Junior Fellows Honored at Culmination Ceremony

NEW YORK CITY, June 10— The 2008 Junior Fellows of The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM), presented the results of their nine-month-long research project at a culmination ceremony held at NYAM May 19. For over a decade, the Junior Fellows program has reached out to New York City Public Schools and has worked to cultivate interest in sciences, medicine, and public health through these projects and programs to engage learning, hone research skills, and improve their ability to pursue a scientific question.

At the beginning of this program, Junior Fellows are charged with picking a subject in the fields of public health, medicine, or science and to create a poster presentation to be presented to peers, teachers, parents, NYAM staff and professionals at the end of the nine month span. The symposium, held in NYAM’s President’s Gallery, was teeming with eager and knowledgeable students ready to share and explain the results of their hard work.

Following the poster presentation, a graduation ceremony was held in celebration of the student’s accomplishments. Students received a certificate of appreciation and a “Junior Fellows” T-shirt. Jo Ivey Boufford, MD, President of NYAM personally congratulated them and spoke of the possibilities that lay before them as they continue on in their educational careers.

The Junior Fellows program, a collaboration of the Office of School Health Programs and the Library at NYAM, has over the years helped hundreds of inner-city students to improve their understanding of and interest in science. The students choose a medical or health topic, devise a question, and research their project with guidance from NYAM librarians in how to use reliable online medical and health sources and move beyond Google and Yahoo.

NYAM launched the Junior Fellows program in 1996 with 25 students in one school. By 2006, 825 students had completed the program, and now in 2008 nearly 1,000 students have completed the program, which is funded entirely by outside grants. It is the only program of its kind in New York.

“Our alumni are spread across the country from California to Maine,” said Leslie Goldman, Director of the Office of School Health Programs.“I want to say on behalf of The New York Academy of Medicine, congratulations to the Junior Fellows class of 2008.”

All graduates of the Junior Fellows Program have the opportunity to participate in the next steps, NYAM’s Scholars Program, which gives Junior Fellows alumni opportunities to continue their scientific advancement by attending seminars and visiting laboratories at facilities such as the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Weill Cornell Medical College and they will meet accomplished researchers, deans, and medical leaders.

The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) has been advancing the health of people in cities since 1847. An independent organization, NYAM addresses the health challenges facing the world’s urban populations through interdisciplinary approaches to policy leadership, education, community engagement and innovative research. Drawing on the expertise of diverse partners worldwide and more than 2,000 elected Fellows from across the professions, our current priorities are to create environments in cities that support healthy aging; to strengthen systems that prevent disease and promote the public’s health; and to implement interventions that eliminate health disparities.

Posted on June 12, 2008

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Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org

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