Imagine a
small group of the most talented high school students, hand-picked from local schools,
working shoulder-to-shoulder with world-renown scientists at Stanford University. What an amazing experience it would be for all
involved! Well, imagine no longer. For eight weeks each summer the CCIS Summer Intern
Program allows 10-20 students to take part in research, attend introductory lectures by
selected faculty, and gain exposure to clinical medicine.
The program provides a stipend, parking pass, lunch once a week for a
lecture session, and a textbook.
In December 1998, under the aegis of CCIS (Clinical Center for Immunology at Stanford), a fund was created in response to a donation from a local family. The fund was launched to create a summer internship program for Bay Area high school students interested in biology. The idea behind this program is to introduce super bright kids to this exciting field and give them the chance to experience cutting-edge immunology research at Stanford first hand. The experience might just entice them to continue their studies in medical research and all the interesting things involved with such an endeavor.
Summer 2001 was the program's second year and it was a smashing success in that it doubled in size. The Interns were from 16 local high schools - San Jose to San Francisco - juniors and seniors. Of the 20 students, 16 were young women.
Dr. PJ Utz,
program director, has developed a program with the depth and breadth to present immunology
research in a friendly yet challenging manner. To
this end, the program supplements the student's research projects with informative
lectures by Stanford researchers and field trips to different areas of the University. So it's not just all fun and games, rather it's
enjoying the challenge of learning.
The primary funding for CCIS is through individual and corporate donations. CCIS is an interdisciplinary group formed to inspire high school students in research, assist junior faculty with support funding, and to foster the cross-pollination of ideas among the seemingly disparate fields of immunology, bioengineering, bioinfomatics, and bone marrow transplantation.
Additional
support has been generously provided by the Northern California Arthritis Foundation.
Support from other interested parties will be necessary to extend this very successful
program into the future. If you'd like to get
more information or speak with the faculty involved, just contact Lu Em Wellhausen at luem@stanford.edu
or (650) 723-8414.