|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
|
AAMC Panel releases Report on Bioterrorism Education Lawsuit Filed Against Princeton Review Containing SARS: University of Toronto Rises to the Challenge Nanotechnology: The Science of the Very Small Innovations in Medical Education: Doctor in the Court A Word from the President: Clinical Investigators for a Global Future Viewpoint: Summer School, NIH Style
|
|
Viewpoint: Summer School, NIH Style
What motivates a student to forego a beach towel or a knapsack for a lab coat, after an intense first year of medical school? This year 64 medical students are spending their summer break at the National Institutes of Health, as part of the Summer Research Fellowship Program (SRFP). They join a succession of 1,900 medical and dental students who have made their way to the NIH's intramural campus since 1982, when the first group of 50 spent a summer exploring the boundaries of knowledge and satisfying the curiosity that drew them to study human health in the first place. The 2003 contingent comes from Georgia to California, and many states in between. Their research mentors may be found at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, the National Cancer Institute on the main campus in Bethesda, Md., and at 18 other institutes and centers that are home to NIH research programs. For eight to 12 weeks, each student morphs from observer to integral member of basic and clinical research teams that comprise M.D.'s, Ph.D.'s, clinical fellows, postdoctoral fellows, and a network of health professionals. Early each morning, the Medical Center metro stop disgorges a stream of students who disperse among the 50 research buildings on our 317-acre campus. Many head to laboratories in the NIH Clinical Center, our hospital, in which up to 1,000 clinical trials are ongoing at any given time. Bread-and-butter medicine has a different flavor here; there is no ER. It is an environment rich in medical resources, both human and technological. A lecture on SARS by Dr. Anthony Fauci will introduce students to a man they have only read about or seen on TV. A new 7 Tesla magnet for super-high-resolution MRIs will be operational this summer. Some of the best testimonials come from the students themselves. "I always knew that I wanted a career in medical research," said one who worked on an islet transplantation protocol. "I was trying to balance how much basic science versus how much clinical science." Confides another, "We have no other opportunities to learn how to integrate basic science with clinical medicine." Even for those not destined for research careers, insight into how a research protocol is mapped, the internal review process when human subjects are studied, and the ethical challenges of the genomic era have been eye-openers. Our patients come from around the world, at no financial cost to them, many suffering from "orphan" diseases. Says another student, "I was exposed to … diseases that I most likely never would have encountered, had I not come to the NIH." August Poster Day
"How I spent my summer vacation," NIH-style, will culminate in our annual August Poster Day on Aug. 7, in which more than 400 students will participate. The decibel level in the clinical center reaches its peak at this event, as every student simultaneously describes his or her project to the scientific community: "Stimulation of MCP-1 in the Brain by TNF alpha: Extracellular and Intracellular Signaling Pathways of Immortalized Human Neuroglial Cells," "Structural Studies on Hair Keratin Intermediate Filaments," or "A Closer Look at Racial Disparities in Group B Streptococcal Colonization and Infection," to name a few. The talk of pipelines - specifically, early training opportunities leading to eventual careers in biomedical research - is not new. The physician-scientist was considered an "endangered species" in the early '80s. Most recently in JAMA (March 12, 2003), workforce training was underscored as one of four central challenges facing clinical research. NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., is leading a process of transformation designed to remove obstacles to clinical research and establish a new vision to herald the opening of our new Clinical Research Center in 2004. Timing is everything. Although the third year of medical school starts much earlier now, so that time to pursue a research question for a second summer has all but evaporated for students, new opportunities have opened up. Several year-off research programs have emerged in the past few years: our own Clinical Research Training Program, the HHMI Research Scholars programs, the Doris Duke Clinical Research Program, NCRR/GCRC programs, and the Sarnoff program in cardiovascular science. Those medical students who are motivated do find a way to pursue their research interests, and recidivism is high among SRFP alumni. What better place to be held captive by the promise of discovery? As one grateful alumna said, "I do feel like I am at the center of it all!" |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
Contact Us © 1995-2008 AAMC Terms and Conditions Privacy Statement |
