For the past 32 years NRSA support has been important for medical student research training at the University of Michigan Medical School. This training program is crucial to introduce young medical students to the concepts of medical research and to spawn a new generation of physician scientists. The Student Biomedical Research Program (SBRP) provides an intensive 2.5 month mentored summer research training program for medical students between their first and second years. In the last three years, the program has trained over 100 students each summer and the NRSA training grant has supported approximately one third of these students. Students are exposed to the vast array of medical research opportunities available to physicians at our large medical school campus. They undertake basic, translational, or clinical research projects under the supervision of 144 faculty mentors representing 28 basic science and clinical disciplines. All mentors have active extramural support. The goals of the SBRP are to: (1) Provide students with the opportunity to learn research concepts and methodologies from active investigators, and assess their desire to pursue careers in research; (2) Expand the scholarly and research experiences of medical students as part of an overall career development strategy aimed at increasing the number of talented students choosing careers as physician scientists; (3) Promote high quality and intensive research opportunities for those students who are already on a path toward academic medicine; (4) Provide students who elect not to go into academic medicine an understanding of the scientific method and critical analysis of literature through their research experience; (5) Increase the number of underrepresented minority medical students who participate in a research experience, and ultimately choose careers as physician scientists; (6) Promote research experiences that can develop into longer-term student-faculty mentoring relationships; (7) Provide trainees with experience in scientific presentation and publication of research through the Annual Student Biomedical Research Fall Forum, and other scientific meetings at a regional or national level; and (8) Provide students with a high quality didactic program in research with an emphasis on the ethical and responsible conduct of research. The NIH and other institutions have recognized the need to increase the number of US physician scientists and enhance the quality of healthcare and foster clinically relevant innovative research. The SBRP at the University of Michigan, with NRSA support, has a strong record of meeting this need with almost one third of graduates involved in faculty positions performing research. This competing continuation features a diverse faculty who are experienced in the pursuit of basic, translational and clinical biomedical research and who are committed to enhancing the scientific training experience of our outstanding students at Michigan.
This training program supports summer research opportunities for first year medical students. The goal of the program is to expose these students to scientific investigation to promote medical research careers and to promote an understanding of the role of medical research in the practice of medicine.
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