Kathleen Bashant is busy in the research lab of Dr. Ralph Budd, a faculty member at the University of Vermont’s College of Medicine, working on a project for the third straight year. She’s part of a team that is looking at dendritic cell and gamma delta T cell interactions and their role in the immune system -- in particular, in Lyme arthritis. She spends hours every week conducting tissue culture experiments and trying to come up with a procedure for how best to isolate the gamma delta T cells.
Bashant seems like an ambitious graduate student on her way to a Ph.D., but she doesn’t even have an undergraduate diploma. She’s a junior in UVM’s Honors College, double-majoring in microbiology and molecular genetics, and a prime example of the special cross-cultural relationship between the university’s undergraduate life sciences departments and its top ranked, on-campus College of Medicine.
The medical college’s location in the heart of campus might not seem like a big deal, but it’s highly unusual. Most medical colleges are located across town, or across the state, from their home universities.
“Sharing a campus with a medical school promotes direct interactions among faculty and among graduate students, and that extends to the undergraduate level, too, where students have direct access to medical school faculty,” says Jim Vigoreaux, chair of the Biology Department. “As undergraduate advisers, we have the liberty of advising students to pursue the opportunities offered -- not only by our own departments -- but also those provided by the College of Medicine, because it’s right next door."
Budd works closely with graduate and medical students in his lab, but he also wants undergraduates like Bashant to feel like part of the team. He requires them to read grants and any background materials before starting projects, and he encourages them to think for themselves.
“I tell them, you don’t need to know an awful lot in the field to start asking good questions; you don’t need to know a huge number of facts to be creative,” Budd says. “And once they get over that hurdle, it becomes fun for them.”
The benefits of having a medical school so close go beyond the dozens of labs undergrads can choose from. Med school faculty regularly teach undergraduate courses. Diane Jaworski, a professor of neurological science, for example, teaches a sophomore anatomy and physiology course -- and teaches it well. She recently won a Kroepsch-Maurice award, UVM’s top honor for excellence in undergraduate teaching.
It’s part of the culture of the College of Medicine to encourage faculty to engage with the undergraduate population, work that in Jaworski’s experience is highly gratifying. “I want to be able to give back to the students and open career opportunities they might not otherwise even contemplate,” she says. “If I can catch them early in their career, I can make a difference.”
That undergrad-medical faculty interaction takes place beyond the classroom, too -- many College of Medicine professors also serve as advisers for Honors College student theses.
As an undergraduate, Rob Rudy ’13, a student at Harvard Medical School, took advantage of another exceptional opportunity UVM’s College of Medicine offers undergraduate students: the Premedical Enhancement Program, which he calls “amazing.” PEP is a mentoring program co-sponsored by the Honors College and the College of Medicine for students who are committed to going on to a career in medicine. They’re invited to apply at the end of their freshman year -- roughly 30 to 40 students do so each year, for 10 slots; those who are accepted will spend a minimum of 16 hours per semester shadowing a physician and attend two Grand Rounds sessions. In addition, they’ll enjoy a second mentorship with a medical student.
For PEP participants, it’s a unique chance to get to know the College of Medicine and its faculty, says Dr. Charlotte Reback, PEP director, but also to get a feel for the practice of medicine, including both physician-patient and physician-nurse interactions and the overall workings of a hospital and its staff.
“As an undergraduate student, having access to that -- having this window into what medicine is like -- was really unique,” Rudy says.
Bashant, meanwhile, calls Budd’s lab her home base, returning there between classes to do her studying while squeezing in an assay, as time permits. The hands-on work has been a key part of her education. “You learn so much more when you’re working on something independently, compared to when you’re working on something in a class,” she says. “It’s impossible not to understand how the science and research as a whole works when you’re actually doing the research.”
It’s good practice for where she hopes to go next. Bashant, who’s just starting to look at graduate schools, plans to earn a doctorate in immunology with an eye to becoming a research professor. “That’s what I want to do with the rest of my life,” she says, “so what better way to learn how to do research than actually doing research?”
Cynthia Forehand, dean of UVM’s Graduate College and a longtime faculty member in the College of Medicine, says the close relationship between UVM and its medical college might start with proximity but goes well beyond it.
“There’s a sense of collaboration at this institution, partly because it’s small, but partly because it’s Vermont, and it’s a very special relationship,” she says. “Undergraduates get to be part of a community that includes all levels of scientific discourse, which is a really unique piece.”
