NIH visit shows medical students how scientific discoveries rapidly advance medicine

During her first year of medical school at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Aimee Gershberg applied for the Short Term Research in Immunology and Virology Experience (STRIVE-T35) program. She knew that foundational research training would meld with experience she’d already developed working as a registered dietitian. She also knew that the mentorship and guidance found in the STRIVE program would help her gain access to experience she needed – working in a laboratory. 

David Kim pursued STRIVE when he entered medical school after working for a few years as a biomedical engineer and researched mechanistic investigations of traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative disease. He knew that being mentored through the process of integrating research into his medical education and clinical care experience was the right next step.

In May, the two joined 13 other medical students accepted to the program at The Ohio State University College of Medicine,  one of only six institutions nationwide to be awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) T35 program through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). At orientation, they found out they’d be traveling to Washington, D.C., in July for a three-day tour at the NIH, to meet and interact with physician-scientists integrating research and patient care. At the tour through NIAID and the Division of Intramural Research within the NIH, experts shared:

• New insight into how the singular facility combines research and patient care through research laboratories that are attached to hospitals, creating a continuous cycle and removing obstacles between ideation, practice and access.
• The latest immunology research done in collaborative environments that thrive on the researchers’ abilities to ask the right questions, interpret evidence and remain open to new discoveries.
• Mini lectures covering a range of disciplines including toxicology, virology, rare infectious diseases and the gut microbiome.
• The chance to participate in Grant Rounds, where experts distinguished clinical reasoning of treatment of post-infectious inflammatory response syndrome in cryptococcal meningoencephalitis versus the more familiar immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome.
• Clinic and laboratory tours and lunch with research fellows.
• They appreciated the curiosity and energy which learners shared with NIH staff, faculty and researchers all over campus to invigorate their work.

At Ohio State, STRIVE-T35 is a 12-week program supported by faculty mentors and 21 physician scientists across four domains: Transplant Immunology, Immuno-Oncology, Virology, and Autoimmune Disease. Gershberg works with Kymberly Gowdy, MD, associate professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the college on research that looks at ozone-induced pulmonary injury and inflammation and how it can be attenuated. Kim spent the summer working with Amal Amer, MD, PhD, professor of Microbial Infection and Immunity and vice chair of Translational Research at the College of Medicine, investigating how lung factors secreted during COVID-19 infection can directly affect brain tissue and potentially kick off chronic inflammation long after the resolution of infection.

The group from Ohio State was the first from a T35 program to have a tour of the NIH, and while they didn’t know about it when they applied, the experience raised the bar for the strong program. Gershberg and Kim encourage others to apply to the program as the team meets everyone where they are in their training while providing an entrance into the world of clinician-scientists.