A Fitting Send-Off: Hamilton Eye Institute’s Summer Symposium Caps Years of Student Discovery

For six years, T.J. Hollingsworth, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, and Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Biochemistry in the College of Medicine, has turned a single summer day into one of the most anticipated traditions at the Hamilton Eye Institute (HEI) at UT Health Sciences. As organizer of the annual HEI Summer Student Research Symposium, held recently in the Memphis campus' Freeman Auditorium, Dr. Hollingsworth has built something worth celebrating. This year may have been its final year, and it was a fitting capstone.

The symposium's future is uncertain because the Medical Student Research Fellowship (MSRF) program, which the event was designed to prepare students for, is being discontinued after this summer. The change stems from a revised medical school curriculum for the class entering in 2026. Previously, incoming first-year medical students began coursework in the second week of August, leaving them a summer off between their first and second years (the window during which MSRF research took place). This year's incoming first-years started July 20 and will no longer have that summer break, as the school moves to get students into clinical training earlier and give them more opportunities to explore career paths.

T.J.'s Brainchild

It's a significant shift for the HEI program that, under Dr. Hollingsworth's leadership, grew from modest beginnings into a showcase event. "The first year we did it, we had maybe 10 students, and it was just an afternoon thing," Dr. Hollingsworth said. "It's evolved over the last four or five years to having 22 presentations this year. As it's evolved, we have evolved the program itself too."

This year's 22 student researchers presented findings from their summer projects to faculty, mentors and peers, covering research spanning glaucoma treatments, diabetes-related visual impairment, artificial intelligence applications in ocular oncology, patient education and cancer therapeutics. Each student delivered a 15-minute presentation, gaining valuable experience communicating complex scientific concepts to a broad audience.

Monica Jablonski, PhD, professor and vice chair for research at HEI, said the symposium's growth over the years reflects Dr. Hollingsworth's dedication to student education and mentorship. "This is completely T.J.'s brainchild," Dr. Jablonski said. "It started out of passion and his love of educating, and it's just grown every year."

That passion shows in how Dr. Hollingsworth speaks about the symposium's purpose. Held just a day or two before the MSRF presentations, the event gave students a low-stakes dress rehearsal in front of an audience that understood their science. "It gives them a chance to be in front of an audience that knows what they're talking about," he said. "If they make any mistakes, we're going to be able to correct them and help them understand how to improve their presentation, before they have to go into a competition to try to win."

The strategy worked. HEI students have won the MSRF competition for the past three years running. "I want to keep our winning streak up, especially since it's the last one," Dr. Hollingsworth said.

Over time, the symposium outgrew its original scope, expanding beyond medical students to include residents, pre-residency fellows, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students, becoming a broader celebration of research throughout HEI that Dr. Jablonski said has earned recognition across the institution. "The chancellor always stops by," she said. "Even if he doesn't stay for a long period of time, he always comments on the quality of the science."

Real Projects, Real Results

Part of what set the program apart under Dr. Hollingsworth's direction was its insistence on real scientific contribution rather than passive observation. "We give them actual science projects to do, not just something kind of science-adjacent," Dr. Jablonski said. "We expect a lot from them, and they rise to the occasion. Some of that student-generated data is already headed toward grant applications the institute plans to submit in the near future."

For Dr. Hollingsworth, the real measure of the program's success was never the data, but the students. "They're all pretty unique and memorable," he said. "We always have such a variety of students coming in … that's part of what makes each year special." Year after year, students arrived from different backgrounds and research experience levels and left with something like a second home at HEI. "We give them a little bit of a home, if you will, because they all feel like they want to come back," he said. "And that makes us feel good, and makes us feel like we're doing our job right."

At the close of this year's symposium, the institute presented Dr. Hollingsworth with a plaque thanking him for his leadership and service in organizing the event, a small token for years of work that built something much bigger than a single afternoon of presentations.

Whatever form student research takes at HEI going forward, Dr. Hollingsworth said the symposium has left its mark. "It's become a very important and positive aspect of my year," he said. "Getting to train the students every year, and see them grow and become little baby scientists, is the reason I do this."