Inaugural Student Fellowships
Inaugural Student Fellowships to Kick Off This Summer
Laura Blinkhorn, MS1
Becky Levine, MS1
Cooper Lyle, MS1
Melanie Odeleye, MS1
Geoff Stetson, MS1
Enrique Escalante, MS1
With the intent to support the development of future leaders in medicine across a spectrum of research, scholarship, and service, a group of students have been selected to participate in two new programs supported by the Pritzker School of Medicine and the Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators.
Farbod Rastegar, MS3
Eric Wagner, MS3
Through the Pritzker Fellowships, Eric Wagner and Farbod Rastegar — both third-year students — will respectively receive $20,000 to support a year of research. Eric will be investigating “the role of IGFBP-5 in osteosarcoma proliferation and metastasis,” while Farbod’s work will focus on “in vivo expression of MKK6 and its role in the metastatic potential of osteosarcoma cell lines.” These projects were selected from a group of applicant proposals that included research, international work, and community service projects.
With the support of Dr. Schumann’s grant from the Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators, the new Summer Service Program will include six rising MS2 students: Laura Blinkhorn, Enrique Escalante, Becky Levine, Cooper Lyle, Melanie Odeleye, and Geoff Stetson. Laura, Enrique, and Geoff will be working in South Chicago with three high school students from the New Millennium School of Health; Becky, Cooper, and Melanie will be working in Greater Grand Crossing with three high school students from Gary Comer College Prep. Each student begins with an asset-mapping project in the two neighborhoods, meeting with neighborhood residents and community leaders to learn about the strengths of the communities. They will visit many organizations and pick service projects that match the needs of the community with the interests of the students. Each medical student will complete a scholarly project related to their service work. The medical students will continue as mentors to the high school students during the academic year.
