M.D./Ph.D. and BRTP welcome new students

New students Students entering the BRTP program this fall are: Danielle Fenster, Waverly, Neb. Casey Gries, Sioux Falls S.D. Nicole Haverland, Perham, Minn. Lisa Kosloski, Omaha Max Kuenstling, Waterloo, Iowa Tess Kuenstling, Waterloo, Iowa Andrea Martinez-Skinner, Norton, Kan. Richard Nelson, Brandon S.D. Austin Nuxoll, Comstock, Neb. Students entering the M.D./Ph.D. Scholars Program this fall are: Duy Minh Ha, Portland, Ore. Phillip Purnell, Carmichael, Calif. James Reinecke, Grand Haven, Mich. Cassia Rye, Fort Collins, Colo., Krupa Savalia – West Orange, N.J. Students entering the joint UNMC/Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (SJTUSM) M.D./Ph.D. Scholars Program this fall are: Bo Han Sheng Wu

Students in the 2009-2010 Biomedical Research Training Program (BRTP) and the M.D./Ph.D. Scholars Program recently took part in a three-day orientation to help them select their area of interest for Ph.D. research.

Presentations made by the participating departments help students select research rotations from the more than 130 UNMC laboratories before deciding upon their Ph.D. study laboratory and department.

“Critical to UNMC’s research success is having high-caliber students in our research laboratories,” said Daniel Monaghan, Ph.D., BRTP director. “The incoming classes for both the BRTP and M.D./Ph.D. Scholars Programs continue the tradition of having solid academic credentials. Collectively, these groups of students will represent a significant impact research at UNMC over the next few years.”

The BRTP, now in its 10th year, is a common entry program for Ph.D. study in the College of Medicine and the Cancer Research Graduate Program.

The purpose of the program is to recruit highly talented graduate students from around the nation to enhance UNMC’s research mission and to provide students wider opportunities in Ph.D. training. The BRTP program now receives a large number of applications each year and has received applications from more than 100 different U.S. schools in 37 states.

Formalized in 1994, the M.D./Ph.D. Scholars Program is designed to prepare a select group of outstanding students for careers in academic medicine and research. Directors of the program are Shelley Smith, Ph.D., and Debra Romberger, M.D.

With the addition of five new students this year, 22 M.D./Ph.D. scholars are now on the UNMC campus.

Also attending the orientation was Bo Han from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (SJTUSM). He and Sheng Wu are M.D./Ph.D. scholars who are performing their M.D. studies in China and their Ph.D. studies at UNMC as part of a formal joint program between UNMC and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

Pictured, back row, from left, are Lisa Kosloski, Casey Gries, Danielle Fenster, Duy Ha, Bo Han, Richard Nelson, James Reinecke, Krupa Savalia and Cassia Rye; front row from left: Phillip Purnell, Tess Kuenstling, Max Kuenstling, Austin Nuxoll, Andrea Martinez-Skinner and Nicole Haverland.