M.D.-Ph.D. Training Program for Minority Students Receives $500,000 Grant

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has pledged a $500,000 challenge grant over the next three years to help create a $1 million endowment for the Gateways to the Laboratory Program. Gateways is a 10-week summer training program that enables talented freshman and sophomore college students from minority and disadvantaged populations to gain the skills necessary for admission to-and success in-M.D.-Ph.D. programs.

The Gateways to the Laboratory Program is part of the joint Tri-institutional M.D.-Ph.D. Program of The Rockefeller University, Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Sloan-Kettering Institute. Each year, these three institutions contribute up to two-thirds of the costs associated with the Gateways to the Laboratory program.

In addition to funding received from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-a $75,000 grant in 1997 enabled the program to increase enrollment from 12 to 15 students each year-support also has been received from the National Institutes of Health, the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, Medtronic and the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Charitable Trust. A $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 1991 helped launch the Tri-institutional M.D.-Ph.D. Program.

“This gift provides crucial funding as we seek to increase the representation of minority communities in the biomedical sciences,” says Arnold J. Levine, Ph.D., president of The Rockefeller University. “We are grateful that the Mellon Foundation continues to provide generous support for this important program.”

With the sequencing of the human genome and breakthroughs in biomedical technology, the transition to the era of molecular medicine-characterized by personalized healthcare tailored to the genetic causes of disease-depends on M.D.-Ph.D.s.

The distinctions between basic research and clinical science are fading away. The tools of modern genetics and biochemistry are rapidly being adapted as diagnostic methods, bringing technological advancements into the doctor’s office that will radically alter medical practice. Trained M.D.-Ph.D. researchers will direct new fields of research that combine cutting-edge laboratory science with innovative patient-based studies.

The mission of Gateways makes it unique among summer minority training programs. Other programs tend to focus on either medical or graduate school preparation, but Gateways focuses on the special characteristics of combined degree training, which places considerable demands ¾ both academic and personal ¾ on all students. Over the course of the summer, Gateways students receive in-depth exposure to the medical and research requirements, support in dealing with the personal and social pressures that are part of attaining an advanced degree, and tools to successfully apply to and complete an M.D.-Ph.D. program.

Since it was established in 1993, Gateways has enrolled 73 undergraduates. Of these, more than half have gone on to M.D., Ph.D. or M.D.-Ph.D. programs. Five Gateways alumni are enrolled in M.D.-Ph.D. programs at top universities, including Harvard, Johns Hopkins and the University of California at San Francisco. Twenty-four Gateways alumni are still completing their undergraduate education.