Nick Andresen, a second-year medical student in the UI Carver College of Medicine and a board member of UI Students for Interprofessional Education (SIPE), has been awarded the third-place prize in an essay contest by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. The contest asked medical and health professions students and fellows to offer their ideas on the most innovative ways to build support and ensure funding for medical research.

Andresen was recognized for his proposal of using the power of crowdsourcing to support medical research and advocating that a non-profit database evaluate and validate the credibility of research projects. The contest, which attracted 167 essays, was open to U.S. medical school students and fellows; doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows in biomedical research; graduate students in public health programs; and graduate students in other health professions programs. At the UI, Andresen leads an interprofessional initiative through Just Medicine to improve and sustain strong conflict of interest education and policy across the health sciences campus.