Medical Student Research Forum at WCMC-Q

[Back row L-R] Ali Masood Farooki, Subhi Al Aref, Ibrahim Sultan, Dino
Terzic, Osama Al Saied and Gary Schneider, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean
for Research at WCMC–Q; [Front row L-R] Khalid Al Khelaifi, Ayobami
Omosola, Amila Husic, Vildana Omerovic, Sharon King, Jehan Al Rayahi,
and Kunali Dalal.

Twelve first year medical students who conducted research in U.S. college and university labs gave presentations at The First Annual Medical Student Research Forum October 7th.

Among the audience gathered in Lecture Hall 2 for the presentations were leaders of the Medical College, faculty and students from both the Medical and the Pre-medical Programs.

Ten of the students who gave presentations had worked with research teams at Cornell University in Ithaca and at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, while two had conducted research during their undergraduate education at universities in the U.S.

Introducing the Forum, Gary Schneider, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean for Research at WCMC-Q, noted that research is an integral part of the educational experience at Cornell. "It is clear that part of the medical education mission at WCMC-Q is that there will be a research component to your education here," he said.

He thanked David Robertshaw, Ph.D., professor of physiology and Associate Dean for Pre-medical Education, and Suresh Tate, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry, as well as the lab directors in the U.S., for setting up and supervising the summer research fellowships.

Each student then gave a 10-minute presentation on projects that ranged from studying the differentiation of cells in the nematode worm C. elegans by mapping a specific mutation, to studying the effects of the environmental neurotoxicant methylmercury in the hippocampus of mice, to the role of bone marrow stroma from polycythemia vera patients in supporting leukemic cell growth in vitro.

Selection for the WCMC-Q Summer Research Fellowships is competitive. The Medical College supports student travel and accommodations in the U.S. as part of the Fellowship program.