Christine Chen Jensen, this year's Osgood Award winner, discusses her work with her mentor Steven Kahn in his office at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle. Jensen received the award from the Western Region of the American Federation for Medical Research for her diabetes research. Photo by Leila Gray.

Second-year medical student Christine Chen Jensen will receive the E.E. Osgood Award from the Western Region of the American Federation for Medical Research (AFMR). The Osgood Award honors Jensen's research "Beta-Cell Function is a Major Determinant of Oral Glucose Tolerance in Four Ethnic Groups in the United States"; the abstract describing her findings was the highest rated abstract across all categories submitted by students presenting at the AFMR Western section meeting.

Jensen's mentor was Steven Kahn, professor of medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition. Jensen received a grant from the American Federation of Aging Research to complete the study. The project used data from the American Diabetes Association's Genetics of Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes (GENNID) Study to examine insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function among African American, Asian American, Caucasian and Hispanic American first–degree relatives of people with type 2 diabetes.

The award will be presented to Jensen at the AFMR Western section meeting, Feb. 6 through 9 in Carmel, Calif. AFMR, an international multi-disciplinary association of biomedical researchers, affords early-career investigators the opportunity to present their research. A total of 57 UW medical students plan to attend the upcoming Western Section AFMR meeting.