As a supervisor, he is helping three PhD students, one of them will receive his doctoral research degree this year. He thinks translational medicine is a huge opportunity to provide answers to questions emerging in clinical practice. In January, Dr. Szabolcs Ábrahám was named the Supervisor of the Month (Year 2-3).
Szabolcs Ábrahám is a specialist in general surgery and gastroenterology, and a senior lecturer at the University of Szeged. He has been involved as a supervisor in PhD training for many years. “I joined this training during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Professor Peter Hegyi asked me to supervise a student pursuing PhD studies at the University of Pécs. I assumed the role, and – after completing the meta-analysis courses in Pécs – became the supervisor of Dr. Norbert Kovács. He is a gastroenterologist, and he has made good progress in his scientific work under my guidance. He will obtain his doctoral research degree this year. When CTM moved to Budapest, I received another invitation and became a supervisor for a surgical colleague, Dr. Sarolta Kávási. She works at the hospital in Cegléd, and is currently a second-year PhD student at CTM. For now, I have another PhD student, Ágnes Fodor, who is a surgeon in Budapest. She is a first-year PhD student at the centre.”
The topics of Dr. Ábrahám’s PhD students are related to gastrointestinal surgery. Norbert Kovács is studying surgery related to biliary tract problems, such as biliary obstruction and gallstones, while Sarolta Kávási and Ágnes Fodor are doing research in the field of colorectal surgery. These topics are very close to Dr. Ábrahám’s interests, and he is happy to help students with their research. “I travel to Budapest for the group meetings of the Gastroenterology Group every two weeks, and I also attend the progress reports every three months. Project meetings are held weekly online with the students and Science Methodology Supervisors. On these occasions we discuss current issues, and we also consult with statisticians.”
His first PhD student, Norbert Kovács, has already completed all the necessary publications and has a first-authored article. He is currently preparing his thesis for his PhD dissertation, with the help of Dr. Ábrahám. “Sarolta Kávasi has one publication in the pipeline, and we will soon start writing the second one. Ágnes Fodor is a bit behind schedule, because her baby was born in August, so we couldn’t start at the beginning of the academic year. But we’re also progressing well with her, and the full-text selection process is underway.” Dr. Ábrahám is happy to be part of CTM’s work as a supervisor. He says translational medicine is a huge opportunity to answer questions that arise in clinical practice through meta-analysis studies. “I think translational medicine is a tremendous opportunity, it can improve patient care and help us to treat patients more effectively.”
(Szabó Emese)