Amy Unterman
On a sunny May afternoon, 2009 MSTAR Scholar Amy Unterman is presenting her research on DNA methylation and epigenetics (changes to the structure of a genome) at the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting. A few hours later, she’s lying by a hotel pool with her best friend, soaking up the rays and chatting happily.

This combination of a lot of hard work and a little relaxation has brought Unterman a great deal of success as a medical student and as an MSTAR Scholar. Unterman recently received a grant to complete her MD and PhD at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she will enter her third year in the fall. She was also chosen to participate in the Presidential Poster Session at the AGS meeting.

"It is very encouraging to know that the work I’m doing is interesting to other people," Unterman says. "I feel very honored and excited."

For her MSTAR project, Unterman worked at Hopkins with Dr. Jeremy Walston, whose group developed a mouse model of the frailty syndrome based on the elevated inflammatory markers seen in the elderly. The group wanted to see what this inflammatory environment contributes to the development of the frailty syndrome.

Unterman sought to determine whether there were changes in epigenetic regulation in the frail mouse models and in wild-type mouse models. She found that as the frail mice aged, there was a significant increase in DNA methylation that was not present as the wild-type mice aged. She concluded that it is most likely prolonged exposure to this inflammatory milieu that leads to the epigenetic changes.

Unterman says that taking part in the MSTAR program gave her a broad range of experiences that allowed her to see what she really liked and did not like. It turned out that the program only solidified her interest in what she’s loved all along: geriatrics.

After Unterman’s grandparents passed away during her freshman year of college, she began volunteering at a rehab facility, where she worked with a lot of elderly patients. "I saw the good that could come out of geriatrics, but also the lack of knowledge in--and all of the things that could be improved in--geriatrics," she says. "I was really drawn to that."

So when she applied to medical school, Unterman told everyone she wanted to do geriatrics. "They told me, 'You’ll change your mind by the time you graduate'," she recalls. "But when I did the MSTAR program, I saw that working with the elderly population is definitely where I’m happiest."

Unterman plans to pursue a career that will enable her to combine basic science research with geriatrics. Over the next few years, she plans to continue the research she began as an MSTAR Scholar.

"There aren’t that many people looking at frailty from a basic science perspective, or looking at epigenetics in aging," Unterman says. "So I think it’s where I can really make a big difference. It’s very exciting!"

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And go she did. Metzler not only presented her MSTAR research at the session, she also won a coveted award in the health care disparity category. She was so excited that she took a few hours off from studying for her Boards to celebrate at Epcot!

"It was an amazing experience," says Metzler. "I really felt like a Scholar; like a professional."

Metzler worked on her MSTAR project last summer at her home school, UCLA School of Medicine, where she will enter her second year this fall. She joined Dr. Sarkisian’s five-year project to increase exercise in elderly Latinos in Los Angeles.

"Only about 10 percent of elderly Latinos exercise," Metzler explains. "So it’s a sedentary population that’s also underserved for health care. We thought that behavioral and walking interventions could really help them."

Metzler joined the project in its third year, after the interventions had already taken place and had improved walking rates tremendously. Her role was to analyze surveys taken by the participating Latinos at the start of the project, in which they shared their reasons for not exercising. Her survey analysis proved that retraining the volunteers to feel more in control really did lead them to exercise more.

Metzler says her project was a perfect fit for her because it melded her interests in exercise and preventative medicine, sociology research, and geriatrics, as well as working with underserved populations. Though still uncertain what she will focus on in her career, Metzler says her MSTAR experience will help her tremendously in whatever specialty she chooses.

"I now understand how different it is caring for older adults, and I feel like what I learned over the summer is going to help me better care for the older adults in my practice," she says. "Also, the MSTAR program gave me the tools to know how I can balance a medical, clinical, and research career."

Metzler urges future MSTAR students to take the program as seriously as she did. "It’s not just an average summer job," she explains. "You’re going to learn something, it’s going to make a difference, and you may be completely surprised to get a paper, a presentation, and a trip to Florida!"

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