Sitting around a conference table in a book-lined room in Olin Hall, 15 biomedical research scientists gathered for lunch to discuss some of the highlights and pitfalls of their chosen profession: becoming too involved in one's own research and losing touch with the field; conducting important research versus researching personal interests; keeping up with colleagues; and generally running out of time, be it in a grant cycle, in the race to publish, or more typically, in the race against disease, which as a rule doesn't wait around for science to catch up.
Gateways participants hear firsthand about life as MD-PhD students from Tri-Institutional MD-PhD students.
But this was not a typical lunch meeting among scientists. What set these scientists apart is that they are undergraduates, most just out of their teens, and representative of minority groups, two populations generally not found in the labs of world-class biomedical research facilities.
For the past 13 years, the Gateways to the Laboratory Program has set out to alter that trend, inviting undergraduates from some of the best institutions in the country to New York to conduct research and gain clinical experience under the direction of the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program comprising Weill Cornell Medical College, The Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
For 10 weeks in June, July and August the students participate in a journal club, develop research manuscripts and posters, shadow clinical teams, scrub into surgeries and conduct laboratory research with the help of MD-PhD student "Big Sibs" and research faculty sponsors. (Click here for a slideshow of the 2006 Gateways Experience.)
The 2006 Gateways students with Ruth Gotian (front, second from left), administrative director of the MD-PhD Program, and Dr. Olaf Andersen (front, third from left), director of the MD-PhD Program.
Since its inception, the program has nearly quadrupled in size and has become a national model for developing minority MD-PhD students early in their academic careers. According to Dr. Olaf Andersen, director of the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program, minority MD-PhD students make up less than one-quarter of 1 percent of all medical school graduates.
"The spirit of the program is to provide students with research experiences on the cutting edge of modern biomedical research, which in itself will help the students in their future career," said Dr. Andersen. "More importantly, however, it will open doors that might not otherwise be open to them."
The program is highly selective—15 students were selected out of a pool of nearly 150 applicants—and academically rigorous; students must complete research reports and make presentations on the program's final day.
During the last week of the program, Brady Evans, a student from the University of Puget Sound working on measuring telomeres in the neural stem cells of mice, could often be found coming into the lab after midnight to complete experiment cycles. "You work a lot of hours, but generally it's up to you. I wanted to get an idea of what an MD-PhD lifestyle was like, to see how a lab works. It really helps you understand why research takes so long," he said. His work paid off, and at the closing ceremony held at The Rockefeller University on Aug. 10, Evans, along with fellow Gateways student Amber Gaither, was awarded the Abby Rockefeller Mauze Fellowship.
Encouraging students to consider the MD-PhD program at Weill Cornell is a secondary goal of the program. Although students are encouraged to apply to MD-PhD programs throughout the country, many Gateways alumni end up pursuing their degree in the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program.
Brady Evans (second from right), recipient of the Mauze Fellowship, with (from left) Dr. Andersen; Dr. Gunter Blobel, faculty member at The Rockefeller University, Gateways mentor and 2000 Nobel Prize winner; and Dr. Bradley T. Sheares, keynote speaker of the Gateways graduation ceremony and dinner.
During her undergraduate years, Tri-Institutional MD-PhD student Tanya Williams spent her summers in several different research programs, including Stanford, Weill Cornell, and her home institution, Emory. But the Gateways program's balance of clinical and research experience provided a better look into the MD-PhD lifestyle, and the institution as a whole.
Gateways student and Mauze Fellowship winner Amber Gaither and MD-PhD student and "Big Brother Award" winner Prabhjot Dhadialla.
"Weill Cornell was very much at the top of my list of schools and it had a lot to do with the Gateways program. MD-PhD training is very long, often seven to eight years, and you don't want to get lost at any particular step. You want to have people in leadership positions that are going to be taking care of you but not necessarily holding your hand, and Weill Cornell provided that balance," Williams said. Currently she is entering her third year in the program and continuing her research on opiates and estrogen receptors, a theme she began during her Gateways experience in summer 2002.
Both Evans and Williams said they benefited most from the exposure to MD-PhD students and physician-scientists, who have given them the background to map out their future careers. It is an investment in human resources that Dr. Andersen is more than happy to make. "We are in the venture capital business, but not for money. We are interested in minds."
Photos by Weill Cornell Art & Photo.