July 23, 1999
Alejandro Sanchez Named Recipient of fellowship
in Academic Medicine for Minority Students
Sanchez is a native of San Diego and Chula Vista, California.
"These fellows are among the nation's most gifted minority medical students," said Vivian Manning Fox, president of National Medical Fellowships, a not-for-profit organization that administers the program. "By awarding these fellowships, we hope to provide these medical school students with research experiences that encourage them to choose careers in academic medicine." This year's fellows represent 18 top American medical schools including Harvard, Yale, UCLA, and Weill Cornell.
Each fellow was nominated by his or her medical school dean and a faculty member. The faculty member agrees to mentor the fellow on a biomedical research project, chosen by the fellow, which is conducted over the course of two to three months. The fellows, who are third- and fourth-year medical students, present the results of their research at an annual symposium hosted by Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, the fellowship program's funder. "We are pleased to support this outstanding group of fellows as they help lead the way."
Fellows are selected by a distinguished committee of leading medical school faculty and industry-based biomedical researchers. The committee is chaired by Morton D. Bogdonoff, M.D., emeritus professor of medicine, Joan and Sandford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Up to 35 fellows are selected each year based on their academic achievements, leadership abilities, and potential for assuming responsible roles in academic medicine.
The fellowship program is designed to encourage medical students from minority groups underrepresented in academic medicine and biomedical research to explore and pursue careers in these fields. African-Americans, mainland Puerto Ricans, Mexican-Americans and Native Americans make up 18 percent of the population in the United States, but less than four percent of the M.D. faculty in the nation's medical schools.
More than 420 fellows have completed the program since its founding in 1984. The fellowship program has received more than $3 million from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, which has supported the program since 1990 and has acted as sole funder since 1993.
This year's 26 fellows are researching a broad range of topics, among them: factors in cartilage erosion in osteoarthritis; the potential role of estrogen in cognitive impairment in the aged; transplanting insulin-containing islets for diabetes patients; mapping a gene correlated with respiratory distress syndrome in infants; the use of combination drug therapy for glaucoma; and gene therapy to treat heart damage in muscular dystrophy.
Bristol-Myers Squibb, a research-based company, believes diversity in the scientific community is crucial to ensure that research serves the needs of society as a whole. By encouraging minority medical students to pursue careers in academic medicine, the Fellowship Program in Academic Medicine for Minority Students helps ensure minority perspectives are reflected in future biomedical research and health policy. The fellowship program is one of several science education initiatives supported by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation.
National Medical Fellowships, Inc. (NMF) is the only national, private, nonprofit organization in the United States dedicated to increasing the number of minority physicians. NMF pursues this goal by offering need-based scholarship, special fellowships, and academic awards to African-American, mainland Puerto Rican, Mexican-American and Native American men and women.
Minority medical students interested in applying for a fellowship should speak with their school's student affairs office or call National Medical Fellowships at (212) 714-0933.
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