Now in its sixth year of operation, the Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences (WGSMS) Outreach Office, directed by Dr. Brian Turner, '02, has committed significant resources to an ambitious plan aimed at improving the science education of secondary-school students in New York City. In recent years, the office has worked directly with students to help them gain a stronger understanding of science and gain a foothold in science and medicine as a career.
This past summer, the Outreach Office collaborated with Dr. Polly Gregor from the Sloan-Kettering Institute to offer a mentoring program to the Urban Academy Laboratory High School, a small alternative school with only 120 students who are from predominantly underrepresented minority populations.
In coordination with the science and administrative staff at Urban Academy, the Outreach Office organized graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and staff of the Medical College to tutor and mentor Urban Academy students for their projects in science and math. In addition, three urban students who showed promise were selected by school staff to conduct summer intern projects in the research laboratories at the Sloan-Kettering Institute.
Over the summer break, Chantal Soekhoe, Emily Santiago and Jadne Williams worked as paid research assistants in the laboratories of Dr. Polly Gregor and Dr. Frances Weis-Garcia in the Sloan-Kettering Institute, with wage and research funds obtained through the Sloan-Kettering SPORE grant. Chantal worked on the production of DNA vaccines, while Emily and Jadne worked on the production and purification of antibodies specific for some of the cancer projects going on in the Institute.
By all accounts, the girls' projects were very successful. More importantly, the students came away with a greater sense of their own self-worth and the knowledge that a career in science is an obtainable goal. In the words of Jadne, "I really enjoyed this summer. Being able to work in a real lab and with a professional scientist on an actual experiment that did something for the scientific community, even if it made a small contribution, was a great experience that was completely different than any I've ever had. Even if I don't end up working in medicine or science, I will use the job skills I learned this summer when I move on to college."
Photos by Amelia Panico.