By Victor Ghazi | Staff Writer
From transforming alcohols and benzene rings to transforming education, the TrEd Club at the American University of Beirut has been a prominent component of the campus society since 2013, joining students with one common goal: the amelioration of teaching and learning dynamics. At the time of writing, the Transformative Education (TrEd) Drive has 8 initiatives set in place, one of which is the Medical Research Volunteer Program (MRVP), a program targeting undergraduate students with an interest in investing a portion of their time in the field of medical research early on in their academic journey. It equips these students with “an active experience and the opportunity to learn from and support physicians, clinical researchers, basic science researchers, and other health professionals.”1
A matched MRVP student myself, I decided to conduct an interview with Dr. Bilal R. Kaafarani, the leading Professor of the TrEd drive, accompanied by the club’s president, Zeina Al-Khalil.
The MRVP is a product of hard work and patience. Prior to the official inauguration of the MRVP in May 2014, the first stage called the “dormant phase” encompassed matching distinguished and outstanding undergraduate students who were part of the TrEd team with faculty members from AUB’s Faculty of Medicine (FM) who were open to welcoming students. Following the success of the dormant phase, the pilot phase was conducted during the summer of 2014 to outline the program’s procedures and guidelines. During this phase, which officially spearheaded the launch of the MRVP, a designated website and an online portal were developed to facilitate the matching process. After a firm foundation had been established for the program, Fall 2014 marked the current phase of the program, which is open to any pre-medical student from a diverse array of majors (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Nutrition, Medical Lab Technology, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Health…) with certain inclusion criteria.
Since the inception of MRVP, hundreds of undergraduates were matched to work on research projects with Principal Investigators (PIs) from the AUB FM. Some of them co-authored publications in high-impact journals. However, the recent departure of a large number of faculty members from the FM constituted a major hurdle to match all interested students. For instance, in Summer 2021, only 44 out of 136 students were matched in accordance with the number of available faculty members. In the face of this hurdle, the TrEd team created more opportunities for undergraduate students by launching the MRVP-International initiative in September 2021. A database for the AUB graduates (MDs) of the Faculty of Medicine was established, and students were matched to remotely feasible work with researchers abroad. The PIs hosting AUB undergraduates for their research come from Yale University, University College London, Northwestern University, University of Minnesota, University of Iowa, University of Houston, etc. The initiative has been successful, providing 103 students with the chance to assist 24 PIs both locally and internationally. At the time of writing, there is an approximately equal distribution between students in MRVP-International (50) and MRVP-local (53) programs. As more research projects and PIs become available, the MRVP initiative expands as well, day by day.
Kaafarani describes the MRVP as “a game-changer for the concept of pre-medical education among students.” In other words, undergraduate students, enticed by the program’s benefits, have now developed a new culture in seeking to be matched with researchers on active research projects of their interest. It represents the experiential learning means and transformative education arm for undergraduate students. In a research article co-authored by Dr. Kaafarani, Dr. Hani Tamim, and others, the MRVP’s purposes were clearly delineated; the program “allows students to learn how to apply scientific methodology and techniques, acquire laboratory skills and improve social skills such as teamwork and oral communication, and strengthen academic credentials.”1
One of the appealing factors of the program is that prior research experience is not a necessary criterion to enroll in the MRVP. However, the TrEd team is organizing 7 total MRVP workshops throughout the current Spring semester in order to acquaint students with the clinical research process, its ethical considerations, the IRB approval process, basic statistics in medicine, methods to search the literature, hands-on training on EndNote Reference Manager, and manuscript writing. Priority for future MRVP calls will be given to students who attend all the workshops. So far, nearly 200 students have been attending the workshops, which are recorded and posted on Kaafarani’s YouTube channel, making them available to all students who wish to learn.
Upon interviewing my peers who have been matched for MRVP, I found that all of them expressed gratitude and felt privileged to take on research tasks with esteemed PIs. “The research I am partaking in extends beyond classroom knowledge, giving me a wider exposure to real-world issues that need to be properly tackled scientifically,” said one MRVP recipient. Another MRVP-International student acknowledged the “challenge, time commitment, and patience required to conduct proper research, which pushed [her] to her limits to present meaningful work to [her PI in the USA].” “I would have never explored my topic had it not been for this MRVP-International opportunity, and, although it has not been long since I got matched, I cannot wait to see what this program has in store for me and my future from a pre-med perspective” shared yet another student.
Research experience is an essential asset to have as a student, making the MRVP very popular amongst the AUB community. This interest in the program led to the development of the more general Undergraduate Research Volunteer Program (URVP) in 2019 by the MRVP team, spreading the original program across all AUB faculties. Make sure to keep an eye on the URVP website to apply and make the best out of this opportunity!
Reference:
1 Dagher, M. M.; Atieh, J. A.; Soubra, M. K.; Khoury, S.; Tamim, H.; Kaafarani, B. R. “Medical Research Volunteer Program (MRVP): Innovative Program Promoting Undergraduate Research in the Medical Field”, BMC Med. Educ. 2016, 16, 160-171.