Stanford ChEM-H receives NIH training grant
The ChEM-H Chemistry/Biology Interface Predoctoral Training Program will support four students in the first year and is intended to support six students in the following four years. Reflecting the breadth and focus of ChEM-H, the students will come from departments within the Schools of Humanities and Sciences (Biology, Chemistry), Engineering (Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering) and Medicine (Biochemistry, Chemical and Systems Biology).
Training a new generation of scientists able to work across disciplines has been a goal for Chaitan Khosla, director of Stanford ChEM-H, an interdisciplinary institute focusing on chemistry, engineering and medicine for human health.
The institute’s training program has already enrolled 17 PhD students and will add another 9 this fall. Some of those existing students will be appointed to the new grant in fall 2016.
“Our training program has helped us recruit the very best students to Stanford,” said Carolyn Bertozzi, professor of chemistry and director of the ChEM-H training program. “The cross-disciplinary training they receive in this program will position our students to lead future efforts to improve human health."
In addition to programming and coursework for their primary departments, the students will participate in activities unique to the program. Some of these include coursework, lab rotations outside their home department, monthly meetings, a summer retreat, a career panel and communications training.
Bertozzi and Khosla, who is also professor of chemical engineering and of chemistry, have said that students who can work across multiple fields will be uniquely able to apply that research toward issues of human health. This training program is one avenue for training this new generation. ChEM-H also supports Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellows, a summer internship program, an undergraduate scholars program and a postdoc society.
