Summer Internship Program

Through institutional support, the MOKC will offer a ten-week summer research internship for qualifying graduate, undergraduate and medical students. The Program will be administered by the MOKC Administrative Coordinator, Teri Chiapparelli. In addition, the MOKC EC will provide oversight. The Directors of the EP, Drs. Felder and Weir, will be responsible for curriculum development and course evaluation. The Program will offer an intensive summer internship experience and mentorship during the formative stage of education which is critical to capture the most promising, motivated, and brightest students into careers in hypertension research. The program will include information on the important contributions to renal and molecular physiology and hypertension research, including Homer Smith, the father of modern renal physiology. We will support three students per year for a total of fifteen during the five years of the grant. Research interns will have an opportunity to do a mentored research project, in which they will select a research question, and will be provided with laboratory resources and training. They will present a summary of their work in a peer group setting upon completion of the internship. They will attend research conferences and seminars and have a weekly Core lecture by MOKC faculty designed specifically for this Program covering broad topics in hypertension, metabolism-related chronic diseases.

Other Features

Interns will attend weekly lab meetings or equivalent meetings of their research team. Undergraduates will participate in the following enrichment activities:

1. A weekly journal club pairing a faculty member and a student in presentation of an original journal club article to the group.
2. Mock Interview work shop geared to three major career paths, that is MD, PhD or MD/PhD. The main ideas are to:
   1. conduct interviews of each type, in front of all students, using student volunteers;
   2. involve students in feedback after each interview;
   3. summarize the most important things to know for successful interview.
    
3. A round table luncheon with a student panel made up of current students. The goal is to allow participants to ask questions from students about various career pathways.
4. Medical Admissions Workshop: This workshop is intended for undergraduates who plan to apply to medical school. This workshop is typically conducted by the Assistant Dean for Medical Admissions. To attract participation in our program, we will send letters to colleges and universities to attract the best candidates. We will make a special effort to recruit students from historically black and other minority colleges and universities under-represented in medicine and biomedical research. We will also post the courses on the University and Divisional website, MOKC website, as well as on the UMCP website. Applications will consist of resumes, college transcripts, short essays asking the student about their interest in hypertension, and metabolism-related topics, their career aspirations, and letters of reference. Applications will be reviewed by the MOKC Steering Committee and the most qualified applicants will be selected.