RW
Rachel Wheeler
  • Puyallup, WA

LMU-DCOM Student Earns National Recognition at ACCA Meeting

2016 Sep 20

Lincoln Memorial University-DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine (LMU-DCOM) third-year medical student Rachel Wheeler, of Puyallup, Washington, was awarded the Sandy C. Marks, Jr. Poster Presentation Award at the American Association of Clinical Anatomists (AACA) Annual Meeting in Oakland, California, earlier this year.

Wheeler, a graduate of LMU's innovative Master of Science program, was recognized for her presentation entitled "Body Donation Attitudes of Medical and Physician Assistant Students." The research compared medical student and physician assistant student attitudes towards body donation before and after taking an anatomy course in professional school. The presentation outlined how the student's views toward body donation differed whether they took a full dissection anatomy course versus a prosected anatomy course. The award is judged by a panel set up by the AACA program secretary and honors a predoctoral student with the best poster presentation at the annual conference. Wheeler will receive a $600 prize and be recognized on the organization's website.

Wheeler currently resides in Tazewell, Tennessee, and is in rotations at Morristown-Hamblen Hospital. She earned an associate's degree from Pierce College and a bachelor of science in exercise science from Pacific Lutheran University. She has been an active researcher and presenter throughout her academic career and is a regular presenter at the AACA conference. She presented her work, "The Effects of Body Mass Index and Age on Cross-sectional Properties of the Femoral Neck" at the 2014 AACA meeting and published a peer-reviewed article in the flagship journal Clinical Anatomy last year. She is continuing her research in this area, currently researching the effects of body mass index on cross-sectional properties of the humeral neck.

The American Association of Clinical Anatomists is the international home for the advancement of clinical anatomy knowledge and anatomical services through education, research and scholarship. The AACA hosts an annual scientific meeting to provide a vital and supportive venue for basic and clinical scientists and educators to disseminate scholarly work of an experimental or descriptive nature in any of the subdisciplines of anatomy or specialties of medicine.

Lincoln Memorial University is a values-based learning community dedicated to providing educational experiences in the liberal arts and professional studies. The main campus is located in Harrogate, Tennessee. For more information about the undergraduate and graduate programs available at LMU, contact the Office of Admissions at 423-869-6280 or e-mail at admissions@lmunet.edu.