Johns Hopkins programs give students with diverse backgrounds exposure to research labs
BALTIMORE -- A Johns Hopkins program is giving Baltimore teens with diverse backgrounds exposure to biomedical research.
"We're looking to identify the immunobiological makeup of tumors from both Black and White patients," said Jelani Jarrett, a post-Baccalaureate scholar, who is researching cancer disparities.
Jarrett's project is driven by concerns he saw from his hometown and dealing with the loss of a loved one from breast cancer.
"Being that I'm from Jamaica, where we also have disparities in cervical cancer," Jarrett said.
Jarrett is getting guidance with his work through the Johns Hopkins Doctoral Diversity Program. It's just one of several initiatives by the medical system looking to give back to diverse backgrounds.
"We've created now the full Johns Hopkins Initiative for Careers in Science and Medicine which includes programs for fifth graders," said Dr. Douglas Robinson, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. "We have then the two high school programs."
Robinson says there's also an undergraduate program and a post-baccalaureate program.
Working in the lab
Dr. Robinson said the programs started in 2009 with a high school program called SARE, the Summer Academic Research Experience. He is the brains behind the effort designed to expose Baltimore teens from vulnerable communities to biomedical research.
"My wife and I got involved in Boys Hope Girls Hope of Baltimore," Dr. Robinson said. "A couple of scholars of Boys Hope Girls Hope were very interested in coming and working in my lab."
Robinson said he invited those teens to his lab for the summer. From there, he and his team worked to make this outreach program an annual initiative.
"You walk in and you're surrounded by unfamiliar objects and smells, but then you have these really nice people that are like a close-knit family," said Christopher Miller, a software engineer.
New perspectives
The program helped Christopher Miller understand biochemistry when he participated in SARE as a SEED School of Maryland student.
More importantly, Miller said SARE opened his eyes to new perspectives, mentors and skills that have allowed him to succeed as a software engineer today.
"I learned how to deal with the ambiguity of new problems that haven't been solved before and that's priceless for any job," Miller said.
Beating the odds
Dr. Robinson said SARE's goal is to help teens beat the odds. Many of them have attended college with partial or full financial support.
"We just updated our data," Robinson said. "This year, the updated numbers are 74% have graduated college by four years post-high school. Compare that to the national rate, the national rate is 65% of students across the whole country."
Robinson says these scholars are also setting themselves up for success and to make a change.
"They are positioning themselves to build relationships that are going to make a major impact for their communities," he said.
Dr. Robinson hopes this effort fosters more diverse labs across the country.
"STEM work, generally, is very much dependent on the diversity of perspectives," Robinson said. "Everybody has a different view that they can bring, a different experience, life experience, wisdom, thought process to bring to the table. When you can make STEM broadly accessible to all, we diversify that information, that knowledge-based, that idea...all of which is going to benefit and impact the way science and STEM can work."