Washington, DC - The National Institutes of Health has selected 52 innovative, research-oriented students for the 2016-2017 Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP). A year-long residential program, the MRSP introduces medical, dental and veterinary students to cutting-edge research, and is part of NIH's goal of training the next generation of clinician-scientists and biomedical researchers.
The program places students in NIH laboratories and patient care areas, including the NIH Clinical Center, to conduct basic, translational, or clinical research in areas that match their career interests and research goals.
The fifth class of MRSP participants include two dental students and 50 medical students. They represent 34 accredited universities in the United States.
“The program is an incredible opportunity for us to get involved with NIH at an early stage of our careers, and is an invaluable experience in preparing us to be the next generation of physicians who are able to advance innovative patient care through research,” said Sonia Guar, a 2016-17 MRSP scholar from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. “I am so excited to work closely with mentors and future colleagues who are united by a strong passion for expanding and tackling medicine through the process of discovery.”
“This year-long research enrichment program is very often the starting point for a successful research-oriented career. These 52 scholars clearly represent future academic leaders and biomedical researchers in this country,” said Frederick P. Ognibene, M.D., NIH Clinical Center Deputy Director for Educational Affairs and Strategic Partnerships.
In addition to a rigorous research agenda, MRSP scholars participate in lecture series focusing on career development, journal club seminars, clinical teaching rounds, and other courses. They also highlight their research in formal presentations to the NIH community and at professional conferences. Each scholar is assigned an advisor, who provides guidance in defining a well-articulated career development plan and selecting a dedicated NIH research mentor. Mentors are fulltime NIH investigators with established and successful basic, translational, or clinical research programs.
The MRSP is co-sponsored by the NIH and other partners, including the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the American Association for Dental Research, the Colgate-Palmolive Company, Genentech and alumni of student research programs and other individual supporters via contributions to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. More than 180 students have completed the program since 2012. The 2016–2017 NIH MRSP participants are:
| Name | School |
|---|---|
| Marib Akanda | State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine, Brooklyn |
| Julie (Yajie) An | Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy, Rootstown |
| Joseph Baiocco | Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia |
| Jason Berglund | Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, Boston |
| Thomas Bolig | Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit |
| Alejandro Bugarini | San Juan Bautista School of Medicine, Caguas, Puerto Rico |
| Steven Cai | Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science |
| Brian Calio | Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia |
| ‘Angela’ Wei Chen | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine |
| Xenia Chepa-Lotrea | Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C. |
| Ashley Chorath | Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia |
| Jonathan Chung | State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine |
| Hannah Conn | Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C. |
| Sonia Gaur | Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia |
| Vissagan Gopalakrishnan | Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center, Chicago |
| Daniel Gromer | The Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia |
| Alex Grubb | Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University |
| Kathryn Harris | Meharry Medical College School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee |
| Therese Korndorf | University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine |
| Ira Kraft | University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City |
| Daniel Kuhr | University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, New York |
| Clare Landefeld | Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University |
| John Le | University of Michigan School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor |
| Melissa Levoska | Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit |
| Jeffrey Lin | David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA |
| Anna Louie | University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno |
| Rachel Marchalik | Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C. |
| Matthew McCord | University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville |
| Megan Morisada | Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University |
| Sachin Nair | University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Medicine, Kansas City |
| Jannett Nguyen | University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine |
| Ukpebo Omosigho | University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis |
| John Ostrominski | University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio, San Antonio |
| Oyetewa Oyerinde | University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine |
| Varun Padmanaban | Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia |
| Chandana Papudesu | Georgia Health Sciences University, Augusta |
| Alexandra Pietraszkiewicz | University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington |
| Jacqueline Pires | University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester |
| Stephen Raithel | Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University |
| Joshua Rivers | Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit |
| Hannah Robinson | Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University |
| Gregory Roloff | University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, New York |
| Mohammad Siddiqui | University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison |
| Richard Smith | Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia |
| Katie Spielbauer | Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, East Lansing |
| Dordaneh Sugano | Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York |
| Samiksha Tarun | Saint Louis University School of Medicine |
| Kevin Terashima | David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA |
| Ankita Tippur | Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta |
| Giacomo Waller | Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta |
| Suzanne Ward | University of Cincinnati College of Medicine |
| Roy Xiao | Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University |
About the NIH Intramural Research Program (IRP): The IRP is the internal research program of the NIH, known for its synergistic approach to biomedical science. With approximately 1,100 principal investigators and more than 4,000 postdoctoral fellows conducting basic, translational, and clinical research, the IRP is the world's largest biomedical research institution. For more information about the IRP and its programs, visit www.irp.nih.gov.
