As all are aware, 2020 has been filled with many significant challenges. Within the neurosurgical community, there is a heightened awareness of our many roles in training the next generation. For students at every level of the pipeline interested in the neurosciences, neurosurgery represents a career with an important purpose. For many students, early exposure in research and clinical shadowing opportunities, under the mentorship of neurosurgery faculty, is vital. It provides access to mentorship and relationship building between students and neurosurgery faculty, as well as exposure to the daily clinical and academic responsibilities of a career in neurosurgery.
At all levels of education, the pandemic has disproportionately affected students from low-income communities and/or underrepresented minorities. A recent article from the New York Times highlighted the challenges of attending at-home classes for low-income college students, many of who don’t have reliable Internet access or physical space to continue their studies. For these students, the hurdles of finding mentorship and forging their burgeoning careers are even more pronounced. Maintaining focus and motivation in the face of financial and other struggles becomes insurmountable without appropriate guidance and support.
Although campuses, laboratories, hospitals and workspaces are closed to students and volunteers, we want to ensure that students are still provided an opportunity to experience and learn about the fields of neuroscience and medicine. In line with our unwavering mission, we are aiming to provide even greater access to students who would otherwise not be able to connect with our department. We are creating virtual opportunities that are as educationally enriching as the in-person ones. These experiences include a Journal Club, a Neuroscience Faculty and Clinician Panel and a Summer Research Program.
The Journal Club allows students a virtual format to work with leading experts in the neurosciences to analyze, discuss and present emerging and foundational topics in the field. The Neuroscience Faculty and Clinician Panel includes twice-weekly discussions with clinicians and researchers that centers on understanding varied career paths and providing practical advice for launching the students’ own areas of study. In this student-moderated forum, students are encouraged to ask questions of and reach out to panel members for ongoing mentorship. Additionally, the participants are given access to the acclaimed Continuing Education Grand Rounds Program in the Stanford University School of Medicine Department of Neurology. The Summer Research Program further challenges students to work directly on hands-on research projects with researchers and professionals from Stanford and the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Hospital. Students collaborate with researchers on individualized projects that allow them to uncover specific interests, such as therapeutic artificial intelligence and the prolonged effects of traumatic brain injury.
They also experience the day-to-day work behind structured research. Although we had to move these programs to a virtual format, the revised structure broadened access and thus the diversity of the cohorts at every level, with students ranging from to high school to graduate school and from local to international geographies. Students at all levels found the programs “inspirational” and were excited to pursue further studies in the neurosciences. The themes of mentorship and service resonated with their search for purpose in these tough times. The positive feedback from the students was encouraging and we hope to provide students with these same opportunities ongoing.
We are re-defining what unites our community by using available technology to maintain common educational goals. In doing so, we have been impressed by the creativity and commitment of both faculty and students in facing these challenges. We look forward to the ways in which we all continue to stand together.
