Training the Next Generation

Gonzalo Hernandez-Hernandez, Ph.D.

On July 15, 2024, I had the honor of being a keynote speaker for the summer Migrant Education Program organized by the Antelope Valley School District. As a proud alumnus of Antelope Valley High School (class of '08) in Lancaster, California, where I participated in the English as a Second Language (ESL) program and benefited from the Migrant Education Program, this event held great personal significance for me. Returning to my high school after 16 years was a nostalgic and rewarding experience.

Addressing K-12 students and their parents, I shared my journey of arriving from Mexico at the age of 14 and overcoming obstacles to becoming a scientist. I recounted the challenges I faced, the perseverance required, and my achievements along the way, hoping to inspire them with my story. The enthusiasm and curiosity in the eyes of the students were truly heartwarming. Their eager faces reflected the same dreams and hopes I once had. I emphasized the importance of education and resilience, wanting them to see that their backgrounds and struggles could be the very foundation of their future success.

The event was a heartfelt and uplifting experience, leaving me inspired by the determination and aspirations of the young attendees. My keynote was more than just a speech; it was a celebration of potential, a call to action, and a reminder that they hold the power to shape their future. As a member of the Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences, I am committed to developing support programs to remind K-12 students of the boundless possibilities that lie ahead for them in science and medicine careers.

Chiara Anna Giordani

I am currently a second-year medical student in the ARC-MD program, and throughout my first year, I trained in the Clancy Lab to learn computational approaches to cardiovascular research. With the invaluable support of my research mentor, Colleen Clancy, Ph.D., my clinical mentor, Saul Schaefer, M.D., and the ARC-MD program directors, I was awarded a 2024 AHA Student Scholarship in Cardiovascular Disease. This funding allowed me to undertake an 8-week summer research selective in the Clancy Lab between my first and second years of medical school. During this time, I successfully executed a project aimed at predicting optimal therapy for atrial fibrillation, culminating in a poster presentation at the International Center for Mechanical Sciences in Udine, Italy. While there, I attended the course “Computational Modeling of the Heart: from Fundamentals to Clinical Applications,” which enhanced my training in computational modeling and provided me with valuable tools for my current research and future projects.

I am deeply grateful for the ARC-MD program’s partnership with the Center of Precision Medicine. As an aspiring physician-scientist, the opportunity to work alongside Ph.D. students, postdoctoral scholars, physicians, and project scientists in this space has been instrumental in my professional development. 

Hannah Zukowski

I recently participated in the Summer School in Computational Physiology (SSCP) 2024 at the Simula Research Laboratory in Oslo, Norway. The program provided an intensive two-week immersion into advanced computational methods and their applications in physiology. I had the opportunity to engage with leading researchers and fellow graduate students in a collaborative environment, enhancing my understanding of computational modeling and its implications in the biomedical field.

My project at Simula focuses on developing a fully coupled electromechanical simulator to assess doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity, aiming to predict arrhythmic risk and cardiac function alterations across different patient demographics. The study integrates existing cell electrophysiology and mechanics models into a tissue-level simulator, investigating the role of mechano-electric feedback in triggering cardiotoxic events.

CISM: Advanced Course in Computational Modeling of the Heart

During the second week in July, I attended the Advanced School on “Computational Modeling of the Heart: From Fundamentals to Clinical Applications” organized by CISM-Euromech in Udine, Italy. At this course, I studied state-of-the-art techniques in cardiac computational modeling, including multi-scale and multi-physics simulations, digital twins, and their clinical applications. During the course, I presented a poster on my work developing a computational model of radiation-induced oxidative stress in human ventricular myocyte (Informational Video), which facilitated valuable discussions and feedback from experts in the field.

Avenue M is a community college-to-medical school pathway program housed at UC Davis School of Medicine, in partnership with CSU Sacramento, Cal Poly Humboldt, and a network of Northern California community colleges. Avenue M supports and mentors students from communities that have been historically excluded in medicine to become physicians.

Our summer program is designed to mentor and train students through engagement in cutting-edge research projects, overseen by faculty and researchers to ensure a comprehensive learning experience. Experienced mentors will guide interns, providing hands-on research opportunities and regular feedback. The program encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and includes training on ethical guidelines, patient confidentiality, and professional conduct. Interns will also have networking and career development opportunities, helping them build professional connections and prepare for future careers in healthcare.

Led by Gonzalo Hernandez-Hernandez, Ph.D., Avenue M students undergo a rigorous summer training program with curriculum that exposes students to broad areas of computational biomedicine from protein structure modeling to health informatics.

The Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences understands that for precision medicine to be successfully integrated into the medical mindset, we must teach and train the next generation of researchers and medical professionals. We regularly look for opportunities to provide mentorship and training for students and researchers in various disciplines that would benefit from a precision medicine approach.

The inaugural cohort of the Academic Research Careers for Medical Doctors (ARC-MD) Program

Frederick Meyers, M.D., M.A.C.P., serves as the Director of the Academic Research Careers for Medical Doctors (ARC-MD) program. The goal of the ARC-MD program is to provide medical students with the foundational skills and professional development that promote a successful career as a physician scientist. The five-year program provides students with research and career mentorship, special experiences, a unique curriculum, and community engagement within a supportive longitudinal learning community.

ARC-MD provides:

• A mentorship community of key teaching faculty who are also physician researchers
• Research and community service opportunities
• Professional development opportunities and advising
• Scholarship support, contingent upon student’s continued participation in program activities
• A stipend to undertake a research-intensive year in a UC Davis faculty laboratory between year 3 and 4

Learn more about research opportunities for medical students

UC Davis hosts one of the inaugural Clinical and Translational Science Centers (CTSC) supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Dr. Meyers currently serves as the director of the CTSC Research Education and Training Program and is a member of the CTSC Oversight and Governance Committee.

Learn more about the research education, training and career development program