TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION: "Discovering the Neurological Surgery Training Program"
Uploaded: July 12, 2011
Running time: 02:21
CROWN: From the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland: Hello, and welcome to this episode in the series "Training the Next Generation."
The NIH Clinical Center offers an amazing array of training opportunities for medical, dental and nursing students, as well as for more experienced researchers and health professionals. So it's not unusual for someone to take part in one program and then come back for more, as did Dr. Gautam Mehta. He started out in the NIH Summer Internship Program in 2006 and then was selected for the NIH Clinical Research Training Program in 2008 to 2009. In 2010, Dr. Mehta was accepted as the inaugural resident in the ACGME-accredited Neurological Surgery training program with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke in partnership with the University of Virginia. He says what's kept him coming back to the NIH's training programs has been the great experience he had the first time.
MEHTA: After that first experience, I just fell in love with NIH and I wanted to come back. And it was a difficult decision to take a year off from medical school but I knew that clinical research and research in general was going to be a large part of my career and I wanted to make sure I dedicated some time for full-time research training.
CROWN: At the Clinical Center, Dr. Mehta said he found the mentorship he was looking for in a training program.
MEHTA: I think even more than the projects themselves, the attention and the mentorship that is really given to research trainees here is phenomenal. And I really wanted that when I came back.
CROWN: Dr. Russel Lonser is the training director of the Neurological Surgery residency training program which is a collaboration between NIH and the University of Virginia. Dr. Lonser says mentorship is an essential part of the mix.
Dr. LONSER: If I were coming out for training today, the NIH would be exactly the type of program I would be involved with. It has unique features that I think will serve trainees well that want to embark on a neurosurgical academic career.
CROWN: Learn more about all the training and education opportunities at the Clinical Center by going online to www.cc.nih.gov/training. I'm Ellen Crown from the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
