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Welcome!

We are excited to announce that the 14th Annual Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery Research Day will be held on Tuesday, March 24, and Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Details about the format and venue will be provided when we get closer to the time of the event. All surgery faculty, residents, and fellows are asked to attend this important event.

Program Mission
To highlight research conducted by surgery residents, fellows, staff, and students that advances patient care and treatment, develops future academic leaders across department of surgery divisions and affiliated hospitals, and reflects the excellence of faculty mentorship.

All abstracts must be submitted by 11:59 pm on Thursday, January 01, 2026.

Award for Best Presentations
Faculty judges will score the presentations during the event. Awards will be given for the best basic science and best clinical/education research presentations.

Full details about abstract submission, program plans, and the award competition are provided in the Abstract Submission Instructions section of this website. Please contact Dr. Livia Eberlin (livia.eberlin@bcm.edu), Dr. Kimberly Holloway (kimberly.holloway@bcm.edu) if you have any questions.



  • Department of surgery residents are required to submit at least one (1) abstract for the event.
  • Medical, graduate, and undergraduate students who have participated or are currently participating in surgical research projects under the mentorship of Baylor College of Medicine department of surgery faculty are encouraged to submit their work.
  • Department of Surgery postdoctoral research fellows and non-faculty staff are welcome to submit abstracts.

The top scoring abstracts will be selected for oral presentation. Most other abstracts will be eligible for poster presentation. You may submit more than one abstract as first author, but only one abstract per first author will be selected for presentation. Acceptances will be sent the week of TBD via email. The acceptance email will describe the type of presentation and provide additional instructions for preparing the presentation.

The program committee will score all scientific abstracts based on the following five criteria:

  1. Significance and innovation – Does the abstract address an important problem or question? Is the study objective or hypothesis clearly stated?
  2. Study design and methods – Are the methods appropriate and clearly described?
  3. Results and analysis – Do the results address the scientific question or hypothesis? Do the results reflect an appropriate analysis? Are quantitative data reported whenever possible? If results are not available, will the anticipated statistical analysis plan appropriately address the scientific question or hypothesis?
  4. Conclusions – Are the conclusions justified by the data? Do the conclusions relate specifically to the stated objective or hypothesis? If results are not available, will the project as planned provide a significant impact in the field?
  5. Clarity – Is the overall abstract clearly written and easy to understand? If used, is the table or figure clear and informative?

Abstract Requirements:

  • Abstracts can describe work that has been previously presented at scientific meetings or published in the literature.
  • Although abstracts presented at previous years’ Research Day events cannot be resubmitted, new abstracts reflecting substantive progress in the same project are acceptable.
  • The presenting trainees or non-faculty staff must be the first author on the abstract.
  • The abstract must reflect the work done by the presenter during the past year.
  • It is acceptable to submit more than one abstract as the first author, but only one abstract per presenter will be selected for the program.

Abstract Categories include:

  1. Project in Progress (PIP)
    • Project in Progress should describe a project plan that does NOT have applicable results but a study design available.
    • PGY-1 residents and first year medical or graduate students are strongly encouraged to submit within this category.
    • PIP applicants are not required to be first year trainees.
  2. Scientific Abstracts
    • Scientific abstracts should describe either completed work or work that is currently in progress with applicable results available.
    • Case reports will not be accepted.

Abstract Submission Instructions

All abstracts must be submitted via the online submission system by 11:59 pm on Thursday, January 01, 2026. Abstracts will be submitted using the following format.
Authors – List all authors contributing to the work. The presenting author must be listed first, followed by co-authors and senior author/faculty mentor. All abstracts must include a faculty member as senior author; senior authors may be faculty members from other BCM departments or from other institutions.
Abstract – Each abstract is limited to 2000 characters (including spaces); titles and authors are excluded from this count. Avoid symbol fonts such as α, β, γ in your abstract; instead spell them out as in: alpha, beta, gamma. Abstracts must include:
  1. 1.Background – Describe why the study was planned/conducted and state the objective and/or hypothesis.
  2. 2.Methods – Describe the study approach, focusing on study design, experimental techniques, and analytic approach.
  3. 3.Results – Describe the most important findings of the study. Quantitative results should be reported whenever possible. If results are not available, describe the statistical analysis plan.
  4. 4.Conclusions – Describe the conclusions reached based specifically on the study results, comment on the relevance of the study, and/or highlight the potential impact of the study in the care of patients with surgical disease.

Tables and Figures – Tables and figures are permitted. Abstracts can include only one figure or one table. If included, they will need to be uploaded as a single PDF, MS Excel, or MS Word document.

Download PDF Abstract Submission Instructions

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