Julie Mulzoff or Raissa Jose
312-558-1770
[email protected]
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM FOR MINORITIES PROMOTES DIVERSITY IN ACADEMIC MEDICINE, RESEARCH
14th Annual Fellowship Program in Academic Medicine for Minority Students
WALLINGFORD, Conn. -- As the nation continues to debate how to promote diversity in the workplace and in academia, 35 of the nation's most gifted minority medical students will meet at the largest annual gathering of minority medical student researchers and their mentors. On March 4-6, these students will present findings of biomedical research projects during the symposium of the 14th annual Fellowship Program in Academic Medicine for Minority Students at the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute facility in Wallingford, Conn. Established by The Commonwealth Fund in 1983 and administered by National Medical Fellowships, Inc., the program is designed to encourage minority medical students to pursue careers in biomedical research and aspire to become medical school faculty members. Since 1993, the fellowship program has been solely funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.
"The value of having diverse perspectives in medical research, policy and education is that it increases the odds of having health care access and appropriate treatment for everyone," said Leon Johnson, Jr., D. Ed., president of National Medical Fellowships, Inc.
Minorities are critically underrepresented in medical research and among medical school faculties. The fellowship program was established to increase representation of African-Americans, mainland Puerto Ricans, Mexican-Americans and Native Americans in the fields of academic and biomedical research. These minority groups represent 18 percent of the total U.S. population but less than 4 percent of the M.D. faculty at the nation's medical schools. "I am proof that the program works to fill a critical need for minority role models in academic and research medicine," said Cato Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at Allegheny University of the Health Sciences, research professor of chemical engineering at Drexel University. Dr. Laurencin was one of the program's first Fellows in 1984, and in 1996 served as a mentor. He now helps shape the program's future direction as a member of The Fellowship Program in Academic Medicine for Minority Students' Development Committee.
Fellows work on specific research projects in major academic biomedical research laboratories for eight to 12 weeks in collaboration with leading scientists. "What makes this program tick is the mentoring component. Each of the Fellows works directly with a renowned researcher in his or her field," said Dr. Laurencin. This year's 35 Fellows are conducting research on fertility and diseases such as stroke, pancreatic cancer and breast cancer. The Fellows are third- and fourth-year minority medical students from across the country who were nominated by their medical school deans, and chosen by a distinguished committee based on their academic achievements, leadership abilities and potential for assuming a responsible role in academic medicine. Many already are fulfilling the objective of the program by mentoring younger students and volunteering their time to minority activities.
For example, several students are involved in the Health Professions Recruitment Exposure Program (HPREP), a mentoring program that provides tutors to students in math and science and exposure to health care careers. Many of the Fellows also overcame tremendous obstacles to achieve their dreams of studying medicine, including financial, cultural and language barriers. Several of them chose their areas of research because of a personal experience with a disease, a desire to improve conditions for minorities or because they were inspired by a role model. For example, Treise Tomlinson Chesnut, a third-year medical student at University of California at Los Angeles Medical School, is fulfilling a promise made to her mother who died of breast cancer when Treise was 16 years old. Her mother asked her to become a doctor to help other African-American women who had no access to medical resources. "My interest in cancer research stemmed from the realization that doctors are severely limited by the treatments that are available," said Tomlinson Chesnut.
Bristol-Myers Squibb first became involved with the program as a partial sponsor in 1990 and has since contributed more than $2.5 million to the fellowship program.
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