ChanHee Mok, MS, a PhD candidate, won the 3rd annual University of Kentucky (UK) Department of Veterinary Science’s Three-Minute Thesis (3-MT) competition for PhD candidates (i.e., post-qualifying examination) on April 12 at the UK Gluck Equine Research Center, in Lexington.

Mok used Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Road Not Taken” as an analogy to explain the developmental fate of cells that synthesize joint cartilage. Mok’s advisor is James MacLeod, VMD, PhD, John S. and Elizabeth A. Knight Chair and professor at the Gluck Center. Mok earned a master’s in equine nutrition from UK and a bachelor’s in animal nutrition from Konkuk University in South Korea. She hopes to finish her doctoral degree in 2020.

Jasmin Bagge, DVM, a dual degree PhD candidate, finished, second and Wangisa Dunuwille, MSc, BVSc, a PhD candidate, finished third. MacLeod is also Bagge’s advisor. Udeni Balasuriya, PhD, is Dunuwille’s advisor.

Other presenters, including area of research and advisor, were:

• Jennifer Bellaw, BS, parasitology, Martin Nielsen, DVM, PhD, Dipl. EVPC, ACVM;
• Fernanda Cesar, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM—immunology—David Horohov, PhD;
• John Eberth, MS—genetics and genomics—Ernie Bailey, PhD;
• Gloria Gellin, MPH, MS, BS—infectious diseases—Craig Carter, DVM, MS, PhD, Dipl. ACVPM;
• Jessica Kenealy, BS—parasitology—Nielsen;
• Annet Kyomuhangi, MSc, BS—infectious diseases—Balasuriya;
• Fatai Oladunni, DVM, MS—infectious diseases—Thomas Chambers, PhD; and
• Ashley Steuer, DVM, BS—parasitology—Nielsen.

The rules of the 3-MT, which were originally developed at a New Zealand university, allow students three minutes to discuss their research using only one presentation slide and no gimmicks (e.g., props, costumes, songs, etc.)

Judges included Danielle Jostes, equine philanthropy director at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment; Ashutosh Verma, Dipl. ACVM, PhD, MVSc, BVSc, associate professor at Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine; and Stephen Reed, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, internist and shareholder at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital.

Author: Jenny Evans