IMPRS Summer Research Opportunities

The NHLBI-T35 Short-Term Training Program in Biomedical Sciences at IU School of Medicine has been funded by NIH for over 25 years and has provided a structured research environment for medical students interested in basic and translational biomedical research, instruction in research ethics and reproducibility, and physician scientist development. NIH T35 trainees engage in mentored research experience in areas that reflect the school’s strength and international reputation in hematopoiesis, immunity, pulmonary and cardiovascular biology, cancer, diabetes, and medical informatics.

Students interested in continuing their biomedical research projects throughout their medical school career, applying for research gap year programs, applying for a combined degree (MD/PhD), and/or participating in research and scholarship throughout their medical careers, are encouraged to apply. T35 trainees can apply for T35 travel awards to present their T35 at scientific conferences.

Structure of Internship
Medical students participating in the NIH T35 Short-Term Training Program in Biomedical Sciences are provided a 3-month NIH stipend to conduct an independent research project under the guidance of IU School of Medicine research mentors as well as attending weekly seminars addressing responsible conduct of research, scientific rigor, and physician scientist career development. At the end of the program, all students present their work in the IMPRS Research Symposium and a special IUSM NHLBI-T35 meetings.

Faculty Mentors

Aldred, Micheala A.
Alves, Nathan J.
Cai, Chen-leng
Chmiel, James F.
Clapp, D. Wade
Clark, Daniel O.
Clauss, Matthias A.
Considine, Robert V.
Cook-Mills, Joan M.
Desai, Ankit A.
Field, Loren J.
Firulli, Anthony B.
Frump, Andrea L.
Gaston, Benjamin
Herbert, Brittney-Shea
Herzog, Roland W.
John, Chandy C.
Kacena, Melissa
Kaplan, Mark H.
Kapur, Reuben
Khan, Babar
Khan, Sikandar
Kim, Il-Man
Kline, Jeffrey A.
Lai, Yen Chun (Charly)
Landis, Benjamin J.
Lautenschlaeger, Tim
Liu, Yunlong
Machado, Roberto
McKinley, Todd
Mendonca, Marc S.
Meneghini, Michael R.
Mitchell, Alice
Murphy, Michael P.
Nakshatri, Harikrishna
Nudelman, Kelly
Pang, Peter S.
Payne, Mark R.
Sanders, Don B.
Schwarz, Margaret A.
Sears, Catherine R. 
Stewart, Jesse C.
Tepper, Robert S.
Torke, Alexia M.
Truitt, William
Turchi, John J.
Turner, Matthew J.
Twigg, Homer
Wang, Meijing
White, Kenneth E.
Yang, Lei

Contact Information
For additional information about the program, please email t35admin@iu.edu or imprs@iu.edu.

NIH NEI-T35 Program Overview
Started in 2020, the Short-Term Training in Ophthalmology Research for Medical Students program offers summer research opportunities for medical students interested in ophthalmology. The overall goal of the training program is to introduce students to basic and clinical research projects in ophthalmology and provide exposure to clinical work in the discipline, hoping to inspire interest in the specialty and in research more broadly. Trainees engage in mentored research experiences in basic, translational and clinical ophthalmology and vision science research.

Structure of Internship
Medical students participating in the Short-Term Training in Ophthalmology Research for Medical Students program will spend 12 weeks conducting an independent research project under the guidance of IU School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology research mentors as well as attending weekly seminars addressing responsible conduct of research, scientific rigor, and career development. Ophthalmology-specific didactic and clinical content is also included. At the end of the program, all students present their work in the IMPRS Poster Session.

Faculty Mentors
Basic and Translational Research in Ophthalmology

Ashay Bhatwadekar, PhD
Gregory Borschel, MD
Arupratan Das, PhD
Amir Hajrasouliha, MD
Yoshikazu Imanishi, PhD
Weiming Mao, PhD
Jason Meyer, PhD
Padmanabhan Pattabiraman, PhD
Tasneem Sharma, PhD

Clinical Research in Ophthalmology

Charline Boente, MD
Louis B. Cantor, MD
Thomas Ciulla, MD
Kathryn Haider, MD
Denis Jusufbegovic, MD
Tyler Knight, MD
Shaohui Liu, MD, PhD
Daniel Neely, MD
David Plager, MD
Derek Sprunger, MD
Heather Smith, MD
Joseph D. Bogaard, MD, PhD
Massood Mohammadi, MD
Melanie A. Pickett, OD
Chi W. Yung, MD

Contact Information
For additional information about the program, please email imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
The Summer Program for Academic Research in Cancer at the Indiana University Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center provides cancer research career pathways for undergraduate and medical students. We will provide mentored, high-quality, cancer-focused research experiences along with didactic and professional development workshops to undergraduate and first-year medical students to prepare them for cancer-related fields. Twenty-five trainees (15 undergraduate and 10 first-year medical students) will be recruited to spend 10 weeks performing cancer research and attend didactic and professional development workshops, clinical shadowing with physician-scientist mentors in case of medical student trainees, and networking events.

The program is open to first-year medical student who are in good standing.

Student Eligibility
Trainees will gain enhanced laboratory and research skills, including an appreciation of the cancer research enterprise and patient care, an understanding of career opportunities, and a long-term academic relationship with mentors. Didactic lectures include basic cancer biology, immuno-oncology, and precision therapy, and professional workshops include career opportunities, communicating science, journal writing, and poster presentations. The program offers ten summer research opportunities with interest in cancer. The purpose of this program is to provide a structured environment that engages and cultivates medical students’ interest, experience, and training in cancer research.

Faculty Mentors
A list of prospective mentors will be available upon request.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible for the opportunity. Each accepted student will be matched with a highly qualified faculty mentor at the cancer center for the 10-week summer research program. Students will be expected to be geographically located in the Indianapolis or Bloomington area during the summer research program.

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
The IU School of Medicine Department of Dermatology offers up to six summer research opportunities for students in the summer between the first and second year of the medical school curriculum. The purpose of this program is to provide a structured environment that engages and cultivates medical students’ interest, experience, and training in dermatology research.

Research
Students will engage in a mentored dermatology clinical and/or translational research experience.  The Department of Dermatology provides patient care as well as expanding the knowledge base focusing on research in various areas of dermatology. Explore specific translational research and clinical trials.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year (M1) by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. Each accepted student will be paired with a highly qualified faculty mentor for the 10-week summer research program.

The program is only available in the Indianapolis area.

Outcomes
At the end of the 10 weeks, each participant will submit an abstract to and present a poster at an IU School of Medicine IMPRS Poster Session. It is also likely that the culmination of the research project will be included in a manuscript and/or presentation at a national meeting and that the student will have co-authorship on the published work.

Faculty

Elliot Androphy, MD
Nidhi Avashia-Khemka, MD
Elizabeth Bryant, MD
Sara Custer, PhD
Anita Haggstrom, MD
Lawrence A Mark, MD, PhD
Ally-Khan Somani, MD, PhD
Dan Spandau, MS, PhD
Matthew Turner, PhD, MD

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
The IU School of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine offers up to six summer research opportunities for students in the summer between the first and second year of the medical school curriculum. The purpose of this program is to provide a structured environment that engages and cultivates medical students’ interest, experience, and training in performing emergency medicine clinical research.

Research
Students will engage in a mentored emergency medicine clinical research experience. The program is designed to: 1) increase student awareness in the value of doing clinical research; and 2) strongly support students interested in academic emergency medicine. Students will have the opportunity to work in a busy, high-volume emergency department (ED) either at IU Health Methodist Hospital, Riley Hospital for Children, and/or Eskenazi Health Hospital.

Activities
In addition to a hands-on clinical research experience, program participants will be actively involved in a weekly data/journal club as well as research training in the principles of study enrollment, informed consent, study design, data management, and various other research methodologies.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. Each accepted student will be paired with a highly qualified faculty mentor for the 10-week summer research program.

The program is only available in the Indianapolis area. Applicants must be willing to work rotating shifts (including overnight shifts) in the clinical environment. Weekend shifts will be expected. Emergency Departments operate 24/7/365, so there will be opportunities every day to engage in research and experiential learning.

Outcomes
At the end of the 10 weeks, each participant will submit an abstract to and present a poster at an IU School of Medicine IMPRS Poster Session. It is also likely that the culmination of the research project will be included in a manuscript and/or presentation at a national meeting and that the student will have co-authorship on the published work.

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact Dr. Lauren Stwart (laustewa@iu.edu) or imprs@iu.edu. Please do not directly email the Department of Emergency Medicine mentors.

Program Overview
The Emergency Medicine Scholars and Leadership Program (EMSLP) is a three-year longitudinal curriculum designed for early medical students’ intent on pursuing a career in emergency medicine. Up to three slots will be available. To be successful in the program students will need to consistently demonstrate accountability, clear written and oral communication, and professionalism. Accepted applicants will be asked to sign an attestation to a program honor code. Acceptance into the program does not lock students into a career in emergency medicine, however a strong interest in the specialty is required to apply.

Research
Students will engage in a mentored emergency medicine clinical research experience. Along with required didactics and program leadership meetings, applicants will be required to conduct full-time research during the summer between their first and second year. This may include laboratory or clinical research. After acceptance into the general EMSLP, students will be paired with a research faculty member that shares similar scholarly interests. The intense research component is 10-12 weeks long; however, the research project may extend well beyond that timeframe allowing for a robust research experience. In fact, many students have the opportunity to present their research at a national conference. All students will be required to present their research at the conclusion of the EMSLP during their fourth year. Additional opportunities for local or national presentations, posters, and/or conferences may be available throughout the course of the research project but will vary between projects. Prior research experience is not required to apply to the EMSLP.

Activities
In addition to a hands-on clinical research experience, program participants will be actively involved in a weekly data/journal club as well as research training in the principles of study enrollment, informed consent, study design, data management, and various other research methodologies.

Mentorship and Leadership
While involved in EMSLP, students will be paired with a career mentor in the Department of Emergency Medicine to allow early integration in the specialty. With this paired mentorship, students will have the opportunity to directly observe and be included in patient care as early as their second year. During this mentorship, students will also discuss various aspects of a career in emergency medicine and form valuable connections with a faculty member.
Students will also participate in community service during their time with the program, which may include outreach to local high schools, participating in a student outreach clinic, or other opportunities.

Eligibility

• First year medical student at Indiana University School of Medicine
• Be in good standing with the School of Medicine.
• Have a strong interest in pursuing a career in emergency medicine.
• Attend the 10–12-week summer research project in Indianapolis between first and second year.
• Must agree to 3-day vacation policy for the summer research program.

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact Jennifer Deppen at jdeppen@iu.edu or Ashley Satorius at aesatori@iu.edu. Please do not directly email the Department of Emergency Medicine mentors.

Program Overview
The Emergency Room Opportunity is an 8-week experience with IU Health Emergency Medicine, scheduled varying shifts at IU Health Arnett Campus in Lafayette, IU Health Frankfort, and IU Health White County (Monticello). Students will be asked to complete a case study abstract and create a poster.

Student Eligibility
Only first year IU School of Medicine–West Lafayette students are eligible to apply to this program.

Contact Information
For additional information, please contact iusmwl@iu.edu

Program Overview
The IU School of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology offers up to four summer research opportunities for students in the summer between the first and second year of the medical school curriculum. The purpose of this program is to provide a structured environment that engages and cultivates medical students’ interest, experience, and training in performing obstetrics and gynecology clinical research.

Research
Students will engage in a mentored obstetrics and gynecology clinical research experience.

Activities
In addition to a hands-on clinical research experience, program participants will be actively involved in a weekly data/journal club as well as research training in the principles of study enrollment, informed consent, study design, data management, and various other research methodologies.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year (M1) by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. Each accepted student will be paired with a highly qualified faculty mentor for the 10-week summer research program.

The program is only available in the Indianapolis area.

Outcomes
At the end of the 10 weeks, each participant will submit an abstract to and present a poster at an IU School of Medicine IMPRS Poster Session. It is also likely that the culmination of the research project will be included in a manuscript and/or presentation at a national meeting and that the student will have co-authorship on the published work.

Faculty
Caitlin Bernard, MD
Tia Brodeur, MD, PhD
Sarah Carpenter, MD
David Haas, MD
Hiba Mustafa, MD, FACOG, FAIUM, FOMA
Sara Quinney, PharmD, PhD
Christina Scifres, MD
Brownsyne Tucker Edmonds, MD, MPH, MS

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
The IU School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedic Surgery offers summer research opportunities for students in the summer between the first and second year of the medical school curriculum. The purpose of this program is to provide a structured environment that engages and cultivates medical students’ interest, experience, and training in orthopaedic surgery research.

Research
Students will engage in a mentored clinical and/or translational research experience.  The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery provides patient care as well as expanding the knowledge base focusing on research in various areas of orthopaedic. To access the specific translational research and clinical trials, click here.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. Each accepted student will be paired with a highly qualified faculty mentor for the 10-week summer research program.

The program is only available in the Indianapolis area.

Faculty
Leonard T. Buller, MD
Christopher Collier, MD
Joshua S. Everhart, MD, MPH
Ed Greenfield, PhD
Melissa A. Kacena, PhD, MS, BS
Todd O. McKinley, MD
Roman M. Natoli, MD, PhD
Stephen Schlecht, PhD
Kevin A. Sonn, MD

Program Overview
The IU School of Medicine Department of Otolaryngology offers eight summer research opportunities for students in the summer between the first and second years of the medical school curriculum. The purpose of this program is to provide a structured environment that engages and cultivates medical students’ interest, experience and training in performing Otolaryngology clinical and basic science research.

Research
Students will engage in mentored, virtual otolaryngology clinical or basic science research. Explore research in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. Each accepted student will be paired with a highly qualified faculty mentor for the 10-week summer research program. Students will be expected to be geographically located in the Indianapolis area during the summer research program.

Faculty
Sarah J. Burgin, MD
Janice Farlow, MD, PhD
Stacey L. Halum, MD
Eri Hashino, PhD
William Kronenberger, PhD
Rick F. Nelson, MD, PhD
Thomas M. O’Connell, PhD
David Pisoni, PhD
Vijay Ramakrishnan, MD
Chalres W. Yates, MD
Xue Yuan, PhD
Bo Zhao, PhD

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
The Pathology research program offers up to four summer research opportunities with interest in pathology. The purpose of this program is to provide a structured environment that engages and cultivates medical students’ interest, experience, and training in pathology research. Research opportunities will be available in both Clinical and Anatomic Pathology subspecialties.

Research
Students will engage in mentored clinical and/or basic science in pathology research. Past students have worked on projects spanning microbiology, toxicology, head and neck cancers, and transfusion medicine. Possible opportunities in computational pathology may be available to interested students as well.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible for the opportunity. Each accepted student will be matched with a highly qualified faculty mentor at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine for the 10-week summer research program. Students will be expected to be located in the Indianapolis area during the summer research program.

Outcomes
At the end of the 10 weeks, each participant will submit an abstract to and present a poster at the IU School of Medicine IMPRS Research Symposium in late July. It is also likely that the culmination of the research project will be included in a manuscript and/or presentation at a national meeting and that the student will have co-authorship on the published work.

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
The Department of Pediatrics offers summer research opportunities for six rising second year medical students. The purpose of the program is to provide a structured environment that engages and cultivates medical students’ interest, experience, and training in performing pediatric clinical research.

Research
Students will engage in a mentored pediatric research experience. The program is designed to: 1) increase student awareness in the value of doing clinical/translational research; and 2) strongly support students interested in pediatrics. Students will have the opportunity to work with a mentor in the department on a mutually-agreed upon project.

Activities
In addition to a hands-on clinical research experience, program participants will be actively involved in research meetings as well as research training in the principles of study enrollment, informed consent, study design, data management, and various other research methodologies.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. Each accepted student will be paired with a highly qualified faculty mentor for the 10-week summer research program. The program is only available in the Indianapolis area.

Faculty Mentors
Matthew Aalsma, PhD - adolescent medicine
James F. Chmiel, MD, MPH, ATSF - pulmonology
Michael D. Davis, RRT, PhD, FAARC - pulmonology
Linda DiMeglio, MD, MPH - type 1 diabetes
Benjamin Gaston, MD - pulmonology
Kirsten Kloepfer, MD, MS - pulmonology
Megan McHenry, MD, MS - global health
Courtney Rowan, MD, MS - critical care
Tammy J Sajdyk PhD, MS - oncology
Tracey Wilkinson, MD - general pediatrics and health services research
Sushil Gupta, MD - nephrology
Harish Rao, MD - sleep medicine

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
The Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition is delighted to offer up to four Van Laeken summer research opportunities for medical students completing their first year of training. Our division, one of the top pediatric gastroenterology programs in the nation, has an excellent record of innovative basic, translational, and clinical research. The first step in the development of a working scientific skillset is applicable in any future medical career and is a critical instrument for the next generation physician. Execution of the IMPRS program within the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology will provide a structured ten-week summer experience aimed to develop basic research skills and knowledge within clinical and translational investigation focused in pediatric gastroenterology. The long-term goal of this program is to increase medical student exposure and experience to research methods, foster scientific intrigue, and nurture hypothesis-driven investigation beyond the traditional medical education program.

Research
Students will work with Brian DeBosch, MD, PhD and faculty within or closely affiliated with the division, provided the research to be undertaken is topical. This includes all faculty with active research programs related to inflammatory bowel disease, gastrointestinal motility, liver disease, pancreatitis, and nutrition. Faculty investigators participate in numerous national databases and treatment studies, clinical trials, large multi-center studies, and evidence-based outcomes research that translate into improved care for pediatric gastrointestinal patients. The group is part of Improve Care Now, a network of clinicians, researchers, parents, and patients dedicated to quality improvement and transformational health care for children with inflammatory bowel disease. In addition, the division harbors a basic and translational scientific liver disease interest toward examining the mechanistic bases for fatty liver disease, obesity, diabetes, and insulin resistance using animal models, human patient-derived organoid cultures, and isolated murine hepatocytes.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. The student will be paired with a highly qualified faculty mentor for the 10-week summer research program. This program is only available in the Indianapolis area. Three to four slots will be available for 2025.

Outcome of Research Projects
IMPRS participants within the Division of Pediatrics Gastroenterology will be expected to submit research abstract and participate in the poster session at the end of the summer session. Ideally, research contribution of the trainee would be included in a submitted manuscript or presented at a national meeting. The research student will have co-authorship on any published work arising from the research program with ongoing participation from the student.

Faculty Research Mentor
Brian DeBosch, MD, PhD
Dr. DeBosch is one of the new co-Division Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition. Is clinical and research interests include obesity, insulin resistance, fatty liver (MASH), and basic metabolism, in addition to general gastroenterology. Nationally, he serves on leadership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation, in the American Gastroenterological Association, and serves on multiple editorial roles and study sections in the AGA and National Institutes of Health.

Contact Information
Questions about the faculty or possible projects/research experiences should be directed to imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
The IU School of Medicine offers one summer research slot in pediatric rheumatology. The mission of this program is to:

• Increase exposure of underrepresented in medicine (URM) students to the specialty of pediatric rheumatology
• Promote diversity of pediatric rheumatology applicants applying for residency
• Provide a structured exposure to clinical pediatric rheumatology in parallel with a mentored research experience
• Establish a longitudinal mentoring experience throughout the duration of their medical school career

Research/Activities
Students will engage in mentored pediatric rheumatology clinical research experience. Students will spend ten weeks engaged in either basic or clinical science research under the mentorship of an experienced pediatric rheumatology researcher and will have a half day clinic per week. A specific defined and attainable project will be identified at the beginning of the rotation or even prior in preparation for the rotation, and the student will be trained in the methodology needed to collect data. During the student’s research rotation, learners will meet with research team members on topics that will be tailored to their chosen research project. These topics include, but are not limited to: study design, biostatistical support, database management, library search strategies, and manuscript writing. Students will meet with the research mentor regularly to discuss the progress of the project and provide feedback.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. Applicants are members of a federally underrepresented minority or disadvantaged people group (Black/African-American; Hispanic or Latino; American Indian or Alaska Native; Native Hawaiian or US Pacific Islander; People with life-altering disabilities). Each accepted student will work with highly qualified faculty mentor for the 12-week summer research program. Students will be expected to be geographically located in the Indianapolis area during the summer research program. Students will receive a $5,000 stipend.

Outcomes
At the end of the 12 weeks, each participant will submit an abstract to and present at the IMPRS Research Symposium. It is also likely that the culmination of the research project will be included in a manuscript and/or presentation at a national meeting and that the student will have co-authorship on the published work. Students will have the option to be part of a career development mentoring program. The program will be offered to the recruited URM students, with the purpose of promoting continuum engagement throughout their medical school training.

Faculty
Martha Rodriguez, MD
Stacey Tarvin, MD
Susan Ballinger, MD
Melissa Oliver, MD
Brandi Stevens, MD
Ellen Go, MD
Michael Blakley, MD
Thomas Klausmeier, MD

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
The IU School of Medicine Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences offers up to ten summer research slots for first year medical students. Research opportunities are available in the general areas of biomedical imaging technology development, computational and quantitative imaging, radiopharmaceutical sciences, bioprinting, diagnostic imaging, structural and functional neuroimaging in clinical populations, and interventional radiology. First-year medical students who are interested in the program are encouraged to review the Radiology and Imaging Sciences research faculty and projects to explore the options.

IU School of Medicine provides faculty and students an ideal environment for medical education and research to achieve major advancements in medicine.

Structure of Internship
Medical students participating in radiology research will spend 10 weeks working on a research project under the guidance of Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences research mentors as well as attending weekly seminars addressing responsible conduct of research, scientific rigor, and career development. At the end of the program, all students present their work in the IMPRS Poster Session.

Medical students are encouraged to consider participating in this program as a launching pad for other biomedical research opportunities (e.g., MedSTAR or NIH MSRP Research Programs) as they develop into physician scientists within their medical education and beyond. A goal for IMPRS is that the students who participate in this program would decide to continue to be involved in research with their summer mentor throughout their medical education. For questions about this option, please discuss with your mentor and reach out to Anne Nguyen by email.

View a list of participating faculty research mentors and a brief description of their research interests.

Faculty Mentors
Monica Forbes-Amrhein, MD, PhD
Karmen Yoder, PhD
Yu-Chien Wu, MD, PhD
Qi-Huang Zheng, PhD
Taeho Jo, PhD
Peter Gunderman, MD
Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD
Andy Saykin, PsyD
Temel Tirkes, MD
Rupa Radhakrishnan, MD
Shannon Risacher, PhD
Boaz Karmazyn, MD
Scott Snyder, PhD
Christopher Newman, MD, PhD
Meichen Yu, PhD, MSc
Sean Pfaff, MD
Vivek Halappa, MBBS, MD
Kara Garcia, PhD

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
The IU School of Medicine Department of Surgery offers up to six summer research opportunities for students in the summer between the first and second year of the medical school curriculum. The purpose of this program is to provide a structured environment that engages and cultivates medical students’ interest, experience, and training in performing research in the areas of surgery basic science and translational/clinical topics.

Research
Students will engage in a mentored research in the areas of surgery basic science and translational/clinical topics. The program is designed to: 1) increase student awareness in the value of doing research; and 2) strongly support students interested in academic surgery medicine.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. Each accepted student will be paired with a highly qualified faculty mentor for the 10-week summer research program. The program is only available in the Indianapolis area.

Faculty Mentors
Jason Axt, MD
Karl Y. Bilimoria, MD, MS
Gregory Borschel, MD
Jill D. Connors, PhD, MSW, MS
Ryan J. Ellis, MD, MS
Andrew A. Gonzalez, MD
Al Hassanein, MD
JoAnna L. Hunter-Squires, MD
Alan P Ladd, MD, MBA
Katelyn G. Makar, MD, MS
Troy Markel, MD
Sanjay Mohanty, MD
Raghu L. Motaganahalli, MD
Michael P. Murphy, MD
Harikrishna Nakshatri, PhD
Rachel Patzer, PhD, MPH
Mark D. Rodefeld, MD
C Max Schmidt, MD, PhD
Linda Schutzman, MD
Mithun Sinha, PhD
Dimitrios Stefanidis, PhD, MD
Meijing Wang, MD, MS
Erin L. Weber, MD, PhD
Anthony D. Yang, MD, MS
Tarik K. Yuce, MS, MD

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact IMPRS via imprs@iu.edu. Please do not directly email the Department of Surgery Medicine mentors.

Program Overview
The Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology is delighted to offer up to four 2024 summer research opportunities for Indiana University School of Medicine medical students completing their first year of training. Our division, one of the largest in the country, firmly believes in the early promotion of clinical and translational research exposure among medical trainees. This first step in the development of a working scientific skillset is applicable in any future medical career and is a critical instrument for the next generation physician. Execution of the IMPRS program within the Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology will provide a structured ten-week summer experience aimed to develop basic research skills and knowledge within clinical and translational investigation focused on gastroenterology or hepatology. The long-term goal of this program is to increase medical student exposure and experience to research methods, foster scientific intrigue, and nurture hypothesis-driven investigation beyond the traditional medical education program.

Research
Students will be paired with highly selected and experienced research mentors, all with active research programs in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Research projects will be individually developed to overlap the research mentor expertise as well as the student’s scientific interest, prior experience, and future career goals. Resultant project data will be compiled, analyzed, and interpreted in conjunction with the research mentor. In addition to project activity, each student will attend a series of weekly seminars and participate in the poster session at the end of the summer session. The research poster session will allow the student an opportunity to present their project background, aims, methods, results, and conclusions.

Activities
In addition to a hands-on clinical research experience, program participants will be actively involved in a weekly data/journal club as well as research training in the principles of study enrollment, informed consent, study design, data management, and various other research methodologies.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. Each accepted student will be paired with a highly qualified faculty mentor for the 10-week summer research program. This program is only available in the Indianapolis area.

Outcomes
IMPRS participants within the Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology will be expected to submit a research abstract and participate in the poster session at the end of the summer session. Further, it is expected that the research contribution of the trainee to be included in a submitted manuscript or presented at a national gastroenterology or hepatology meeting. The research student will have co-authorship on any published work arising from the research program.

Faculty Mentors
Hepatology:

Mentors: Drs. Chalasani, Vuppalanchi, Ghabril, Samala, Gawrieh, Liang, Orman, Nephew, Desai, & Lammert

Our hepatology faculty represent a spectrum of thought leaders and internationally known physicians with highly active clinical-research careers. We can support research within a diverse realm of liver diseases in both pre- and post-transplant patients. Available mentors are supported by a number of federal grant mechanisms, supporting investigation dedicated to alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), HIV in NAFLD, inpatient liver-related outcomes, and autoimmune hepatitis. Beyond these dedicated grants, we have robust, ongoing investigator-initiated clinical research within noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis, autoimmune liver disease, drug-induced liver injury, and even applications within social media. A lab-based hepatology experience is also available with Dr. Liang, an experienced scientist with expertise in molecular biology and genetics. Beyond working with the research mentor, the paired students within the hepatology tract will also work closely with the hepatology research team and participate in weekly research meetings.

Hepatobiliary basic science research:

Mentors: Drs. Liangpunsakal, Francis, Alpini

The hepatobiliary research group is composed of world-renowned leaders in cholangiocyte and hepatocyte biology. This group is supported by several federal grants and merit awards that are focused on inflammatory liver conditions including autoimmune and alcohol-mediated disease. All available mentors have extensive experience in mentorship and track record with students.

Gastroenterology:
Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Clostridium Difficile Infection:

Mentors: Dr. Fischer, Sagi, Bohm

Dr. Fischer is a national leader in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and spearheads the IBD program at IU. She is recognized for her work with the IBD clinical trials program and the development of the fecal microbial transplantation program for the treatment of clostridium difficile infection among other conditions. Drs. Bohm and Sagi, both with experience in clinical investigation, are also closely tied to the IBD clinical trials program at IU.

Neurogastroenteroloy and Motility:
Mentors: Drs. Wo, Nowak, Siwiec & Shin

Drs. Wo and Nowak lead the IU motility group and have far reaching recognition for their expertise and contributions in gut dysmotility and associated disorders. Alongside leaders at Purdue University, Dr. Nowak is also a coinvestigator with a NIH innovation grant examining therapeutics in the realm of electroceuticals for gut dysmotility. Dr. Shin is promising clinician scientist, and her research focus is on the effects of bile acids and microbiome in irritable bowel syndrome.

Endoscopic:
Mentor: Drs. Rex, Dewitt, Al-Haddad, Gromski

Beyond being the active Chief of GI Endoscopy at IU, he is a master clinician and an internationally known gastroenterologist with an extensive track in record in education, endoscopic tool development, and research within multiple aspects of colonoscopy.

Advanced Endoscopy:
Mentors: Drs. Sherman, Fogel, Easler, Al Haddad, Dewitt

The advanced endoscopy faculty at IU are internationally recognized authorities (icons) in therapeutic ERCP and EUS for a multitude of pancreaticobiliary conditions. The group is well-represented in many facets of scientific investigation that include all aspects of ERCP and EUS and new endoscopic device and technology. Further, Dr. Fogel is a part of the Consortium to Study Chronic Pancreatitis, Diabetes, and Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Centers (CPDPC). The CPDPC is a large, federally funded multi-collaborator grant tasked with elucidating the relationship between chronic pancreatitis, pancreatogenic diabetes, and pancreatic.

Contact Information
Questions about the faculty or possible projects/research experiences should be directed to Craig Lammert, MD.

Program Overview
The IU School of Medicine offers up to four summer research slots in the Urology Summer Experience for Underrepresented in Medicine Students. The mission of this program is to:

• Increase exposure of underrepresented minority (URM) medical students to the specialty of urology
• Promote diversity of urology applicants applying for urology residency
• Provide a structured exposure to clinical urology in parallel with a mentored research experience
• Establish a longitudinal mentoring experience throughout the duration of their medical school career

Research/Activities
Students will engage in mentored urology clinical research experience.

In addition to a hands-on clinical research experience, program participants will be actively involved in IVP conference, urology specific case presentations, Grand Rounds, clinical shadowing as well as research training in the principles of study enrollment, informed consent, study design, data management, and various other research methodologies.  Students will spend time at various IU locations such as Eskenazi, Methodist, Saxony, University Hospital and Riley.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year (M1) by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. Applicants are members of a federally underrepresented minority or disadvantaged people group (Black/African-American; Hispanic or Latino; American Indian or Alaska Native; Native Hawaiian or US Pacific Islander; People with life-altering disabilities). Each accepted student will work with highly qualified faculty mentor for the 10-week summer research program. Students will be expected to be geographically located in the Indianapolis area during the summer research program.

Faculty
Marcelino Rivera, MD
Pankaj Dangle, MD 
Rosalia Misseri, MD
Marcelino Rivera, MD
Joshua Roth, MD
Clint Bahler, MD

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
The IU School of Medicine–Evansville campus is offering summer research opportunities for up to 12 rising second year medical students. The purpose of the program is to provide a structured environment that engages and cultivates medical students’ interest, experience, and training in performing clinical and translational research in community healthcare settings.

Structure of Internship
Medical students will spend 10 weeks working on a research project under the guidance of Evansville mentors as well as attend weekly seminars addressing responsible conduct of research, scientific rigor, and career development. Projects with local health systems and community organizations typically require immersion in these sites (on-site research and in-person meetings), such that students should be physically located in southwest Indiana for the duration of the program. At the end of the program, all students present their work in the IMPRS Poster Session in Indianapolis.

A goal for IMPRS is that the students who participate in this program would decide to continue to be involved in research with their summer mentor throughout their medical education. Thus, Evansville interns are encouraged to participate in the complimentary Scholarly Concentration program, Quality and Innovation in Healthcare, available on the Evansville campus. Participants in the Scholarly Concentration will receive complementary coursework and guidance to reach their summer research goals, as well as continued mentorship and guidance in their second to fourth years to complete their project and publish their findings. For questions about this option, please reach out to Scholarly Concentration Co-Directors, Dr. Kara Garcia and/or Dr. Art Chlebowski.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. Each accepted student will be paired with a highly qualified faculty mentor for the 10-week summer research program. The program is only available in the Evansville/southwest Indiana area.

Outcomes
At the end of the 10 weeks, each participant will submit an abstract to and present a poster at the IMPRS Research Symposium. It is also likely that the culmination of the research project will be included in a manuscript and/or presentation at a national meeting and that the student will have co-authorship on the published work.

Contact Information
Kara Garcia, PhD
Assistant Professor of Radiology & Imaging Science
Indiana University School of Medicine-Evansville
(812) 909-7230
karagarc@iu.edu

Program Overview
The Student Education and Research Fellowship (SERF) Program is a structured program developed to provide students with basic research skills and practical experience in conducting research independently. SERF is part of the IMPRS program with students participating in research at the Fort Wayne campus.

Faculty Mentor/Preceptor
Allen County Department of Health - Public Health, Health Initiatives
Fort Wayne Orthopedics - Sports Med and Spine
Lutheran Hospital - Surgery, Pediatrics
Dr. Fen-Lei Chang - Neurology
Dr. Hannah Copeland - Surgery
Dr. Douglas Gray - CV Surgery 
Dr. Tom Gutwein - Public Health, ED
Dr. Erin Jefferson/ Dr. Brian Henriksen - Family Medicine
Dr. Joseph McCollom - Cancer, Palliative Care
Dr. Kevin Pei - Surgery
Dr.  Micah Smith - Orthopedics
Dr. Dustin Thomas - Cardiology
Dr. Tammy Toscos - Informatics
Dr. T Eric White - Cardiology
Dr. Ivorine Yu - Neuroscience, neuroinflammation
Dr. Jimmy Yen - Neuroscience, neuroinflammation
Dr. Thein Zhu - Trauma

Student Eligibility
Rising second-year IU School of Medicine students enrolled and in good-standing are eligible to apply to this program. These students will be expected to work independently and should expect to spend approximately 40 hours per week committed to the research project for 10 weeks. Students who are in the Fort Wayne campus will have priority but all rising second-year IU School of Medicine students will be able to apply for SERF. If you would like to be considered for SERF, submit a letter of intent (LOI) to imprs@iu.edu by December 31st and completed application by January 15.

Contact Information
For additional information about the Student Education and Research Fellowship Program, please contact Gina Bailey or call the IU School of Medicine–Fort Wayne office at 260-257-6831.

Program Overview and Structure of Internship
The Deaconess Research Institute Internship is offering summer research for three slots. This summer experience is designed to give trainees experience in both industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated clinical research. In addition to working on specific clinical research projects throughout the summer (including literature review, data analysis, and presentations), interns will:

Shadow clinical research physicians, clinical staff, and Deaconess Family Medicine residents (COVID/respiratory illness permitting)

Learn & experience all of the various components of clinical research first-hand. (At any time, DRI typically has 8-10 investigator-initiated research projects along with approximately 40+ industry-sponsored trials across most therapeutic areas.)

Work on Quality Improvement Projects and gain Lean Six Sigma training

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. The program is only available in the Evansville/southwest Indiana area.

Outcomes
At the end of the 10 weeks, each participant will submit an abstract to and present a poster at the IMPRS Research Symposium. It is also likely that the culmination of the research project will be included in a manuscript and/or presentation at a national meeting and that the student will have co-authorship on the published work.

Contact Information
Fred Hillenbrand  
Fred.Hillenbrand@deaconess.com

Deaconess Research Institute
120 SE Fourth Street, Evansville, IN 47708        
www.deaconess.com/services/clinical-research

Program Overview
The IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center offers up to two summer research opportunities for students in the summer between the first and second years of the medical school curriculum. The purpose of this program is to provide a structured environment that engages and cultivates medical students’ interest, experience, and training in thymic tumor research.

Research
Students will engage in mentored clinical and/or basic science in thymic tumor research. The expectation will be for students to collect data on patients diagnosed with thymic epithelial tumors who have been evaluated and/or treated at the cancer center.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible to apply. Students will be expected to be geographically located in the Indianapolis area during the summer research program.

Outcomes
At the end of the 10 weeks, each participant will submit an abstract to and present a poster at the IU School of Medicine IMPRS Research Symposium at the end of the summer session. It is also likely that the culmination of the research project will be included in a manuscript and/or presentation at a national meeting and that the student will have co-authorship on the published work.

Faculty
Patrick Loehrer, MD

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
Medical students who want to work on research that goes beyond bench work and medical chart reviews, and into the community should consider the Medical Student Internship Program with Community Health Partnerships (CHeP), which is designed to give students experience in community-engaged research. Community-engaged research involves working with the community to address the pressing health issues that matter to them. Partnering with patients and community can improve the design of research and the implementation of its findings, providing more benefit to the community. Students in this program work on projects that bring research innovations into the community and see their real-life impact. This program will teach students about the variety of methods and tools used in community-engaged research and give them an opportunity to apply those tools to a practicum project.

Projects are described in more detail below, but may include qualitative interviews and analysis, co-creating recruitment or dissemination strategies with community stakeholders, implementation and/or evaluation of programs to improve the public’s health, and working with families on a health intervention study. Issues that these projects aim to address include childhood nutrition, lead poisoning testing and prevention, mental health in Latinx youth, health communication, recruitment of racially and ethnically minoritized populations into cancer clinical trials, infant mortality, diabetes prevention, and community health coalitions.

Community Health Partnerships (CHeP), which is a part of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI), was founded in 2008 and currently represents a community and academic partnership network of over 600 stakeholders statewide in clinics, community organizations, academic institutions, nonprofits, social services agencies, and more. CHeP’s mission is to improve the health of Indiana residents through community-university partnerships. We believe it takes both research and community to understand what health improvement looks like and how it can be made a reality.

It is important for medical students interested in research to understand the value of partnering with community in addressing our greatest health challenges such as health justice and equity. Community-engaged research requires specific tools and approaches to create novel and sustainable solutions to these challenges. Medical professionals are crucial stakeholders in this effort.

Read more about the experiences that students had during last year’s program.

Structure of Internship
Community Health Partnerships matches students with faculty across the state affiliated with the IU School of Medicine, IU Bloomington and Fairbanks Schools of Public Health, Purdue University, and the University of Notre Dame. In addition to working with their faculty mentor on a community-engaged research project, interns will attend a weekly community-engaged research group seminar and discussion with other students involved in this track, to reflect on the experience, gain insights from fellow students, and get additional support from CHeP staff. During these seminars, faculty mentors and other community-engaged researchers will rotate to lead a discussion focused on their work and areas of expertise, giving students an opportunity to see the many ways that community-engaged research methods can be put into practice.

As a culmination to the summer experience, each intern will produce an abstract and a poster presentation that reflects the intern’s involvement in the project. There will be a possibility in some cases to collaborate in an ongoing basis to produce other academic products such as presentations for national meetings and publications, or for Scholarly Concentration project work, depending on the project and interest/involvement of the intern and mentor. MD/MPH candidates are encouraged to apply.

Research Opportunities and Mentors:

Kathi Ridley-Merriweather, PhD, Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center

The Komen Tissue Bank (KTB) is the only biobank in the world that collects “normal” healthy breast tissue from women and men with no sign of breast cancer, to be used by researchers around the world in projects focused on breast cancer prevention and treatment. We are part of the Biospecimen and Banking Core—a group of biobanks under the umbrella of the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center—and are ourselves a clinical trial.

The lead mentor for this internship is the Communication, Recruitment, and Outreach Manager, who is a primarily qualitative health communication researcher focused on community engagement, education, and recruitment of racially and ethnically minoritized populations into cancer clinical trials.

The IMPRS student choosing this assignment should prepare to have any or all of the following responsibilities and/or opportunities:

• Gaining important knowledge and guidance in culturally competent patient-provider communication practices;
• Immersion into learning about and understanding the importance of respectful clinical trial/medical research recruitment of minoritized populations;
• Gaining solid knowledge of qualitative interviewing, writing, and/or research;
• Analyzing and coding previously collected qualitative data;
• Assisting with writing/editing a study manuscript for publication submission (an important credit for residency applications);
• Helping to arrange, manage, and/or attend (with the mentor and other staff) at least one festival, church, or community organization recruitment event;

Shadowing our renowned oncology, surgical oncology, radiology, and other practitioners in the clinic and the OR, as well as shadowing/assisting principal investigator researchers.

Read what former students have said about their internship experience with Dr. Ridley-Merriweather.

For more information, and/or to be connected to previous IMPRS mentees, contact keridley@iu.edu.

Silvia Bigatti, PhD, Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University Indianapolis

Dr. Bigatti is a professor in the Fairbanks School with an extensive background in community based participatory research.

The study to which the student will contribute focuses on mental health in Latinx youth, who experience worse mental health and more suicidal ideation than other groups. The inequity in mental health in Latinx youth is significant and in dire need of attention. Family functioning is an avenue to reduce this disparity. Poor mental health is associated with challenges in later stages of development, including continued poor mental and physical health, poorer achievement in school and work, and higher overall health care costs. The study aims to help youth increase their resilience and bicultural identity while increasing parents’ resilience and parenting skills, all of which is associated with decreasing depression and helplessness. Beginning in summer 2026 Dr. Bigatti and her colleagues will complete a brief randomized controlled trial to determine whether the intervention, Healthy Minds - Happy Families, identifies improvements in the experimental group and then, once the wait-list control group of families complete their intervention, a longitudinal study to assess whether the improvements are sustained over time with the help of booster sessions that address youth and family functioning and needs. This is a community-based participatory research study with a team led by academics from three different disciplines and a long-standing community partner – a team which has collaborated since 2012.

The IMPRS student choosing this assignment should look forward to a) gaining a better understanding of the research process when doing community-based work, b) gaining a better understanding of the Latinx immigrant community, their concerns, needs and experiences, both for adults and youth, c) working with researchers and community partners focused on increasing health equity and social justice. This will occur through the following activities:

• Participation in the 2-week summer youth program for the experimental group, which will take place in June, and the 2 week summer program for the wait-list control group, which will take place in July.
• Participation with Dr. Bigatti and the team in preparing for each youth and parent programs and managing logistics of the programs throughout the summer.
• Parent programming will be in Spanish, youth programming will be in English. Spanish is not required from IMPRS students but if they speak the language, they will have extensive opportunities to practice.

Dennis Savaiano, PhD, Connections IN Health, Indiana CTSI, Purdue University

The Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) and the Indiana State Department of Health have formed a partnership to improve health in Indiana. This alliance will unite the state’s health coalition work with that of the Indiana CTSI, a partnership among Indiana University, Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame, in shared efforts to build community health partnerships across the state.

The alliance is led by the Indiana CTSI’s Community Health Partnerships program, which seeks to improve health in Indiana through community-university partnerships and community-based health research. Community Health Partnerships’ coalition-building efforts are already integrated across almost every county in Indiana through Purdue Extension, which is involved in more than 60 health coalitions and has extension educators in all 92 counties in the state.

Health coalitions involve both formal and informal groups of people working together to improve one or more aspects of health, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, healthy weight and asthma. They are a powerful tool for helping to change health behavior in a community.

Students who work with Connections IN Health and Dr. Savaiano will work with coalitions across the state on research such as community program evaluation, social network analysis, coalition building, and/or data analysis. Topics of recent intern projects include:

• A review of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) nutritional incentive programs;
• The impact of COVID-19 on community health coalition functioning and strategies used to adapt;
• Community coalition approaches to treating depression;
• The impact of community health coalitions on preventative health outcomes;
• Community coalitions as a mechanism to advance health equity.

Debra Litzleman, MD, Indiana University School of Medicine

Students will work with Litzleman and WeCare Indiana. WeCare Indiana is a program designed to reduce the risk factors for infant mortality through a combination of two-way SMS messaging (text messages) and health coaching. The five targeted factors include:

• Decrease in: 1) Smoking, 2) Obesity, 3) Mental health issues
• Increase in: 1) Safe sleep practices, 2) Breastfeeding
  Student responsibilities include:
• Work closely with WeCare Indiana team to develop materials for use in WeCare Indiana program
• Be involved in the manuscript development process for WeCare Indiana data dissemination. Includes but not limited to literature review, writing, reviewing, editing, and formatting for publication
• Review list of resources in WeCare Indiana app and update by reaching out to service provider to make sure information listed is current and correct.
• Assist with data analysis of preliminary results from WeCare Indiana

Visits sites to ensure program is working smoothly and learn of any issues clinic staff are dealing with in regards to WeCare Indiana

Preferred qualifications:

As a summer WeCare intern, your job would be a supporting role to the WeCare Indiana team based at Regenstrief Institute. In this supportive role, you would be expected to assist WeCare Indiana team members at Regenstrief and available clinics in a myriad of tasks to ensure the program is running smoothly. This includes working to create processes for information feedback from participants, visiting sites to understand implementation and flow, creating, reviewing, and editing materials needed for the coaches’ use, monitoring data entering, developing manuscripts, analyzing preliminary data, and more. Further, there will be times you may work from the clinics by providing support to the coaches, recruiting patients, creating flyers, working to increase numbers for WeCare Indiana and more. Your supportive role will change as the program’s needs change, as tasks will vary depending on the need of the program.

As a responsibility for this role, you will be expected to be open to learning and understanding the variety of factors linked to infant mortality, including social determinants of health, and the severity of infant mortality in the state.

Temitope Erinosho, PhD, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington

Dr. Erinosho is an Associate Professor at the Indiana University School of Public Health in Bloomington in the Department of Applied Health Science.

Students will work on Ad-Vance Greene Kids, a project which will strengthen a partnership (formed in 2022) between community partners from Greene County, Indiana, and academic researchers from Indiana University Bloomington, that was established to create an obesity prevention agenda for children aged 2-5 years and families in Greene County. Greene County is rural, with high obesity levels. While the long-term goal is to collaboratively develop and implement a large scale child obesity prevention intervention, the proposed project to establish a community garden to promote nutrition with children and families in Greene County will strengthen/sustain the community-academic partnership in the short-term (until funding is received for a large scale intervention). Notably, enhancing the built environment via community gardens was prioritized by community partners in our formative research. This gardening project will be implemented at the Bloomfield-Eastern Greene County Public Library, where library staff set up and maintained a small bale garden over the past year. Through this project, we will: (1) expand the garden size to include more fruits and vegetables in raised beds, a semi-permanent structure compared to bale; (2) provide families with access to healthy foods; and (3) provide nutrition education to families. Our implementation plan, which engages community partners in all aspects of this yearlong project, will help to strengthen our recently-formed community-academic partnership.

Potential opportunities for an internship include:

• participating in cultivation of the community garden with community partners in Greene County;
• tending the garden and addressing project related concern; providing nutrition education to families;
• working with community partners to develop a plan for making produce available to families and developing a long-term plan for sustainability of the garden and partnership.

Heidi Beidinger, PhD, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Beidinger is the Director of the Master of Science in Global Health program and Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biology. She is leading efforts in partnering with the Near Northwest Neighborhood of South Bend, Indiana to address and conduct research on the community’s lead poisoning issue. Her team has completed creation and testing of Lead Sample Collection Kits. The Lead Sample Collection Kits provide supplies to collect paint chips, house dust, and soil from in or near a residence. The samples are then returned to our lab for analysis with an automated X-ray fluorimeter. The test results are placed into a report that explains the meaning of the lead levels from the different locations sampled. The report provides information on steps to take to prevent lead exposure.

In winter of 2017, students used our version 1 kit to test 325 homes. This experiment showed that citizen science is a viable way to test large numbers of homes. In the summer of 2018, we tested the version 2 kit in 47 homes, while also testing the lead levels with conventional procedures. This experiment showed that the results from the kits are similar to the results from conventional testing. However, the kits are much easier to scale up to test large numbers of homes. The third phase of testing began piloting in November 2018. This IMPRS opportunity for this summer will continue to research, validate and distribute the lead testing kits with the citizen scientists of our community.

A second opportunity with Dr. Beidinger is working in St. Joseph County to improve vaccination rates.

Tamara Hannon, MD, Indiana University School of Medicine

Hannon is a national leader in childhood obesity and the pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention of type 2 diabetes in youth. Her research program involves primary and secondary prevention of type 2 diabetes, and the development of interventions to improve self-care in adolescents with obesity, prediabetes, and diabetes. Her mission is to translate diabetes prevention programs using community engagement methods so that they can be utilized in community settings with underserved populations. Students working with her will participate in community-engaged and patient-engaged research, including study recruitment, implementation of prevention programs, and data analysis.

Catherine Sherwood-Laughlin, HSD, MPH and Alison Greene, PhD, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington

Students would assist with the Sexual Health EQUITY Project, which focuses on supporting the implementation of sexuality education in school-based settings, specifically working with teachers, administrators, parents/guardians and students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD). Project activities that students may participate in include:

• exploring funding opportunities to support this project;
• following up with the teachers who attended a training in 2021 regarding their experiences post-training;
• developing additional training sessions based on the follow up results;
• a literature review on the topics that are critical for students with IDD.

Nana Gletsu Miller, PhD, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington

Associate Professor Gletsu Miller is affiliated with Applied Health Science in the School of Public Health at Indiana University-Bloomington. She obtained a PhD in Nutrition and Metabolism from the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada. Currently, Dr. Gletsu Miller serves as the Director of the Nutrition and Exercise Research Center at Indiana University Bloomington, a clinical research service for investigators to design and provide research diets and perform nutritional phenotyping. The major focus of Dr. Gletsu Miller's laboratory is to use nutritional strategies for management of obesity and related cardiometabolic diseases. Her laboratory employs state of the art methods anthropometric, biochemical, clinical and dietary methods of nutritional assessment which can be used in the research, clinical and community settings.

The IMPRS student may assist with community-based projects using health fairs to evaluate and educate on nutritional and cardiometabolic health of people in South Central Indiana. We partner with community programs through the Center for Community-Engaged Dissemination and Implementation Research (CCEDIR, Director, Prof. Priscilla Barnes), to screen for dietary behaviors that can be improved to promote cardiometabolic health. For example, we will assess dietary intake of fruits and vegetables, as well as sweet taste preferences, and consumption of sugary beverages. The goal of these programs is to encourage community members about the benefits of making simple modifications to their diet.

Melissa Pangelinan, PhD, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington, Director, All IN for Health, Indiana CTSI

Dr. Pangelinan’s primary research focuses on developing and measuring the efficacy of lifestyle (diet and exercise) interventions on neurocognitive and physical health outcomes in individuals with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). This work aims to improve the implementation of evidence-based lifestyle interventions in school, community, and medical settings to enhance inclusion, long-term health outcomes, and the quality of life of individuals with IDD. Students interested in this research would:

• assist qualitative analysis of interview data from participants and caregivers of diet, exercise, or primary care interventions to determine barriers and facilitators for participation;
• assist quantitative analysis of weight, physical activity, and cognitive function to determine the effects of diet, exercise, or primary care interventions;
• develop social media and communication briefs for community members about the study results.

As the Director of All IN for Health, Dr. Pangelinan’s research focuses on increasing participation and representation of traditionally under-represented communities in research, including those with disabilities. To this end, I am partnering with researchers and community members to broaden the participation of community members across the full research lifecycle (development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination). Students interested in this research would:

• assist a systematic review of community engagement in development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination;
• assist focus groups and interviews with community members and researchers to determine barriers or facilitators to participating in digital/remote clinical trials;
• assist the communications team in developing templates for researchers and community members to improve communication and transparency.

Program Overview
The Slemenda Scholars program began in 1998 and honors late IU faculty member Charles Slemenda, DrPH, who had a passion for international medical education. AMPATH (Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare) is the partnership between Indiana University and Moi University in Eldoret Kenya that works with the Kenyan Ministry of Health to provide care, train the next generation of health care providers, and conduct research to improve lives around the world. The program sends two to four medical students to Eldoret to experience AMPATH by participating in rounds, collaborating on field projects and working alongside Moi University medical students. Slemenda Scholars receive a stipend of $5000 to cover travel, lodging, food, and excursions. 

Dr. Slemenda spent three years in Lesotho working as a public health worker after completing his MPH in health services administration. He lived in a rural village and trained health workers while working to improve access to care. He went on to complete his DrPH is epidemiology and joined the faculty of IU in 1985. He was an exceptional scholar, publishing more than 75 papers in major medical journals. Dr. Slemenda passed away suddenly in 1997. Dr. Slemenda had made plans to spend significant time in Kenya once his children grew older. He is warmly remembered by colleagues for his honesty, work ethic, warm sense of humor and willingness to go above and beyond to help others.

Slemenda Scholars spend 9-10 weeks in Eldoret, Kenya learning about AMPATH and participating in quality improvement projects. While both research and clinical care are involved in the experience, the emphasis is on learning systems for improving the health of populations and participating in an international partnership.

As a dual position with AMPATH and the IMPRS Summer Program, scholars participate in the IMPRS poster presentation and other IMPRS activities, as well as write blog posts and provide updates to AMPATH and IU School of Medicine websites. Associated travel costs are covered by the IU Center for Global Health and IMPRS.  

We are hopeful that the scholars will be able to complete their experience in Kenya, but there is a possibility that it will be completed in Indianapolis due to Ebola or other international crises that may arise. In this case, students will spend time learning about AMPATH and working on a global health project with Center for Global Health faculty.

Faculty Mentor/Preceptor
The program is administered by Jenny Baenziger, MD. Faculty mentors, based in Kenya, are selected based on the scholar’s field project. 

Student Eligibility
Rising second-year IU School of Medicine students in good-standing are eligible to apply to this program. These students will be expected to work independently and should expect to spend approximately 40 hours per week committed to the project for 10 weeks.

Contact Information
For additional information about the Slemenda Scholar Program, please contact imprs@iu.edu or Victoria Eder at vneder@iu.edu.

Researchers at the Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research conduct high-impact, transdisciplinary work in health communication, applied health informatics, healthcare delivery for mental illness and symptom management, coordination of care, patient safety, implementation and evaluation of decision support, health professions practice and education, global health services research, and community-based participatory research. Health services research is the multidisciplinary field of scientific investigation that studies how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviors affect access to health care, the quality and cost of health care, and ultimately all individuals involved in the process of delivering and receiving healthcare. Scholarly opportunities for interns are varied, including clinical and pragmatic trials, health communication, health information technology applications, and process improvement/systems intervention.

To support the mission across regional, national and international settings, many of the center's scientists are dually-appointed within, and conduct research at, the Veterans Affairs Health Services Research & Development Center for Health Information and Communication at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center.

Explore center investigators.

The Center for Aging Research works to transform health care for medically and socially vulnerable older adults by developing, testing, and implementing innovative strategies that improve the quality and efficiency of health care and self-care for this population. Researchers enjoy national and international recognition for their expertise in clinical research on the aging brain, health promotion, and innovative models of collaborative care. The center's scientists apply the rich information technology resources of Regenstrief and Indiana University to explore new models of care for late life depression, dementia, delirium, and other common geriatric syndromes. Much of this work has focused on vulnerable elders cared for in the urban public health system in Indianapolis.

Explore center investigators.

The Center for Biomedical Informatics is focused on improving healthcare through informatics. The center develops and applies health information technology solutions to generate knowledge about health, disease and treatment; help clinicians make optimal decisions; empower patients, and inform healthcare policy. To do so, the center works with clinical applications, computer-based decision support, data mining, advanced analytics, healthcare information standards and global health. Professionals in the field of biomedical informatics study and pursue the effective uses of biomedical data, information, and knowledge to support research, problem solving and decision making to improve human health. Application areas range from bioinformatics to clinical and public health informatics and span the spectrum from the molecular to population levels of health and biomedicine (AMIA Academic Forum, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2012).

Explore center investigators.

Overall Structure of Internships

• Interns are assigned faculty mentors based on the intern’s interest and faculty/research project availability.
• Interns will be expected to dedicate a minimum of 8 weeks to the project for 40 hours/week.
• Interns will be required to attend the weekly IMPRS Summer Research Student Seminar Series and relevant Regenstrief Work-in-Progress (WIP) meetings and other scientific symposia.

As a culmination to the summer experience, each intern will be expected to produce an abstract and a poster presentation that reflects the intern’s involvement in the project. There will be a possibility in some cases to collaborate in an ongoing basis to produce other academic products such as presentations for national meetings and publications, depending on the project and interest/involvement of the intern.

Contact Information
For additional information about the program, please email imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
The Translational/Laboratory Research, formerly known as “Student Research Program in Academic Medicine (SRPinAM)”, began in 1983 to provide laboratory-based biomedical research opportunities for medical students in order to facilitate physician-scientist career development.

Structure of Internship
Medical students participating in translational and laboratory sciences can spend 10 weeks conducting an independent research project under the guidance of IU School of Medicine research mentors as well as attending weekly seminars addressing responsible conduct of research, scientific rigor, and career development. At the end of the program, all students present their work at the IMPRS Poster Session.

Contact Information
For additional information about the program, please email imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
IU School of Medicine–Bloomington faculty members sponsor laboratory, clinical and education research opportunities for medical students as part of a ten-week summer research program in IMPRS. Students will work under close supervision of a faculty mentor. The students will have the opportunity to work on research projects in cell, molecular and cancer biology, or in educational research. Participants in the program will be exposed to all facets of biomedical research including literature review, experimental design, data generation and analysis. Students may have the opportunity to submit abstracts and present at national meetings.

Structure of Internship
Medical students participating in the Summer Research Fellowship program in Bloomington can spend 10 weeks conducting an independent research project under the guidance of Bloomington mentors as well as attending weekly seminars addressing responsible conduct of research, scientific rigor, and career development via Zoom. At the end of the program, all students present their work at the IMPRS Poster Session in Indianapolis, IN.

Faculty Mentors
Students are encouraged to check out the research interests of faculty.

Priscilla A. Barnes, MPH, PhD, MCHES
Richard Carpenter, PhD
Ricky Camplain, MSPH, PhD
Duangnapa Cuddy, DO, FACOS, RPVi
David Daleke, PhD
Dale Dellacqua, MD
Misty Hawkins, PhD
Peter Hollenhorst, PhD
Polly Husmann, PhD
Kyle Kercher, PhD, MS
Christine Motzkus, MPH, MD, PhD
Valerie O’Loughlin, PhD
Melissa Pangelinan, PhD
Austin Robinson, PhD
David Rodgers, EDD, EdD, MA
Zac Schlader, PhD
Claire Walczak, PhD

Contact Information
For additional information about the program, please email imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
Each year, IU School of Medicine–Northwest-Gary offers diverse faculty-mentored research programs to medical students as part of a ten-week Summer Research Internship Program. These programs engage students in biomedical, medical education, social-behavioral, or community-engaged research under the close supervision of a faculty mentor. Examples of research projects within these programs include social determinants of health, health disparities, mental health, youth violence, chronic diseases, neuroscience, infectious diseases, innate immunity, muscle biology, obesity, aging, retinal physiology and diseases, corneal innervation and dry eye disease, among others. The students participating in these programs will acquire critical research skills related to literature reviews, study design, data collection, data analysis, and dissemination.

Faculty Mentors
The following faculty members routinely sponsor students in their research opportunities.

Biomedical Research:

Ted Bae, PhD
Tatiana Kostrominova, PhD
Dipika Gupta, PhD

Medical Education Research:

Christine Eckel, MD, PhD
Joshua Mangum, PhD
Jose Mas, DVM
Vivian Ott, PhD, RN, NE-BC

Urban Medicine, Community-Engaged, and Social-Behavioral Research:

Amy Han, PhD
Baraka Muvuka, PhD, MPH, MCHES
Jonathan Guerrero, PharmD, BCPS
Joshua Mangum, PhD
Elizabeth R. Ryan, EdD

Contact Information
Students interested in the IIU School of Medicine–Northwest-Gary summer internship program are encouraged to contact directly the faculty member with whom you wish to work, or contact imprs@iu.edu for assistance.

Program Overview
IU School of Medicine students at the South Bend campus are invited to enrich their educational and training experiences by engaging in a variety of basic science research opportunities during the summer after their first year. Students have the opportunity to conduct research in faculty laboratories with the goals of publishing their work, presenting at national conferences, and building a strong foundation for lifelong scholarship. IU School of Medicine–South Bend faculty direct research programs in medical ethics and population health, inflammatory and infectious diseases, vascular biology, cell and molecular biology, and cancer biology. IU School of Medicine–South Bend has a partnership with the University of Notre Dame graduate program, which allows medical students to benefit from working side-by-side with graduate student and postdoctoral researchers.

Faculty Mentors
Niranjan Awasthi, PhD
David Boone, PhD
Rich Dahl, PhD
Mark Fox, MD, PhD, MPH
Jeni Prosperi, PhD
Molly Scheel, PhD
Margaret Schwarz, MD
Urs von Holzen, MD

Contact Information
Students who are interested in applying for a summer research opportunity should contact Tracy Vargo-Gogola, PhD or imprs@iu.edu.

Program Overview
IU School of Medicine–Terre Haute is offering a ten-week summer research program with foundational sciences faculty. The opportunity allows up to four medical students to participate in all facets of biomedical research including literature review, experimental design, data collection and analysis. Students will be encouraged to submit and present an abstract at the conclusion of the internship.

Faculty Mentor
Steven Templeton, PhD: Immune response to the human opportunistic pathogen, Aspergillus fumigatus.

Scott Canfield, PhD: Stem cell-derived blood-brain barrier.

Américo López-Yglesias, PhD: Innate immune response against intracellular pathogens (Toxoplasma gondii, Salmonella) during acute infection.

Program Overview
Students have the opportunity to participate in either basic science lab research or an internship at the Healthy Lifestyle Center. Students interested in basic science research will work with IU School of Medicine–Muncie faculty on direct research programs in several areas. Students interested in the Healthy Lifestyle Center will work as part of an interprofessional team at the center and/or with related community outreach activities, where lifestyle modification programs are developed for clients. Based on their experience and interest, students will develop a research or programming proposal addressing some aspect of lifestyle medicine, which will be used as the basis for further research.

Student Eligibility
These students will be expected to work independently and should expect to spend approximately 40 hours per week committed to the research project for 10 weeks. Students from the Muncie campus will have priority but all students will be able to apply. This program is only available in the Muncie regional campus.

Faculty Mentors
Lynn Witty, MD – Director of Healthy Lifestyle Center internship

Bartholomew A. Pederson, PhD
The Pederson lab studies glycogen metabolism in genetically modified mouse models. The role that glycogen plays in learning and in protecting the brain during pathological conditions like diabetes, epilepsy, and hypoxia is investigated with a variety of techniques monitoring behavior, glucose metabolism, and neural stress.

Larry Fromm, PhD
Dr. Fromm studies the mechanisms by which innervation controls gene expression in skeletal muscle, which is critical for forming the specialized structures that are induced where motor or sensory neurons contact developing muscle. Understanding these signaling interactions might suggest regenerative approaches for treating certain neuromuscular disorders and sensory neuropathies.

Michael Litt, PhD
Dr. Litt focuses on examining epigenetic modifications during cell differentiation and development.

Contact Information
Contact Larry Fromm (lfromm@iu.edu) for additional information about the summer research program at IU School of Medicine–Muncie, or any of the faculty mentors for further information about their research and potential student projects

Program Overview
The Summer Program for Academic Research in Cancer at the Indiana University Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center provides cancer research career pathways for undergraduate and medical students. We will provide mentored, high-quality, cancer-focused research experiences along with didactic and professional development workshops to undergraduate and first-year medical students to prepare them for cancer-related fields. Twenty-five trainees (15 undergraduate and 10 first-year medical students) will be recruited to spend 10 weeks performing cancer research and attend didactic and professional development workshops, clinical shadowing with physician-scientist mentors in case of medical student trainees, and networking events.

The program is open to any first-year medical student at IU School of Medicine.

Student Eligibility
Trainees will gain enhanced laboratory and research skills, including an appreciation of the cancer research enterprise and patient care, an understanding of career opportunities, and a long-term academic relationship with mentors. Didactic lectures include basic cancer biology, immuno-oncology, and precision therapy, and professional workshops include career opportunities, communicating science, journal writing, and poster presentations. The program offers ten summer research opportunities with interest in cancer. The purpose of this program is to provide a structured environment that engages and cultivates medical students’ interest, experience, and training in cancer research.

Faculty Mentors
A list of prospective mentors will be available upon request.

Eligibility
Medical students in good standing who will have completed their first year by the summer program onset are eligible for the opportunity. Each accepted student will be matched with a highly qualified faculty mentor at the cancer center for the 10-week summer research program. Students will be expected to be geographically located in the Indianapolis or Bloomington area during the summer research program.

Contact Information
For additional information about the program or mentors, please contact imprs@iu.edu.