BVU Students Go Behind the Scenes at Mayo Clinic
Eight students from Buena Vista University recently took a two-day trip to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to gain a behind-the-scenes look at various types of science and medicine-based professional opportunities.
Eight students from Buena Vista University recently took a two-day trip to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to gain a behind-the-scenes look at various types of science and medicine-based professional opportunities.
Dr. Brian Lenzmeier, professor of biology, and Dr. Kristy McClellan, associate professor of biology, were the faculty advisors for the trip, which was sponsored by the BVU Stine Endowment Committee, established by a recent endowment gift from Harry and Molly Stine. The trip was targeted toward BVU science majors in their sophomore and junior years who are in the planning stages for their careers.
Students who participated in the trip were Jacob Braddock, a junior biology major from Swea City; Jaelyn Daggs-Olson, a junior chemistry major from Eldora; Hailey Dollen, a sophomore biochemistry major from Persia; Jarrett Drummer, a sophomore biochemistry and communication studies major from Conrad; Elizabeth Kim, a senior biology and Spanish major from Fairmont, Minn.; Christian Kladstrup, a junior biology major from Spencer; Jacob Staudt, a junior biology and chemistry major from Forest City; and Gerald Quinlan, a sophomore biology and Spanish major from Oxford.
The BVU visitors got a sense of what it would be like to take their education beyond an undergraduate degree when they sat in with graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty on a discussion and critique of a research paper in the virus and gene therapy program at Mayo Graduate School. They had an inside view of the life of a researcher and the type of lab where they might work with a private tour of Mayo Clinic's Molecular Medicine research facilities and other core departments. They learned the role philanthropy and the business office plays in running a major medical center when visiting with Mayo Clinic's principal gifts officer. The group had a glimpse into the direction that medicine and medical research is taking in the next 20 years from the director of Mayo Clinic's Center for Individualized Medicine.
They also visited Imanis Life Sciences, a biotechnology company, and saw how industry intersects with medical science and learned the differences between a basic research lab where the emphasis is on making new discoveries and a professional setting where research is focused on developing new ways to meet customer needs.
"It's exciting to have the students interact with top-notch scientists and to actually see some of the opportunities they will have after they graduate from BVU," said Lenzmeier. "It is important for them to realize that for a major medical facility like the Mayo Clinic to run efficiently, they need people who are talented at a variety of things, including science, medicine, business and fundraising. I think each of the students who took the trip can better picture themselves finding a way to use their own unique talents to contribute professionally to an institution like the Mayo Clinic."
Lenzmeier would like to repeat this type of student discovery trip in the future. "We are very appreciative of everything the staff at the Mayo Clinic did in organizing this trip for us and for taking time from their daily duties to do so," said Lenzmeier. "The students and faculty learned a lot, and we had several engaging discussions about new careers, the future of medicine and the ethical implications of advances in medicine. We all returned to campus excited about what the future holds for each of us."