SMDEP students enjoy another successful summer at UNMC

From left, Drs. Curt Kuster, Rubens Pamies and Walter Jones at the SMDEP closing celebration.

Three SMDEP students learn to create an arm cast during a course procedure.

For a fourth consecutive year, Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP) students spent two months at UNMC to get their collective feet wet in medical and dental education.

The students took rigorous coursework, created science projects, shadowed health care providers and learned strategies for admission into medical and dental schools.

It all concluded during the SMDEP closing ceremony when the students gave presentations about research they conducted over the summer.

“All the student groups did an outstanding job on their presentations,” said Carly Crim, SMDEP coordinator. “They were very excited to make their presentations.”

About SMDEP SMDEP is designed to assist underrepresented, disadvantaged and rural students. The program also is open to students with a genuine and sincere interest in serving underserved and rural communities, and who possess the essential skills to be successful in medical and dental school. SMDEP is funded in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and support from: UNMC senior administration; College of Dentistry; College of Medicine; University of Nebraska at Omaha; The Nebraska Medical Center; and Children’s Hospital and Medical Center. The program also receives support from many in-kind donations from individuals.

New this summer, SMDEP students participated in a bio-statistics course that helped them learn more about the types of quantitative problems health care professionals encounter in clinical practice.

Another new feature was an assignment for each student to research a public health issue and present their findings.

And for the first time, students interested in medicine were able to get hands-on experience in the using the Sorrell Center’s clinical skills lab. SMDEP students with dental interests have previously been able to garner such hands-on experience at the College of Dentistry in Lincoln.

At the closing ceremony, the students were presented with awards and certificates for their work and received an educational lecture from a keynote speaker, Walter Jones, Ph.D., professor of health administration and policy at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“UNMC should be commended for taking a lead in creating helpful educational opportunities,” Dr. Jones said. “They help address health disparities and give young professionals a world’s worth of opportunities to address those issues.”