School of Medicine receives grant to support biomedical research program

Yale School of Medicine has been awarded a new four-year grant from the Amgen Foundation to provide hands-on laboratory experience to undergraduate students through the Amgen Scholars Program.

Since June 2015, Yale School of Medicine has hosted more than 50 undergraduate scholars in biomedical research labs through the BioMed Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (BioMed SURF). This research-intensive program has accepted freshmen, sophomores, and juniors interested in pursuing a Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. in the biomedical sciences. It encourages students who are members of groups underrepresented in the sciences, who are the first in their families to college, who are from inner city or rural communities, or who have grown up with financial or other disadvantage to apply.

In addition to working on cutting-edge research projects in Yale School of Medicine laboratories, BioMed SURF scholars also take part in a career and scientific development curriculum during their nine-week residency in New Haven, and receive faculty and peer mentoring resources that extend throughout and beyond the program. 

The co-directors of the program, Drs. Faye Rogers, Tony Koleske and Barbara Kazmierczak, are thrilled that the BioMed SURF program will now be able to partner with Amgen Scholars. “Our mission — to share the resources and opportunities available at Yale with undergraduate scholars across the United States, and to support their goal of becoming scientists or physician-scientists — is a perfect fit for the Amgen Scholars Program,” says Kazmierczak.  “I am delighted that this award will allow us to offer more students the opportunity to move toward these goals at Yale.”

Yale is now accepting applications for the 2019 Amgen BioMed Scholars Program through Feb. 1 at the BioMed SURF website.