Explorations 2009
BIDMC Hosts Students from Boston Area Middle Schools as Part of the Explorations Program
54 students tour BIDMC labs for a first-hand look at the front lines of research.
Students from Lilla G Frederick Pilot Middle School toured the Department of Surgery, Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. Dr. Asma Ejaz, Postdoctoral Fellow; Lindsey Korepta, Research Fellow; and Maggie Chun, Research Assistant showed the students instruments they regularly use in the lab.
On October 27, 2009, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center hosted middle school students from Boston area public schools as part of Explorations, a one-day program that provides 6th, 7th and 8th graders with outside-the-classroom experience to enhance their science and mathematics curricula.
The program, organized by Harvard Medical School (HMS) and its affiliated teaching hospitals, allows student to shadow laboratory scientists who are part of HMS faculty. The program enlists approximately 300 students annually and this year BIDMC hosted 54 students who got a behind-the-scenes look at the clinical and research laboratories at the medical center.
“This program is really special in that it helps to get students excited about health care and science and to learn about careers in these areas they may have never before considered,” said Maggie Brevig, Social Work Intern of Community Relations at BIDMC, who was a point person in organizing the student visits at the medical center.
The students were given tours by BIDMC doctors and researchers who talked about their career path, how they ended up in their present position and what it’s like to work in a laboratory environment. The 54 students were broken up into smaller groups visiting 11 different BIDMC labs including the Vascular and Endovascular Surgery labs, where students were able to learn about how research on laboratory animals are helping to advance new ways to treat diabetes in humans.
Sarada Kuchibhotla, Research Assistant; and Maggie Chun, Research Assistant challenged Lilla G Frederick Pilot Middle School students to apply their knowledge of science to what the students were being shown in the lab.
Explorations is sponsored by the HMS Office for Diversity and Community Partnership, the Center of Excellence in minority Health and Health Disparities, the Minority Faculty Development Program/ K-12 Programs and the Biomedical Science Careers program.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and consistently ranks among the top four in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.
