With GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences graduate and medical program staff, I attended the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) in Phoenix, Arizona in the hopes of recruiting students to our programs. This conference was a great opportunity for students to develop as future scientists. Students presented research posters, attended scientific presentations, and participated in professional development seminars and workshops. They also had the opportunity to network with senior scientists and learn about different graduate programs offered from universities all over the country including George Washington University.
I was surprised at the number of people attending the conference. There were over 4,000 attendees, over half of whom were undergraduate and postbaccalaureate students. There were also hundreds of graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and university faculty and administrators. The attendees came from a variety of scientific disciplines and had interests ranging from Medicine, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Immunology, Microbiology, and Public Health.
The highlight of my experience at ABRCMS was serving as a poster judge for the undergraduate poster presentations. I was impressed with the quality of the students’ research, their firm grasp of their research projects, and their ability to respond to challenging questions. Most importantly I was refreshed by the students’ enthusiasm and commitment to scientific research.
It was a great pleasure to represent the George Washington University at such a wonderful conference that promotes individuals from underrepresented groups in careers in Biomedical Research. I look forward to seeing some of these students join our graduate programs!
