UVA Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program (BIMS) PhD and MD/PhD students hosted 46 high school students to learn about biomedical research training, careers, and to get some hands-on experience in the laboratory on November 6 at the School of Medicine.
The students are all participants in the Community Health and Medical Professions program at Brook Point High School in Stafford, Virginia, where these students have chosen to focus on Biomedical Sciences.
During the event, students learned some basics about biomedical research and how to get research experiences in high school and college that could set them up to apply to PhD and MD/PhD programs.
In addition, the visiting students had a chance to participate in several hands-on laboratory experiments organized and run by current UVA BIMS students that introduced the high school students to fluorescent microscopy, genomics, nanoparticles, molecular biology and DNA extraction, and microbiology. “When you get hands-on experience, you understand it more and more,” stated Jibril Iman, Brook Point High School ninth grade student.
The students also toured the research labs at UVA, so they could see where the exciting science happened and could get a better understanding of what the day-to-day experience is like for biomedical researchers. The visit concluded with lunch and a Q & A panel with graduate students who shared stories about their own journeys to becoming a doctoral student and answered questions from the visiting students.
“The biggest thing is just to introduce them to all the opportunities out there,” UVA graduate student Ariana Sabzevari said. “When I was in high school, I didn’t know that a PhD in biomedical sciences even existed.”
“This was a great collaboration between our student organizations, the Graduate Biosciences Society and the Graduate Recruitment Initiative Team, alongside BIMS, the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the UVA School of Medicine DEI office to provide resources for this event,” said Adrian Halme, PhD, assistant dean for BIMS graduate research and training and associate professor of cell biology at the School of Medicine.
“But the spotlight should be on the student leadership and volunteers who really made this event happen. This includes Ariana Sabzeveri, Luke Vass, and Katherine Haro, who spearheaded this event, as well the many student volunteers that participated and interacted with the visiting students over the course of the day. It reflects both a culture of leadership and paying it forward which makes our students so special,” Dr. Halme stated.
Experiences like this are critical for students to understand how to achieve their career goals. “I want to become a neurosurgeon in the future,” shared Jibril. “I’m going through this biomedical research to find out what this would mean for me to become a neurosurgeon.”
The students’ visit was generously supported by funds from the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center, the University of Virginia School of Medicine Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program.
The event received media coverage by several news outlets including: NBC29 and CBS19news.
