History
The Stanford Institutes of Medicine (SIM) Summer Research Program was founded in 1998 as the CCIS Summer Research Program with a generous donation from a local family. The program was initially part of the Center for Clinical Immunology at Stanford. The goals of the program included increasing interest in biological sciences and immunology among high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, and the United States.
During the first summer of the program, in 2000, 10 high school juniors and seniors participated. In 2001, the number had increased to 20 students and has remained at 20 to 25 students through the summer of 2007. Funding of the program has since included Genentech, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease's Asofsky Program, FOCiS, and the generous support of private donors.
Since the first summer, approximately 150 students have participated in the program, including some who returned to the program for a second year. Five students who have been in the program have been semifinalists in the Intel Science Talent Search, and one of these has gone to become a finalist. In addition, two students were semifinalists in the Seimen's competition, and one student was named a Presidential Scholar by President Bush
Over 80% of the students in the first six classes are majoring in science in college or are pursuing careers in research, medicine or science related fields. Students from our first few graduating classes have now entered medical and graduate school at universities such as Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Johns Hopkins and Duke. Approximately twenty students have also coauthored publications on their research in our program in highly respected peer-reviewed journals, such as Nature Medicine, Blood, PNAS, and Science.
In 2007, the Stanford Institute for Immunology, Transplantation and Infection has cosponsored the program (called CCIS/ITI Summer Intern Program).
In 2008, the program teamed up with five Stanford Institutes that study cancer biology, stem cell biology, neuroscience, immunology and cardiovascular medicine so that students will be able to study in more areas, and so that they can share their experiences. The program was renamed the Stanford Institutes of Medicine (SIM) Summer Research Program. We expect to offer 35-50 slots in the summer of 2008.
