Westminster Pre-Med Student Gains Head Start on Career With Medical Research Article

Jesse Edwards, a junior from Rogersville, MO, received a head start in reaching his future career goal last summer when he had the opportunity to help write a medical research article.

In addition to his pre-med focus at Westminster, Jesse Edwards competes for the Blue Jays Track and Field and Cross Country teams.

A biochemistry major at Westminster, Edwards worked as an intern at the University of Kentucky Medical Center for six weeks, doing research and reviewing patient medical records.

His brother Jason, who has his doctorate in radiation medicine and is an M.D. at the Medical Center, helped Jesse to get a spot on the research team who was writing the article.

The Edwards brothers and seven others collaborated on an article demonstrating the positive effects of a combination of radiation treatment and a specific chemotherapy drug to treat a cancer that grows within the bile ducts inside and outside the liver.

The findings in the report indicated that giving the drug before and during radiation therapy was “associated with greater overall survival benefit with minimal change in toxicity.”

The patient numbers used for the research were limited to only twenty-six.  However, the team believes the positive results will provide groundwork for future study.

A student-athlete at Westminster, Edwards is hoping to attend medical school or earn a Ph.D. in biochemical engineering after he graduates in the spring of 2016.

Read the article abstract online.