Student Poster Contest

The ACOI is pleased to announce the 2025 Research Abstract and Case Presentation Poster Competition prepared by medical students interested in internal medicine and its subspecialties.

New for 2025, there will be three new research categories available for submission:  

  • Quality Improvement (QI)
  • Clinical Research
  • Bench Research

Cash awards of $250 and $100 will be made for the top two research abstract posters for each category as judged at the ACOI 2025 Annual Convention & Scientific Sessions, October 8-11, 2025 in Marco Island, Florida. In addition, the top two finishers for each category will present their work at a plenary session of the Annual Convention.  Abstract subjects are to be in the field of internal medicine and its subspecialties.  Relevance or application to osteopathic principles and practice is encouraged.

A fourth category for competition will include an interesting case(s) analyzed against a review of the literature to support and/or refute the analysis. There will be separate cash awards of $250 and $100 for the top two case presentation posters. These awards will be presented during the plenary session mentioned above.  

Registration for ACOI 2025 is free for students along with all meal functions provided by ACOI. ACOI offers each College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Student Osteopathic Internal Medicine Association (SOIMA) club up to $1,000 to help defray travel costs for students who attend in person. The maximum reimbursement per club is $1,000.

Eligibility

To submit an abstract, the following criteria must be met:

Applicant Eligibility Requirements:

  • Applicant must currently be completing medical school training at a medical school accredited by the American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA).

Responsibilities of the Presenting Author:

  • The first author listed for each abstract serves as the presenting author and as the primary contact for all correspondence regarding the abstract.
  • The presenting author must be one of the authors listed on the submitted abstract.
  • The presenting author is responsible for the following:
    • Ensuring that all authors have read the abstract and agreed to be co-authors. Failure to get approval from all authors will result in rejection of the abstract.
    • Notifying all co-authors of any additions, deletions, and changes to the program, as may be communicated by ACOI.
    • Obtaining all of the conflict-of-interest disclosure and copyright transfer information from co-authors.

Author's Consent and Waiver of Claims:

Each abstract author agrees and certifies that they:

  • Have read all the rules and agree to be bound by them;
  • Are responsible for submission of the abstract in accordance with the rules; and,
  • Waive any and all claims against ACOI and any reviewer arising out of, or relating to, the abstract submission and review process, including but not limited to peer-review and the grading of abstracts.

General Guidelines:

  • The abstract must address educational requirements and/or challenges, scientific questions, the application of osteopathic principles and/or practices (e.g., OMM), detail clinical observations, or contain primary scientific data.
  • All research and studies reported in submitted abstracts that involve human and animal subjects must comply with the guiding principles for experimental procedures found in the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association and IRB approval or waiver noted.
  • Presenters must be registered as attendees at the ACOI 2025 Annual Convention & Scientific Sessions.
  • No revisions can be made after the abstract submission deadline.
  • The presentation at ACOI 2025 must reflect the submitted abstract. In particular, the abstract title, authorship, and educational or scientific content of the presentation at the Convention must match the submitted abstract, although updates on results may be added.
  • Abstracts should be written in clear and concise English so that reviewers are able to focus solely on the scientific merits of the submission.
  • Maximum two submissions per applicant.  There is a maximum of three co-authors per case submission and a maximum of five co-authors per research.
    • The co-author limit noted above does not include the applicant.
      • The applicant’s faculty advisor must sign off on the application.  This is separate from the co-author attestations.  If the faculty advisor is also a co-author, they must be listed in both sections.

Poster Presentation Format:

All accepted abstracts will be presented as posters. These posters should be [36”X48”] in size. Presenters are responsible for mounting their posters at the assigned time and location. Push pins are provided.

Poster authors will be assigned times to be at their poster to field questions from attendees.

Abstract Review and Selection Process:

  • After the submission deadline, all completed and eligible abstracts will be made available to the ACOI Research Committee for blinded review and scoring.
  • Abstracts will be evaluated and scored on their educational and/or scientific merits, and the application of osteopathic principles and practice.
  • Incomplete abstracts will not be reviewed.
  • The same study or case must not be submitted as multiple abstracts or by multiple applicants.
  • Abstracts will be peer reviewed according to the subject categories listed above.

Acceptance/Rejection Notification:

  • Email notification regarding acceptance or rejection of abstracts will be sent to the presenting author; consequently, an accurate email address is critical. Rejection notifications will also be sent at the same time.
  • The decision of the ACOI Research Committee regarding acceptance and presentation of abstracts is final.

Submit

For more information, contact Kara Kerns at kara@acoi.org. Click here to see a list of past winners.  

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