UH-HEART

New Summer Program Recruiting Houston-area Undergraduates to Conduct Cardiovascular Research

April 27 — The new UH-Houston Experience for Advancing Research and Training (HEART) program is recruiting up to five undergraduate students for a 10-week fellowship focused on cardiovascular research.

The program is open to rising juniors, seniors, and immediate graduates with a 3.0 GPA or higher at UH and other Houston-area academic institutions. UH-HEART provides a $6,000 stipend to fellows who complete the program, which runs June 2 through August 4, with additional funding available to attend a research conference within six months of program participation.

Participants will be engaged in a variety of cardiovascular research and enrichment activities under the guidance of a UH faculty sponsor. Benefits of participating in the program include become a contributing team member in a cutting-edge cardiovascular research laboratory; developing responsible research skills; gaining didactic knowledge and firsthand experience of transdisciplinary research, collaborations, and communication; and cultivating the basic and transferable skills necessary for succeeding in graduate school and a subsequent career in research.

The application deadline is Sunday, May 9. For application and eligibility information, visit the UH-HEART webpage. Applicants will be notified of acceptance by May 12, with applicant's confirmation of acceptance due May 16.

UH-HEART is supported by a three-year, $165,000 American Heart Association Institutional Award for Undergraduate Student Training grant.

"Our goal is to provide the next generation of diverse cardiovascular researchers with transdisciplinary research experience and a toolbox of translatable skills that will prepare them for future careers in cardiovascular-related research, " said UHCOP Professor Bradley K. McConnell, Ph.D., FAHA, FCVS, program director and one of the UH-HEART faculty members.

"Additionally, UH-HEART is dedicated to providing each student with quality training that will benefit them in their future careers as researchers. The program has several exciting workshops and seminars with the goal to instill passion in the area of cardiovascular research."

The other faculty mentors in the program are Krishna Boini, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology, and Yang Zhang, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology; Renita Horton, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering; and Yu Liu, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry. Tho Tran, Ph.D., research assistant professor of chemistry, serves as the assistant director of UH-HEART.

UH-HEART is housed within the UH Drug Discovery Institute, which fosters transdisciplinary collaborations between faculty from UH colleges of Engineering, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Medicine, Natural Science and Mathematics, Optometry, Pharmacy, and Technology.