It is well-known that a major impediment to the future of biomedical research in general, and diabetes research in particular, is the accelerating shortage of young reesearchers entering academic medicine. The problem is particularly acute for physician investigators. A variety of disincentives exist which discourage the choice of research as a career path, including the generally low level of funding for investigator-initiated research, the uncompetitive level of fellowship stipends, the serious debt burden usually incurred during medical school, and an insufficient emphasis on bio-medical research during medical school. The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation has addressed this serious problem by developing a program focused on third and fourth-year medical students. Each year, the Foundation invites each dean of every medical school in the United States and Canada to select one third or fourth-year student to attend a meeting held at a visible and active diabetes center. A particular emphasis is made on the selection of students from minority medical schools. At the meeting, the students are exposed to lectures and participate in seminars given leading diabetes researchers. In addition, the student attendees are divided into groups which are required to develop a protocol to address a hypothetical research question. The protocol developed by each work-group is then presented and critiqued by the facility and student participants. This year, our seventh Medical Student Workshop will be chaired by Kevin Lafferty, Ph.D., Director of Research at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes in Denver, Colorado. The meeting will be held on May 1-3, 1988.
