FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION:

Jennifer Michalowski
(301) 215-8576
michalow@hhmi.org
Cindy Fox Aisen
(317)843-2276
aisenc@hhmi.org
Howard Hughes
Medical Institute
4000 Jones Bridge Road Chevy Chase, MD 20815-6789
(301) 215-8500

For 111 medical and dental students, the next year will be spent exploring a different side of medicine. Backed by nearly $4 million of support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the students will spend a year doing mentored research at medical research centers nationwide, as participants in two programs designed to help meet the need for researchers with medical and dental training.

“Physician-scientists contribute a unique and valuable perspective to the research community,” said William Galey, graduate science education program director at HHMI. “They have a direct knowledge of where improved therapies and diagnostics are most needed, as well as an understanding of how to approach those problems in a laboratory setting. By offering outstanding medical and dental students the opportunity to experience the challenges and rewards of research, we hope to encourage them to make research part of their careers.”

“Our intent is to increase the number of professionals who apply science in the service of medicine.”
Peter J. Bruns

The 42 students selected to participate in the HHMI-NIH Research Scholars Program will live for a year on the campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, conducting research in NIH laboratories. Sixty-nine other students will immerse themselves in research through HHMI's Research Training Fellowships for Medical Students (Medical Fellows) Program, which supports a year of full-time research at an institution of the fellow's choosing. Students will pursue a diverse range of projects during their year away from school, in fields such as immunology, neuroscience, cell and molecular biology, developmental biology, and genetics.

For the 2007 competition, HHMI received a total of 336 applications from students at 96 different medical and dental schools. HHMI makes a special effort to attract women and minorities underrepresented in the sciences to apply for these programs. This year, 43 percent of the research scholars and 39 percent of the medical fellows are women, and approximately 14 percent of the research scholars and 13 percent of the medical fellows are underrepresented minorities.

The Research Scholars Program and the Medical Fellows Program are part of a larger effort by HHMI to integrate basic research and clinical experience. A complementary graduate science education program, the Med into Grad Initiative, addresses the need for scientists with medical knowledge and skills by incorporating more clinical training into Ph.D. programs in the life sciences. “It is important to close the gap between bed and bench,” said Peter J. Bruns, HHMI's vice president for grants and special programs. “We bring medical students to the lab to immerse them in scientific inquiry and graduate students to the clinic to expose them to medically important problems. Our intent is to increase the number of professionals who apply science in the service of medicine.”

The Institute also supports physician-scientists through its investigator program, which gives outstanding, creative scientists the freedom and support to pursue innovative research. As many as 15 physician-scientists are expected to be named HHMI investigators in the fall of 2007.

The 2007 research scholars and medical fellows are:

HHMI-NIH Research Scholars
Name	Medical School
Amana Akhtar	University of Michigan Medical School
Sonny Batra	Stanford University School of Medicine
Steven Beaudry	West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
Christina Bennett	Indiana University School of Medicine
Kristin Berg	Creighton University School of Medicine
Jim Boonyaratanakornkit	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Steven Brauer	Harvard Medical School
Christina Brezing	University of Florida College of Medicine
Jorge Caballero	Stanford University School of Medicine
Jonah Cohen	Brown Medical School
Kelly Cushing	Rush Medical College of Rush University
Fei Dong	Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Chibawanye Ene	Indiana University School of Medicine
Haven Garber	Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health
Joshua Gordon	David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Rohit Gupta	Duke University School of Medicine
Kirsi Hakkinen	Harvard University School of Dental Medicine
Julie Hall	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Victor Harrison	University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine
Brett Jagger	Indiana University School of Medicine
Osamu Kaneko	David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Adam Kern	University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences and Pritzker School of Medicine
Mohammed Khan	David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Jung Eun Lee	Duke University School of Medicine
Quan Lan Lew	University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences and Pritzker School of Medicine
Michelle Longmire	University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Elise Meoli	University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Eric Muñoz	Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine
Derek Narendra	University of Michigan Medical School
Josiah Orina	Emory University School of Medicine
Lavanya Palavalli	University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine
Mrinali Patel	Duke University School of Medicine
Katie Pricola	Stanford University School of Medicine
John Quick	New York University School of Medicine
Abigail Rao	Dartmouth Medical School
Andrea Russo	Dartmouth Medical School
Shashank Sinha	University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences and Pritzker School of Medicine
Mariel Solares	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Scott Steward-Tharp	University of Iowa College of Dentistry
Matthew Swisher	Duke University School of Medicine
Ashesh Thaker	David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Nicholas Zwang	Harvard Medical School

Medical Fellows
Name	Medical School	Fellowship Institution
Joel Adler	University of Wisconsin Medical School	University of Wisconsin Medical School
Valerie Arboleda	David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA	David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Joshua Aronson	Harvard Medical School	Harvard Medical School
Amrita Arora	University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences and Pritzker School of Medicine	Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
Frank Attenello	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Jason Baron	Washington University School of Medicine	Washington University School of Medicine
Irun Bhan	Harvard Medical School	Harvard Medical School
David Caretto	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Mark Chao	Stanford University School of Medicine	Stanford University School of Medicine
Lynn Choi	New York Medical College	Harvard Medical School
John DeCaro	Stanford University School of Medicine	Emory University School of Medicine
Katherine Dickman	University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine	Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Andra Dingman	Stanford University School of Medicine	Stanford University School of Medicine
Amir Durrani	Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Rachel Edlin	New York University School of Medicine	Cornell University Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences
Damien Ellens	Yale University School of Medicine	Yale University School of Medicine
Robert Fenster	Cornell University Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences	Rockefeller University
Ryan Funk	Washington University School of Medicine	Washington University School of Medicine
Eric Gehrie	Mount Sinai School of Medicine	Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Craig Giacomini	Stanford University School of Medicine	Stanford University School of Medicine
Lia Gracey	University of Michigan Medical School	Stanford University School of Medicine
Ian Han	Duke University School of Medicine	Duke University School of Medicine
Stanley Hoang	Stanford University School of Medicine	Stanford University School of Medicine
Kimberly Hsu	Washington University School of Medicine	Washington University School of Medicine
Mark Hsu	Stanford University School of Medicine	Stanford University School of Medicine
Susan Huang	Harvard Medical School	Harvard Medical School
Jason Jaetao	University of New Mexico School of Medicine	University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Cynthia Jimenez	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Kim Jiramongkolchai	Vanderbilt University School of Medicine	Harvard Medical School
Sanjat Kanjilal	Harvard Medical School	Harvard Medical School
Maya Kasowski	Yale University School of Medicine	Yale University School of Medicine
Charles Kim	University of California, Davis, School of Medicine	University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
Somi Kim	Harvard University School of Dental Medicine	Harvard University School of Dental Medicine
Robert Koeth	Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Amie Lee	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Darrin Lee	University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine	University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine
Michael Lee	Duke University School of Medicine	Duke University School of Medicine
Loretta Li	Harvard Medical School	Harvard Medical School
Sheng-fu Lo	Yale University School of Medicine	Yale University School of Medicine
Ajay Malhotra	Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California	Cornell University Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences
Kareem Mawad	Washington University School of Medicine	Washington University School of Medicine
Paula McPoland	University of Washington School of Medicine	University of Washington School of Medicine
Charles Mikell	Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons	Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Eric Milner	Washington University School of Medicine	Washington University School of Medicine
Camille Minder	Duke University School of Medicine	Duke University School of Medicine
Steven Minear	Stanford University School of Medicine	Stanford University School of Medicine
Sandy Mong	Harvard Medical School	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Anvy Nguyen	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Krishna Parekh	Duke University School of Medicine	University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Tanvi Parikh	Cornell University Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences	Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Nishant Patel	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Priyesh Patel	Duke University School of Medicine	Duke University School of Medicine
Bradford Perez	Duke University School of Medicine	Duke University School of Medicine
Joshua Schulman	Harvard Medical School	Harvard Medical School
Andrew Schweitzer	Mount Sinai School of Medicine	Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Alexandra Snyder	Mount Sinai School of Medicine	Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Sheela Toprani	Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University	Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Ryan Ungaro	Mount Sinai School of Medicine	Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Luis Verduzco	Harvard Medical School	Harvard Medical School
Kyle Viani	University of Michigan Medical School	University of Michigan Medical School
Shoshana Weiner	Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Elizabeth Whitlock	Washington University School of Medicine	Washington University School of Medicine
Robert Wirka	Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Ambrose Wong	Washington University School of Medicine	Harvard Medical School
Ashley Wysong	Duke University School of Medicine	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
Ai-ris Yonekura	Harvard Medical School	Harvard Medical School
Charles Yu	University of California, Davis, School of Medicine	University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
Harras Zaid	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Elizabeth Zambricki	Stanford University School of Medicine	Stanford University School of Medicine

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