DBU Students and Alumni speak at Herb Robbins Symposium

Dallas, TX – Dallas Baptist University recently held the 16th annual Herb Robbins Symposium. This two-day event provided current and former DBU students the opportunity to present on their research experiences and other academic activities. The Herb Robbins Symposium is co-sponsored by the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and by DBU’s chapter of Tribeta Biological Society.

This event is named after Dr. Herb Robbins, a professor at DBU from 1969 to 1997 and the Dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics from 1982 to 1994. The event began in 2002 after Dr. Robbins passed away after a short battle with cancer in 2000. His memory is honored through this symposium as well as a scholarship given to pre-medical students at DBU.

At this year’s Herb Robbins Symposium, Dr. Carlos Oliveira, M.D, was the keynote speaker. During his first address, he talked about the importance of research experience and how to separate fact from fiction in research. He spoke to students seeking out professional school after college to engage in medical research in order to set themselves up for success. Later in the weekend, Dr. Oliveira spoke on “Post-licensure vaccine research to realize the full potential of vaccines”.

After graduating with his undergraduate degree from DBU, Dr. Oliveira went to medical school and is now an Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Yale University as well as a practicing physician specializing in infectious disease. He has specifically research the potential of vaccines and their effectiveness. This past summer, DBU senior, Blake Pate, interned with Dr. Oliveira doing research on the effectiveness on the HPV vaccine.

Throughout the weekend, current students and alumni have a unique opportunity to present their own research on a variety of topics in the world of science and math. This year, four alumni and eleven current DBU students presented on topics including, “Gene Therapy: A New Era of Medicine,” “Concordance of HPV Genotyping Between Histopathology and Trigger Cytology,” “Melanoma: The Effects of Cancer Stem Cells,” and a variety of other subjects.