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MD-PhD
Training Program for Minority
Students Receives $500,000 Challenge Grant
The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has pledged a $500,000 challenge grant
over the next three years to help create a $1 million endowment
for the Gateways to the Laboratory Program, a joint endeavor of
the Tri-Institutional M.D.-Ph.D. Program of Weill Cornell Medical
College, The Rockefeller University, and Sloan-Kettering Institute.
Gateways is a unique summer internship program which gives college
students from underrepresented minority groups, who have completed
their freshman or sophomore years with distinction, the opportunity
to acquire one or two summers of experience in a leading laboratory.
The goal of Gateways is to provide students who have outstanding
potential in the biomedical sciences the opportunity to test and
develop their interest in pursuing a combined degree program,
while providing the hands-on experience that ranks so high among
the criteria for admission to M.D.-Ph.D. programs.
Students perform individual research projects at any one of the
three institutions for a 10-week period. The program includes
research presentations, seminars, journal clubs, clinical rounds
with members of the Department of Medicine at New York Presbyterian
Hospital, workshops, career guidance, peer advisors, and mock
interviews and MCAT exams.
Since it was established in 1993, as the first minority outreach
program of its kind to be hosted by an M.D.-Ph.D. program, Gateways
has enrolled 75 undergraduates. Of these, more than half have
gone on to M.D., Ph.D., or M.D.-Ph.D. programs. Five Gateways
alumni have been enrolled at top M.D.-Ph.D. programs. Twenty-four
Gateways alumni are still completing their undergraduate education.
“The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has provided a critical vote of confidence
to Gateways to the Laboratory, for which we are extremely honored
and grateful,” said Dr. Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., the Stephen and
Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College. “This gift
will create an endowment to sustain the program for years to come,
and help us invest in the future of underrepresented minority
college students.” #
Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001. Tel:
(212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919. Email: ednews1@aol.com.
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the publisher. © 2001.
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