Free virtual diabetes research internship for high schoolers and college students –
Virtual diabetes research program for teens and young adults begins July 6; free registration is available until July 1
We wanted to share an exciting opportunity for young people interested in diabetes science and research: Dr. Jason Kim, a Professor of Molecular Medicine and Professor of Medicine in the division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes at UMass, and his daughters, Lauren and Allison Kim, have created a virtual diabetes research program for high schoolers and college students that will run for four weeks from July 6 to July 31.
The program involves 12 one-hour sessions run by Dr. Kim and other diabetes researchers and experts. Each session will include a Q&A session in which participants can ask questions directly to diabetes experts. From their website, it looks like the program has an impressive line-up of experts. Interesting sessions will include “Genetic testing for diabetes” with Dr. Fumihiko Urano (WashU, St. Louis), “Improving glycemic control in toddlers and teens with type 1” with Dr. Olga Gupta (UT Southwestern Medical Center), and “Fructose, sucrose, and diabetes” with Dr. Richard Lee (Harvard Medical School). For more details, see the program’s website here.
As of Friday June 26, more than 100 students had registered. Per Dr. Kim, “as long as our Zoom capacity can handle, we’ve made no limits to registration with a deadline of next Wednesday.” So far, two-thirds of registrants are college students hailing from schools all over the U.S., including Boston College, Duke, University of Nebraska, Williams College, University of Georgia, and Pomona. Dr. Kim shares that they are thrilled that more than 1/3 of the registered students are of underrepresented minorities in medicine and science [or] a group that is being disproportionately affected by diabetes.” Per Dr. Kim, many of the registrants who have diabetes themselves expressed “how the online world, while conveniently accessible, is filled with misinformation, and offering important, relevant, and accurate information was one of our initial goals of this program.”
This is a particularly exciting opportunity to hear about given that so many young people’s summer internship plans were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are thrilled to hear about creative solutions like this one and will continue to alert readers to other opportunities for young, aspiring diabetes researchers, advocates, and doctors – we would appreciate readers passing along this information to those who might be interested, particularly those whose summer plans have come undone or those who were not fortunate enough to have any.
We will update you with more details on the program’s remaining space, design, and more, as we learn more.
For now, see the key logistical details below:
- Registration closes July 1, 2020 & is free (suggested donation to ADA)
- Must be current high school or college student to register
- Dates: July 6-July 31, 2020
- 12 one-hour sessions on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 11:00 EST
--by Katie Mahoney and Kelly Close