CHSU Medical Students Win First Place at National SOMA Research Symposium

Students in the Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA) chapter at California Health Sciences University (CHSU) College of Osteopathic Medicine won first place in the Clinical Sciences category at the virtual 2023 National SOMA Research Symposium.

The three categories judged at the symposium included best research in Clinical Sciences, Basic Sciences, and a Case Study.  

Second-year medical students, Cathy Tran, Milena Dragovic, Chelsey Preciado, Michael Jones, and Steven Chao, along withfaculty member, Edward Merino, PhD, Associate Professor of Biomedical Education, were recognized for their presentation titled, “Pediatric Physical Abuse Rate Trends in California and Fresno County: Pre and Post COVID-19 Stay-at-Home Mandates.”

Cathy Tran and Milena Dragovic presented their team’s research virtually during the symposium. The objective of their research was to assess the impact of the stay-at-home orders on pediatric abuse rates by analyzing the cases of substantiated pediatric child abuse by reporter type over the two years prior and after to the statewide stay at home mandate. Reporters and rates in California were compared to Fresno County.

Their research data lead them to conclude the following:

• The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting stay-at-home mandates enacted in March of 2020 were external stressors that potentially introduced or exacerbated risk factors for pediatric abuse within households.

• Total pediatric physical abuse rates after the stay-at-home order decreased in both Fresno County and California. In California reporting by the education sector decreased by 50%, which corresponded to children staying at home from school due to the quarantine mandates. Concurrently in both California and Fresno County, there was a subsequent increase in reporting from law enforcement.

However, they postulated that “despite a decrease in overall abuse case numbers and those from education professionals, the reality of the situation is likely the opposite. Pediatric child abuse most likely continued at the same rates as before the COVID-19 pandemic or increased since children were spending more time at home, where the abuse most likely occurred. This data demonstrates the significance of social interaction outside of the home to help uncover cases of physical child abuse.”

They identified that, “additional analysis of pediatric physical abuse rates before and after the COVID-19 pandemic should be conducted across rural and urban areas in California to assess if socioeconomic status could explain any changes in rates.”

CHSU would like to extend its congratulations to this year’s awardees for this significant achievement, which showed the impact of this human subject research to the broader osteopathic medical community.

This is the second time that a CHSU medical student has been awarded first place at a National SOMA Research Symposium. In 2022, Likithia Aradhyula was awarded first place in the Basic Sciences category.