The Boston MSTAR Program aims to provide a short-term aging research and mentoring experience to medical students early in their career. Students will become educated and enthusiastic about the career opportunities in academic, clinical, and research geriatric medicine. The Program has operated continuously since 1989 and provided short term research training experiences to over 192 medical students. The administrative structure of the program remains largely intact with a Program Director reporting to the Mentor Advisory Council for program oversight, increasing the pool of high-quality mentors, and continued efforts on recruiting minority Scholars from Harvard, the Jackson Heart Study, and Boston University Medical Center. The heart of the Boston MSTAR Program will be the 8-12 week mentored aging research project experience for 10 Scholars: 5 from the AFAR application pool, 2 from Jackson Heart, and 2 from Boston University Medical Center. Additionally the didactic program will be open to under-represented minority candidates from a NHLBI funded training award. All students will receive training in protection of human subjects, aging research methodology, and clinical geriatrics. Students will present their research in an oral presentation, in a 10 page written report, and will be strongly encouraged to present at the annual meeting of the American Geriatrics Society. The Program will track students through their medical training and career decisions. By developing a strong relationship with the students during the program, the Scholar tracking will be a continuation of the mentoring experience and a forum to increase Scholar interest in aging research. The program's past successes are a foreshadowing of its future potential. For the past 5 years, 40 scholars have been trained;80% have presented their work at a scientific meeting, 8 1% of matriculated students have entered a residency with potential for additional geriatric training, and 17% have sought additional research training via NIH fellowships or delaying medical school matriculation.
The Boston MSTAR Program was developed to address the increasing need for medical students to pursue careers in aging research and geriatrics. By exposing students to this field early in their careers, this proposal addresses this need by providing aging research training for 10 students per year for the next 5 years.
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