The Short Term Research Training Program for Health Professional Students at the University of Chicago has been extremely successful and enthusiastically subscribed by medical students at the Pritzker School of Medicine. The program provides students with a wide choice of opportunities for high quality, mentor-based research aimed at encouraging the career term professional goals. The program (a) provides 12 weeks training during the summer quarter before the 2nd year of medical school; (b) selects qualified trainees from a pool of interested students by means of a formal application and evaluation procedure; (c) integrates within its structure students from the federally-funded Minorities training Grant at the University of Chicago; (d) allows students, through appropriate counseling, to identify a research project and an advisor drawn from a large group of investigator educators (representing all clinical and basic science departments of the Division of Biological Sciences); (e) provides special activities including weekly cluster group meetings, lab discussions, and lectures, (g) places primary responsibility for monitoring student progress and program quality assurance on steering committee members who serve as cluster group leaders; (h) requires students to submit a final written report and to present their findings to peers and faculty at the closing scientific research forum and (i) maintains close contact with trainees in subsequent years as a means to continually assess the impact of the program in promoting further research activities and career choices in biomedical research. We are requesting support fro the research training of 32 students/year, an increase from the 28 previously funded positions. This request is based on the difficulty our program has had in providing all qualified students with opportunities for biomedical research. Training occurs in the supportive environment of the Division of Biological Sciences where biomedical investigation and medical student research training combine to form a long-standing academic tradition. The school maintains numerous federally funded pre- and post- doctoral training grants and an MSTP training program several large center and program awards for basic and clinical research on human disease, a 650-bed teaching hospital, a large and well equipped physical plant for biomedical research, a Howard Hughes Medical institute, a new institute for Molecular Medicine and Learning Center, and a research base of over 250 investigators who hold peer-reviewed grant support. In addition, related on-going activities include the construction of the Center for Ambulatory Care Medicine, programs for medical curriculum innovation supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and a series on the responsible conduct of scientific research. The environment is ideal to support the goals of the medical student Short-term Research Training Program.
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