UNMC second-year medical student Sebastian Lane has long had an interest in medicine.
Since age 5, in fact, when his grandfather died of cancer and Lane’s curiosity and information seeking turned into a career passion.
Still, it wasn’t until a stint in the Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP) at UNMC that he was certain. "It helped solidify that it was my goal, and what it would take to get there," said the Hastings College alumnus, who will return to help with this summer’s class at UNMC.
Starting this summer, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
(RWJF) is expanding its popular medical and dental program to include students interested in nursing, public health and allied health professions careers. At UNMC, the new Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) will provide academic enrichment opportunities for 90 underrepresented college freshmen and sophomores from across the country.
UNMC, one of 13 universities in the program, welcomes the expansion, said Cheryl Thompson, Ph.D., assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs and co-principal investigator of the grant which funds the program. As a result, UNMC now will accept 40 medical, 20 dental, 10 nursing, 10 public health and 10 allied health students, each of whom will spend six weeks on campus.
UNMC – one of 13 universities participating in SHPEP – has participated in the program for the past 10 years. Most of the program is supported through funding from the RWJF with matching funds from UNMC. Due to a cap on the number of students allowed through the grant, the UNMC College of Allied Health Professions is actually paying full cost to support students interested in careers as physical therapists or physician assistants.
The expansion in scope also means UNMC will collaborate more with community colleges and traditional four-year undergraduate institutions to accept students into the program, said Dele Davies, M.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs and the co-principal investigator along with Dr. Thompson and Janet Guthmiller, D.D.S., Ph.D., dean of the UNMC College of Dentistry.
Under the former program, "more than 80 percent of our alumni who applied successfully went on to medical or dental school," Dr. Davies said. And, similar to Lane’s story, "our surveys indicate that the alumni found our program to be extremely beneficial."
The program’s alumni, even if they don’t later enroll at UNMC, remain connected to the med center, Dr. Guthmiller said. And, they continue to reach back to participants – establishing strong support networks. "To this day I still keep in touch with some of those individuals," said UNMC dental student Rafaila Ramirez, an SMDEP alum.
Dr. Guthmiller said the enthusiasm of other UNMC colleges in seeking to join the program was gratifying, but not surprising.
"The College of Nursing is delighted to participate in SHPEP and to add this new approach to the ways we work to ensure that the nursing workforce mirrors the populations we serve," said Dean Juliann Sebastian, Ph.D.
The program also aligns perfectly with the goals and mission of the College of Allied Health Professions, said Dean Kyle Meyer, Ph.D. "Our goal is to provide opportunities for students to gain exposure to careers in the allied health professions and our mission is to provide a more diverse allied health workforce."
And, for students interested in public health, "this is a great opportunity to explore the breadth of opportunities available for public health professionals and the interdisciplinary nature of public health," said Jane Meza, Ph.D., interim associate vice chancellor for global and student support for UNMC and senior associate dean for the UNMC College of Public Health.
LaKaija Johnson, the new program manager for
SHPEP, is passionate about addressing minority and rural health disparities.
"My academic research focused on initiatives designed to support the preparation and training of traditionally underrepresented minorities in health professions," she said. "Pipeline programs like SHPEP contribute significantly to UNMC’s commitment to building a diverse health care workforce."
This year’s students will arrive June 4, and Lane will be there to greet them.
Web extra
Find out more about SHPEP.