First year medical students from Dartmouth Medical School (DMS), University of Vermont College of Medicine (UVM) and the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNECOM) shared a unique opportunity to connect in an intensive research-based course at the MDI Biological Laboratory in August.
“This program, where we had the opportunity to work alongside other medical students, fostered a connection between the three New England medical schools that will follow us into our careers as physicians,” shared a participant. “This program far surpassed any of our expectations.”
The goal of the course, called Molecular Mechanisms Human Disease, is to deepen students’ understanding of fundamental physiological mechanisms of human disease and to engage students in research that will give them an appreciation for the possibility of combining research with clinical practice as a career choice. Medical students used a number of techniques and animal models to study cystic fibrosis, genetic screening for human disease, and inflammation and human disease.
The course is supported by the INBRE program in Maine.
The course director, Dr. Bruce Stanton, is a professor in the department of Physiology at Dartmouth Medical School. Other faculty include former Maine INBRE investigator Dr. Denry Sato and current Maine INBRE Steering Committee member and University of Maine VP for Research Dr. Carol Kim, as well as Brent Berwin, PhD, Dartmouth Medical School and Elizabeth Stanton, JD, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.