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Cullen Trust Grants $1.115 Million
Toward Student Stipends
Program creates unprecedented collaboration opportunities for M.D./Ph.D. students in Texas Medical Center
In an unprecedented move, a $1.115 million grant from the Cullen Trust For Higher Education has created a program offering M.D./Ph.D. students an opportunity to study under faculty at three major biomedical institutions in the Texas Medical Center.
The first two students selected for the Cullen Trust for
Higher Education Physician/Scientist Fellowship
Program receipts are Maren Yngve, a student at
UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and
The University of Texas Medical School at Houston;
and Ryan Ash, a Plan II Psychology graduate from UT
Austin.
The Cullen Trust for Higher Education Physician/ Scientist Fellowship Program allows one additional applicant each year, for the next five years, admission to the M.D./Ph.D. programs at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston/UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine. It also awards these academically exceptional students with a full stipend, benefits and tuition support.
However, the highlight of the fellowship is the titanic wealth of knowledge and resources available to the students, made possible through the collaboration of the participating institutions.
The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) is composed of students from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. These institutions, together with Baylor College of Medicine, provide three world-class research centers and all their riches to future physician/scientists.
It is a package that is most tempting for undergraduates and is likely to be an excellent recruitment tool for science majors across the nation, according to George Stancel, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Stancel, who envisioned and organized the program, said he believes it is a first in many regards.
“When you bring students together, you bring faculty together and you bring institutions together,” Stancel said. “This program will enable groups of people to do things that no one person could do. This could start collaborations that could have a tremendous effect on translational research.”
One of the first two fellows, Maren Yngve, a student of GSBS and The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, is already eager to make her mark on the world and is excited about the potential for her research with so many great minds at her disposal.
“My biggest research interest is in the emerging field of neuroimmunology, which seeks to understand the complex interaction between the nervous system and the immune system,” said Yngve, a biology graduate from The University of Texas at Austin. “Advances in neuroimmunology could potentially yield improved treatments or even cures for diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s diseases.”
To call Yngve deserving is an understatement, since this experienced research student has been an integral part of research projects at UT Austin and the UT Medical Branch at Galveston. In addition to the numerous awards, honors and scholarships that Yngve has received during her studies, she also is community-minded, having served as a school tutor and volunteer mentor with Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
The Baylor fellow selected along with Yngve is Ryan Ash, a Plan II Psychology graduate from UT Austin.
Program directors want to ensure that scholastically accomplished students like Yngve and Ash are aware and prepared to apply for the fellowship each year.
Therefore, undergraduates from across the country will be invited to a research symposium annually, which will feature the brightest minds in the Texas Medical Center to present the latest in translational medicine. The symposium will serve as a recruitment tool to showcase the dual M.D./Ph.D. programs, the Texas Medical Center, and the city of Houston.
The First Cullen Trust for Higher Education Symposium on Translational Research took place in January. Twenty-two travel awards were presented to undergraduates from across the country allowing them to attend the symposium.
Raymond N. DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs at UT M. D. Anderson and president-elect of the American Association for Cancer Research, delivered the keynote address on “Molecular Targets for Cancer Prevention.”
Other speakers included: Wadih Arap, M.D., Ph.D., and Renata Pasqualini, Ph.D., professors of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at M. D. Anderson, who spoke on“Ligand-directed Vascular Targeting and Molecular Imaging.”
“Neuroimaging and Computational Underpinnings of Mental Diseases” was presented by Reed Montague, Ph.D., Brown Foundation Professor of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. John Reveille, M.D., professor of Medicine at the UT Medical School, presented “Identifying Genetic Variants Predisposing to Autoimmune Disease.”
The hot topic of “Global Opportunities in Bioengineering Research and Education” was examined by Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Ph.D., professor of Biomedical Engineering, Rice University.
An accompanying M.D./Ph.D. Career Development Workshop, conducted the following day, hosted 100 current M.D./Ph.D. students and the undergraduate visitors.
By Erika Durham Hargrove, for Institutional Advancement