Her main topics of interest are hepatology, nutrition, and microbiology, she believes, they hugely overlap. She has a lot of questions and she is glad for the great guidance of her supervisors and SMS. Since she works also as an SMS, she helps the students with their progress and supports them during the journey as well. In November, Petrana Martinekova was named Science Methodology Supervisor of the Month.
Petrana graduated as a medical doctor from the University of Ostrava Faculty of Medicine in 2019. After receiving her degree, she joined a one-year medical internship in Sardinia, Italy, and previously participated in a neurosurgery internship in Ecuador. Dr. Martinekova was an internal medicine resident at the F. D. Roosevelt General Hospital of Banská Bystrica in Slovakia. „I became involved with translational medicine thanks to great doctors who shared their knowledge about the program with me. At first time I heard about the Centre for Translational Medicine in my previous job as a young resident, thanks to the chief doctor of the department. I also learned about CTM at the Colours of Sepsis Conference in Ostrava.
Dr. Martinekova is interested mostly in hepatology and microbiology, but it is quite difficult for her to choose only one field. „I believe, they hugely overlap. I acknowledge the role of nutrition in liver disease, including micronutrients, and the importance of bacterial infection in chronic liver disease. Recently, I became interested in the treatment of modifiable risk factors in this population as I felt the big opportunity for improvement in this field while being the resident doctor.” Currently, Dr. Martinekova is working on two studies using the methodology of systematic review and meta-analysis. The first one focuses on the role of vitamin D in chronic liver disease, while the second one investigates the role of biomarkers for early detection of bacterial infection in patients with cirrhosis. „I have a lot of questions and I am glad for the great guidance of my supervisors and SMS as well as the whole support of the CTM. The proper strategy is the key to obtaining the results and I appreciate its role even more as SMS.”
In this role, Dr. Martinekova helps the students with their progress and supports them during the journey. „Being SMS is a full-time position. Currently, I am fully focused on this work, I see it also as an important space for my own development. In my first study, we found that vitamin D can ameliorate some of the outcomes in patients with liver disease. Since more than 80% of eligible studies were performed in Asia, it is difficult to generalize the results. In the second topic, we are now working on the full-text selection, and I am excited to see the results.”
(Emese Szabó)