Case Western Reserve University is partnering with its affiliated teaching hospitals, the Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth and University Hospitals, on a five-year summer internship program to encourage more minority and underrepresented students to enter medical research.
The program, funded by a five-year, $540,000 National Institutes of Health grant, will allow for five undergraduate students per year, starting in 2024, to be a part of the Intensive Summer Education Program in Translational Research for Underrepresented Students, MetroHealth announced in a media release. Participants will be from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and have an interest in clinical and translational science, an area of study that turns scientific inquiry into interventions that benefit individuals and communities.
CWRU's Ronald L. Hickman, Jr., who co-authored the grant with MetroHealth's Dr. J. Daryl Thornton, said the program is meant to build awareness of this career path and provide the support and training to move toward that goal.
“It's really just to... inspire them..., to motivate them, to provide them a set of skills that they can be they can persist and accomplish their career goals and to open up their eyes to the possibilities that lie ahead of them,” Hickman told Ideastream Public Media.