Medical Student Information

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If you are a UTHSC- H first-year medical student, you can gain hands-on laboratory experience under the supervision of a faculty sponsor of your choice during the summer between your first and second year of medical school. As part of our program, you’ll receive special training in laboratory and radiation safety, laboratory animal methodology, research technology, and biomedical ethics. Also, as part of the program you will attend weekly seminars with a variety of guest speakers focusing on topics from cutting-edge research to career development.

As a summer research program student you will be guided by your faculty mentor on a research project over a 10-week period during the summer. At the end of the program, you will submit a research abstract of your research. Your mentor will also help you develop a research poster which must be presented at the annual Research Forum held in the fall. Students are expected to work 40 hours per week on their research in their selected faculty's laboratory

MSI Application
Application Instructions
summer research program winners


Funding

There are two sources of funding for the Summer Research Program: Faculty-supported and the NIH Grant.

All students are encouraged to apply for one of the 21 NIH stipends offered. There are 16 stipends for NIDDK related research and 5 stipends for NINDS related research. Please note, a small number of stipends are given to non NIH related research projects. Students under the NIH portion of the program will receive a stipend of $5,200 (approximately). Award notifications are sent out within two weeks after the application deadline.

All students who did not receive a NIH stipend are encouraged to negotiate a stipend with their faculty. Students are also permitted to work as volunteers in their faculty lab while still receiving full credit for program.

Finding a Faculty Mentor

The SRP website contains a list of departments and faculty who have previously participated in the program.  This list does not represent a compilation of all faculty who are interested in accepting students.  Students are free to identify any UT faculty member for collaboration.

Students are encouraged to identify a faculty mentor to work with early in their MS-1 spring semester. Review of past abstracts is recommended as well as speaking with students who participated in the program in the past.

Please access the following links if you are interested in working with a faculty mentor whose research is related to NIDDK or NINDS.

If you need help finding a faculty mentor, attend the Job Fair in late February (5th floor gallery). Departments/faculty will be available to talk with you about their research projects. 


Program Opportunities


All students will have the opportunity for the following:

  • Participation in the C. Frank Webber Prize for Student Research Competition at the Summer Research Program Research Forum. Prizes range from $400 - $750.
  • Student abstracts will be published on the Summer Research Program website and a hard copy will be kept in the Office of Educational Programs.
  • Upon successful completion of the program, a letter will be sent to the student’s blue book.

Contact Us

Program Coordinator: Vaccaro Greaves
Summer Research Program
6431 Fannin JJL 315
Houston TX 77030
Email: Vaccaro.P.Greaves@uth.tmc.edu
Telephone: (713) 500-5105
Fax: (713) 500-0603