Dixie State University students have the opportunity to develop ground-breaking research on cancer with a new summer research program partnership between Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University.
Johns Hopkins University recently heard about the Stanford Summer Research Internship, an internship where students can travel to Stanford University and work on expanding their medical experience, which began in 2014. Johns Hopkins University reached out to Dixie State University medical department to offer students the same opportunity at their facility for summer 2020 and will continue on for summers to come. The Stanford/Johns Hopkins internship is a new version of the pre-existing Stanford Summer Research Internship.
This opportunity will entail students spending ten weeks at each university doing research in a laboratories at John Hopkins and Stanford. The Stanford students will be doing cancer research and the Johns Hopkins students will be doing a larger range of research projects, said Makae Rose, a senior biological sciences major from Salt Lake City, who participated in the 2019 Stanford internship program.
“I am so excited about the partnership with John Hopkins because it means that more students will get to experience what I did.” Rose said. “I also think it is amazing that the program is gaining recognition and growing. It means that when people see it on my resume and applications it will mean more.”
Students will be assigned a lab to work with postdoctoral researchers that are working on specific projects in various fields, said Ryan Gibbs, a senior English major from Grand Junction, Colorado. For example, a few students at Johns Hopkins will participate in molecular biology, others in bioinformatics. Those at Stanford will be focusing mainly on different kinds of cancer projects in those subjects.
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The main goal of the internship is to give students experience working in a professional lab so they are competitive applicants for graduate school and medical school, Gibbs said.
“Overall, it was eye-opening and extremely beneficial experience as I was able to work with some of the brightest people in the world — literally and work on projects that are cutting edge,” Gibbs said, “It offered me an opportunity to work with technology I’d never been exposed to before, but it also pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me grow as a scientist.”
“Interning there would be a dream come true, being able to work in a fully equipped lab with full-time medical researchers offers an opportunity that is one of a kind.”
HANA HANKS, JUNIOR NURSING MAJOR
DSU is providing a “launching point” for those who hope to apply to graduate school, said Hana Hanks, a junior nursing major from Kauai, Hawaii. This partnership makes it possible for DSU students to supplement the educational aspect of DSU with quality research.
Hanks said she has applied to participate in the new Johns Hopkins, Stanford and DSU collaboration.
“Johns Hopkins is at the forefront of medical research on the global stage,” Hanks said. “Interning there would be a dream come true, being able to work in a fully equipped lab with full-time medical researchers offers an opportunity that is one of a kind.”
There are many research opportunities for students in the medical field, but these programs are highly competitive and it would be unlikely for students from a rural university like DSU to obtain those positions.
To apply for the The Stanford/Johns Hopkins internship or for more information, contact Doug Sainsbury, senior academic adviser for college of science, engineering and technology, at [email protected] or 435-879-4282.
