Rehab Science's Haley Chizuk Wins 3MT Competition

The seventh annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition took place on Fri., March 3. When the dust settled after presentations by 10 accomplished doctoral students, Department of Rehabilitation Science PhD student Haley Chizuk emerged victorious.

Chizuk's presentation was titled "Using Benchwork to Get Off the Bench: Assessing Saliva During Concussion Recovery." Her research aims to use objective data to aid in the decision-making process regarding athletes returning to sport after concussion. By exploring biomarkers found in the saliva and RNA of concussed athletes, she hopes to make the playing field safer. Her advisor is Dr. Barry S. Willer.

Chizuk is a member of the National Athletic Trainer Association and the International Brain Injury Association, as well as an athletic trainer and research assistant at UBMD.  A former athlete herself, Chizuk has played tennis and pole-vaulted and loves high-adrenaline activities like bobsledding on the world’s fastest track and cliff diving off the most southern point in the United States.  In addition, Chizuk regularly volunteers for WNY STEM, an organization that teaches high school students to build wheelchairs and prosthetics for local kids. In the future, she hopes to continue her research and work as a clinical professor in athletic training.

The 3MT competition celebrates the exciting research conducted by PhD students by cultivating students’ academic, presentation and research communication skills.

Participants are judged on the ability to effectively convey the essence and importance of their research in an engaging way to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes, with one PowerPoint slide.

UB's 3MT Competition is co-hosted by the Graduate School and Blackstone LaunchPad. The event is sponsored by the Innovation Hub powered by UB's Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships.