Amarillo Internship
WHRI Summer Interns 2007
The Sub-Committee on Student Research of the WHRI has been given the charge of "assuring the involvement of students, at all levels, from all disciplines, and from all participating educational members of the Institute, in research activities which address issues pertaining to women's health in the Amarillo area and in the Panhandle of Texas.
The Summer Student Research Internship Program was established to provided the opportunity for selected area high school and college students to join researchers at the Texas Tech University Health Science Center at Amarillo each summer and participate in research projects which have received funding through the WHRI. Interest in the program as evidenced by applications received, continues to increase over the three years to date in which the program has been offered. A total of 28 students have completed the program in this time.
The students spend eight weeks over the summer matched with a faculty researcher who is actively engaged in either bench or clinical research activities on a topic funded through the WHRI and representative of a defined interest area of the Institute. These students have learned laboratory techniques, data acquisition, research methods and application of the scientific method to seeking solution to vexing research questions. Four students to date have been included in publications which recognize their contributions to the project, and two have participated in the presentation of their topic at regional scientific meetings. At the conclusion of the program each summer, each student has had the opportunity to present their work in a Graduate Student Seminar format which formally recognizes their contribution to the project. The high school students who have graduated from the program have all gone on to matriculate in college with a major in science.
Dennis B. Dove, M.D., Chair Department of Surgery, School of Medicine