First ever Research Day at Western Kentucky Heart and Lung honors Dr. Rebecca Shadowen

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - After a year in which the biggest heroes were those on the front lines like our nurses and doctors, Western Kentucky Heart and Lung Research Foundation and Educational Trust, and Med Center Health presented the first-ever research day.

The day featured regional medical research and was developed to give area physicians and fellows from Med Center Health’s fellowship program, residents and medical students from the UK College of Medicine - Bowling Green Campus were able to present their findings and get critiqued by physicians.

The first-ever Dr. Rebecca Shadowen Research Award was also given, the recipient of this year Dr. Kristopher Pfirman.

“One of the things that I’ve learned from her is that medicine is a constant lifelong learning process and she was one that would always reiterate that to us. She was always up to date on her knowledge, and be willing to instill that upon the next generation. So my hope is that after all of my training is over, that I can once again then turn into a teacher/professor role and once again, be still my knowledge that I’ve accumulated over my lifetime to the future generations,” says Dr. Pfirman.

Dr. Melinda Joyce, a PharmD also spoke on the success of Research Day.

“I think it’s so important to make sure that we have the opportunity to showcase research because research is how we change practice. It’s how we learn. It’s how we grow, and the research that’s going on here is just really helpful along with those ways. We’ve had many people who have had articles published in different journals, they’ve spoken at national meetings, and so to say that this research is coming from here at Med Center Health, and the Western Kentucky Heart and Lung Research Foundation is just great,” says Dr. Joyce.