Howard Fox, M.D., Ph.D., spent a lot of time with the inaugural UNMC High School Alliance class as the facilitator of the biomedical research class.
The senior associate dean for research and development in the UNMC College of Medicine and professor in the department of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience helped guide the students as they took their initial steps toward possible careers in health care.
Below he talks about his experience with the alliance.
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Howard Fox, M.D., Ph.D., left, talks with students from the UNMC High School Alliance, whom he taught in the biomedical research course. |
Unbridled enthusiasm. They are curious and unafraid to ask questions.
What was the main thing you wanted the students to take home from your instruction?
That we don’t know much. We’ve sequenced the genome, can peer into bodies with all sorts of techniques and measure a host of things in the blood, but there is still so much about normal and abnormal biological function to be discovered and when that discovery occurs, it is really cool.
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If you enjoy interacting with eager energetic young people about science, this is a wonderful opportunity.
Describe a particularly memorable experience you had working with the alliance students.
We placed them all in labs for two weeks and they produced a video on their experience and showed those to the whole class. They ran the gamut scientifically, in the different fields, and the effects used (interviews, graphics, music and more) showed both the professionalism as well as the influence of contemporary culture, which was really fun.