By Gilda Barabino, PhD

2008-09-01

Dr. Barabino is Vice Provost for Academic Diversity at Georgia Institute of Technology and Professor and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint department of Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University.

In 2003, ASH created the Minority Medical Student Award Program (MMSAP) as part of its Minority Recruitment Initiative (MRI). The program is an eight- to 12-week summer research experience for minority medical students in their first or second year of medical school. The MMSAP is designed to increase the participation of underrepresented minorities in hematology careers. Olabunmi Agboola, from the University of Illinois at Chicago, has had a long-standing interest in hematology and applied to the MMSAP in 2007 to explore hematology research as a possible career path. Ms. Agboola was paired with research mentor Christopher Flowers, MD, of Emory University. Dr. Flowers and Ms. Agboola focused on patients with lymphoma and multiple myeloma who are deciding whether to have an autologous stem cell transplantation.

Ms. Agboola said, "Dr. Flowers is one of the most kind and caring individuals you could ever work with, and to top that off he is a great teacher. My experience was very well rounded. I got the opportunity to shadow him in the clinic and attend grand rounds. He is the type of person that will meet you where you are and bring you to where you need to be."

Motivated by her previous experience and with encouragement from Dr. Flowers, Ms. Agboola applied for a second year of research. She said, "I wanted another year to refine my research abilities. I learned a lot under Dr. Flowers. I wanted to be able to use what I learned and expand upon it."
This past summer they focused on decision-making models in patients with sickle cell disease who are contemplating whether to have an allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

When asked to describe his experience working with Ms. Agboola, Dr. Flowers said, "She is a great pleasure to work with. She brings a great spark of enthusiasm to her research work, which is key in clinical and epidemiological studies that involve patient interaction. Her commitment to learning and her work ethic were an inspiration to others in my lab."

Dr. Flowers first got involved in MMSAP in 2004 and he said that he will continue to serve as a mentor in the program. Since 2004, he has served as a research mentor to four students. Three of those four students have returned for a second year of research. He said that the MMSAP is rewarding in more ways than he can count. He expects that many of the relationships he has developed with students in this program will be longstanding as their careers develop.

"The MMSAP provides an ideal experience for personal and scientific interaction with some of the nation's best, brightest, and most talented young scientists. Two of my former students have used the MMSAP as a springboard to perform additional research for one year at the NIH. This clearly shows that the program is promoting minority students to pursue training toward academic careers," Dr. Flowers said.

Ms. Agboola is currently in her third year of medical school. She plans to do her residency in an internal medicine/pediatrics dual program and then continue on with a fellowship in hematology. She would like to focus on patients with sickle cell disease, thalassemia, and leukemia.

Ms. Agboola and Dr. Flowers exemplify the intent and success of the program in developing future physician-scientists in hematology through effective mentoring.

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