speakers

2023 Poster Presentations with abstracts

2023 Oral Presentation Schedule with abstracts

Schedule of Events

TimeEventLocation
8:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.Coffee & BagelsGreen Commons / D239
8:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.Oral PresentationsD-239
8:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.Oral PresentationsSouth Theater
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.CVM Research Image CompetitionCVM lobbies
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.House Officer/Graduate Student Posters JudgedGreen & Blue Commons
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.DVM Student Posters JudgedGreen & Blue Commons
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.Oral PresentationsSouth Theater
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.Oral PresentationsA-101
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.Litwack Lecture – Dr. Ellen FoxmanSouth Theater
4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.Awards Ceremony (awards presented by Dr. Foxman)South Theater

History of the Litwack Lecture 

A Legacy of Leadership in Veterinary Medicine

The Litwack Lectures are supported by the Martin Litwack Fund, an endowment created by family and friends as a living memorial to Dr. Litwack, who was an acknowledged leader in establishing the College of Veterinary Medicine at NC State University. Dr. Litwack was a charter member of the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Foundation and was active in many professional organizations including the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association, the American Animal Hospital Association and the American Veterinary Medical Association. He served as president of the Triangle, Eastern North Carolina and North Carolina Veterinary Medical Associations. Dr. Litwack was also very active in community affairs and received many awards in recognition of his service and leadership, including the North Carolina Association of the Professions Special Recognition Award. Dr. Litwack is perhaps best remembered for his love of his family and profession, his deep commitment to education and to North Carolina State University, and his strong sense of obligation to the North Carolina livestock industry and to the general public.

Martin Litwack