Highlighting CHOP Research's Commitment to Education

As one of the premier pediatric research institutions in the country, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute has long been committed to education and to training the next generation of pediatric pioneers. CHOP Research offers educational programs at all levels, from those geared to undergraduates to programs for physician fellows.

For example, the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program offers student-scholars experience in the fields of Engineering, Behavioral Science, Education, Population Science, and Statistics. REU students are paired with Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) mentors for the duration of the 10-week program to work on specific projects while attending workshops, seminars, and receiving training in research ethics and conducting studies.

In a recent post on CIRP’s Research in Action blog, Carol Murray, MSS, MLSP, the Center’s training coordinator, pointed out how several CIRP student trainees “are making significant contributions.”

“As fully integrated research team members, student trainees work alongside CIRP scientists helping to advance the science toward creating positive impact on the lives of children, adolescents, and young adults,” Murray writes.

And during the Research Institute’s recent annual Scientific Symposium, CHOP Research Chief Scientific Officer Phil Johnson, MD, noted that CHOP is uniquely positioned to meet the training challenges posed by decreased federal funding for research. Programs like the CHOP Research Institute Summer Scholars Program, which provides full-time mentored research experience to biomedical science students, with a special emphasis on advancing translational pediatric research, “brings undergraduates into the Research Institute and shows them how great science is,” Dr. Johnson said.

He also discussed the new CHOP Pediatric Translational Research Workshop for Basic Scientists. Designed to give basic scientists from both in and outside CHOP “a fundamental understanding of translational research,” the workshop will be held October 14-18 and will feature presentations on a number of topics, including an overview of translational research, a discussion of pediatric pharmacology, and the ethics of performing translational pediatric research. CHOP leaders Tom Curran, PhD, FRS, Paul Offit, MD, Steve Grupp, MD, PhD, and Alan Flake, MD, MSCE, are tentatively slated to speak.

“These programs are the way we will rebuild the future generation of scientists,” Dr. Johnson said.

Learn more about CHOP Research’s educational programs.