Medical Students to Train at NIH
Two Tulane School of Medicine students have been accepted to the Howard Hughes Medical Instituteâ“National Institutes of Health Research Scholars Program, a highly selective training fellowship with leading NIH researchers in Bethesda, Md.
Medical students Philip Schmalz of New Orleans, left, and Andrew "Cain" McClary of Franklin, Tenn., will spend nine months to a year on the NIH campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Second-year medical student Philip Schmalz of New Orleans and third-year medical student Andrew "Cain" McClary of Franklin, Tenn., will spend nine months to a year on the NIH campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, conducting basic, translational or applied biomedical research under the direct mentorship of senior NIH research scientists.
"This program is the most prestigious of its kind in the country and has trained some of the nation's finest researchers," said Dr. Marc Kahn, senior associate dean for admissions and student affairs at the School of Medicine. "I am very proud of both Philip and Cain for this tremendous achievement."
Approximately 200 graduate students applied to the program, which accepts only 35 medical students each year. The program, also known as the Cloister Program, was established in 1985 to give outstanding students at U.S. medical schools the opportunity to receive research training at the NIH.
Scholars will learn the latest laboratory techniques and experience the creative thinking involved in modern biomedical research. They have the opportunity to explore a wide range of complex biological questions encompassing the disciplines and the tools of cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, structural biology, epidemiology and biostatistics.
