DOM faculty see big future in summer research interns, trainees

Left to right: The Division of Endocrinology’s Jennifer Stern, PhD, and her trainees, Kassandra Bruner, Isabella Byington (“with our Wildcat mascot, Polly, short for ‘Polymerase’”), Yashika Shaju (Honors undergraduate student), and Thadeus Carolyn (2024 summer intern).

Every summer, several programs at the University of Arizona assist faculty members in providing research opportunities to students and grad students across campus. This benefits each side of the equation in that students and researchers both win.

One side gains valuable experience in the lab, noted Janet Funk, MD, vice chair for research in the Department of Medicine and a professor in the Division of Endocrinology. The other gets to share their expertise and train new researchers who can help advance their research goals.

In June, Dr. Funk hosted a “Mentor & Mentee Mixer” for student researchers training in DOM research groups this summer.

“Students from U of A summer research training programs, as well as continuing graduate and undergraduate researchers, gathered together for DOM’s first event that recognizing these talented research trainees. Forty DoM trainees were identified, with the Division of Endocrinology leading the way in number of students being mentored,” she said.

Helping students grow, advancing research goals

For Jennifer Stern, PhD, a Division of Endocrinology researcher and assistant professor of medicine, hosting students in her lab is an honor and a privilege.

She leads a National Institutes of Health-funded research program focused on understanding the role of glucoregulatory hormone signaling in the pathogenesis of obesity, Type II diabetes mellitus, and aging. The goal of the Stern Lab’s research is to improve prevention and treatment of diabetes and age-related metabolic disorders.

“What I have found is that students who work in my lab have been extremely motivated, hard working and really just excited about science and grateful to have the opportunity to get experience doing research,” said Dr. Stern, who has been providing these opportunities since she joined the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson faculty in 2018.

“Undergrads have been an integral part of our research since I first arrived here,” Dr. Stern said. She views it as a way of passing forward opportunities her mentors offered her in her career.

When Dr. Stern came to the U of A five years ago, she had just finished a series of postdoctoral fellowships after earning her doctorate in nutritional biology at the University of California, Davis. The first was as an NIH-funded R25 Cancer Prevention & Control Postdoctoral Fellow at the U of A Cancer Center (2012-14), followed by fellowships (T32: 2014-15, F32: 2015-17, and K99: 2017-18) at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

This summer, Dr. Stern, who also holds a master’s degree in human nutrition from Arizona State University, has five research trainees in her lab – two summer research interns and three continuing trainees.

They expound effusively about her.

“Performing research under Dr. Stern's mentorship has been transformative,” said Thadeus Carlyon, a Class of 2025 undergraduate researcher in her lab who’s sponsored by the U of A Student Transformative Experiences to Progress Undergraduate/Graduate Professionals, or STEP-UP, program.

“She has taught me so much, not just about our specific area of research but about the research process as a whole. She leads by example and always takes the time to explain the 'why' behind what we're doing or why it works. I am incredibly grateful for having the opportunity to conduct research in her lab, and I look forward to continuing to learn from her going forward.”

Two-way learning, staying in touch

Jennifer Stern, PhD, in her office, explaining how glucagon signaling at the liver regulates blood glucose to maintain glucose homeostasis, or balanced blood sugar levels, during fasting.

Dr. Stern, now in Europe where she is presenting her research at the 11th Aging Research & Drug Discovery Meeting in Copenhagen and the 60th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Madrid, said she learns just almost as much from the students.

“Thadeus, he’s remarkable,” she said. “We had a hypothesis that glucagon signaling* may play a role in hepatocellular carcinoma progression. And, so, I said, ‘Let’s do these simple experiments first to start and see where it goes from there.’ Thadeus’ enthusiasm for research and hard work really paid off. His work started a whole new avenue of research for my lab, and he is staying in the lab for his senior year. He wants to see the project through, which is so rewarding for me as a mentor.”

*Glucagon signaling occurs primarily at the liver to maintain glucose homeostasis, i.e., the process by which the body maintains blood sugar levels.

Dr. Stern stays in contact with her interns and trainees, reveling in watching their careers progress, too.

“I feel so proud, like a parent,” she said. “My first graduate student, Tyler, went on after graduation to work in my lab as a research scientist for a year before being accepted into medical school at  Midwestern University in Phoenix. He still runs our fantasy football team every year.”

Another student from last summer returns here this fall from the University of California, Santa Barbara, to pursue her master’s degree and work in Dr. Stern’s lab again. And one of her recent undergrad trainees sent her a photo a few weeks ago of him and his parents at his white coat ceremony at the College of Medicine – Phoenix that was tagged with, “Thanks for everything!”

“Yeah, we stay in touch,” Dr. Stern said. “I frequently receive updates from students who have graduated and moved on. It’s just so rewarding. It makes me happy that I could help them maybe a little bit. I think most of it is their own motivation, but it just makes you feel good inside. There’s not really a word for it.”

Future focus for research trainees

Dr. Funk noted that more DOM events for research trainees are planned during the year, so please email her or Lisa Torres-Jones if you have research trainees in your research group who would like to be recognized and included.

“The significant efforts that DOM faculty devote to training student researchers are often under recognized. We want to change that by not only celebrating our research trainees, but also recognizing and thanking all of our DOM mentors for their important contributions in training the next generation of biomedical researchers,” Dr. Funk added.

EXTRA: Summer research trainees by the numbers

In all this summer, there were about 34 research trainees working in Department of Medicine faculty labs this summer.

Twenty-two were summer research interns training with 13 DOM faculty members. DoM faculty summer research mentors, listed by division, included: Dr. Funk, Dr. Stern, Christian Bime, MD, MSc (Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, or PACCS); Suzann Duan, PhD (Gastroenterology); Sima Ehsani, MD (Hematology & Oncology); Lori Fantry, MD, MPH (Infectious Diseases); Stefano Guerra, MD, PhD, MPH (PACCS); Mohammad Fazel, MD, PharmD (Dermatology); Mahdieh Jedlowski, MD, PharmD (Dermatology); C. Kent Kwoh, MD (chief, Rheumatology; director, Arthritis Center); Paul Langlais, PhD (Endocrinology); Salma Patel, MD, MPH (PACCS); and Franz Rischard, DO (PACCS). 

In addition, there were 12 continuing undergraduate and graduate research trainees training with Drs. Stern, Langlais, Funk, and Dawn Coletta, PhD (Endocrinology); Juanita Merchant, MD, PhD (chief, Gastroenterology); Steven Goldman, MD (Cardiology); and Jennifer Carew, PhD and Steffan Nawrocki, PhD (Hem-Onc).

Among programs sponsoring the students were (listed in order of most current student participants):

• MSRP | Medical Student Research Program, College of Medicine – Tucson
• UROC | Undergraduate Research Opportunities Consortium, U of A Graduate College, via the Summer Research Institute and Minimizing Health Disparities Program
• FRONTERA | FRONTERA (Focusing Research on the Border Area) Summer Internship Program, U of A Health Sciences
• STEP-UP | Student Transformative Experiences to Progress Undergraduate/Graduate Professionals, U of A Cancer Center
• ACOA/MSTEM Thrive | MSTEM (Medicine, Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) THRIVE Program is an R25 NIA-NIH funded training program through the Arizona Center on Aging
• UBRP | Undergraduate Biology Research Program, U of A
• McNair Scholars Program | Also known as the Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program, U of A