The MHIRT program based at JABSOM sends college undergraduates around the world to collaborate with mentors on a project they will investigate, report and present. A new crop of traveling researchers is chosen annually.
By Tina Shelton, JABSOM Communications Director
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live and work as a scientist in Thailand? How about in Laos, or on the African Continent in Liberia or Cameroon? Maybe India is calling to you?
Twelve undergraduate college students boarded planes in Hawaiʻi between May 30 and June 3, 2018 headed for those destinations, sponsored by a major grant based at the University of Hawaiʻi medical school. The program is called Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training, or MHIRT, and it spans a full academic year. It begins each summer, when those selected for the MHIRT cohort spend eight days in an “Introduction to Biomedical Research Workshop” at UH Mānoa and the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM). Then, the students settle in for their long flights. The students spend nine weeks conducting mentored research with international scientists leading them “in country.”
This year six of the students headed to Thailand, two for Cameroon, two for Liberia, one each in Laos and India. The students are contributing to a weekly newsletter to chronicle some of their research activities, cultural experiences, and interesting observations.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEWSLETTERS WITH UPDATES FROM HAWAIʻI’S TRAVELING FUTURE SCIENTISTS
When they return
After returning and shaking off the jet lag, the now experienced world travelers discuss their summer research experiences and begin working with biostatisticians to analyze the data they collected, and begin preparing written reports. Each participating student receives $1,000/month for three months for participating in the summer program. Success awaits in their future studies. And for some, awards. Two undergraduate scientists who conducted research in Africa through MHIRT last year received national awards for their impressive presentations.
Learn more about MHIRT at http://manoa.hawaii.edu/tropicalmedicine/mhirt/
Principal investigator of the MHIRT program at UH Mānoa JABSOM is Dr. Vivek Nerurkar, Chair of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology.