Valley high school students graduate from UCSF Fresno's Summer Biomedical Internship Program tonight

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, Aug. 12, 2002

Cara Peracchi Douglas
UCSF Fresno
(559) 288-3257
carapd@ucsfresno.edu

Valley high school students graduate from UCSF Fresno's Summer Biomedical Internship Program tonight

FRESNO - What do Fresno, Clovis, Atwater, Visalia, and Tulare have in common? These Valley towns have local high school students that will graduate from the highly competitive University of California, San Francisco, Fresno (UCSF Fresno) Summer Biomedical Internship Program tonight (Aug.12).

UCSF Fresno’s Summer Biomedical Internship Program receives applications from high school juniors Valley wide. Students are selected based on academic merit, questionnaires, transcripts, SAT exam scores, and letters of recommendation. Only 10 students are admitted into the rigorous 10-week program.

Tonight, Monday, August 12, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. the biomedical students will present their research projects at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital Auditorium in Fresno.

Fresno area students are:

Julie Veroff is a student at Edison High School in Fresno. She is working on a project with William Hennrikus, MD and UCSF Fresno Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon at Children’s Hospital of Central California (CHCC).
Vicky Yung is a student at Edison High School in Fresno. She is helping Francesca Geertsma, MD and UCSF Fresno Pediatric Infectious Disease Director at CHCC. Vicky is conducting research on Valley Fever patients.
Matthew Herrick is a student at Bullard High School. He is studying the alteration of gene expression in bacteria at California State University, Fresno with Alice Wright, PhD.
Kimmie Fuller is a student at Bullard High School. She is spending her summer assisting Greg Hendey, MD and UCSF Fresno Emergency Medicine Residency Research Director. Kimmie’s project measures the levels of nausea in emergency room patients.

Clovis area students include:

Emily Dodds is a student at Clovis West High School. Emily is working with Paul Mills, PhD and UCSF Fresno Associate Clinical Professor Ameritas. Emily is working at the California Cancer Registry this summer. Her project is doing an epidemiological analysis of brain cancer patterns in the Central Valley.
Ryan Jue is a student at Clovis East High School. She is assisting on a pharmaceutical study under the
direction of N. Vishveshwara, MD and UCSF Fresno Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatric Neonatology at CHCC. Ryan is studying the effects of surfactants on premature infant’s lungs.
Amy Ng is a student at Clovis West High School. She is working with Stefan Haller, MD and UCSF Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital. Amy is working on a study that examines the use of ultra sound instead of angiograms for diagnosis of artery blockage.

Visalia area student is:

Traci Kitaoka is a student at Golden West High School in Visalia. She is studying the alteration of gene expression in bacteria under the direction of Alice Wright, PhD and Biology Professor at California State University, Fresno.

Atwater area student is:

Julie Olson is a student at Atwater High School. She is working with Kent Yamaguchi, MD and UCSF Fresno Clinical Professor of Medicine. Julie is researching the effects of antioxidants and leukocyte inhibitors on healing skin flaps used in plastic surgery.

Tulare area student is:

Andrea Smith is a student from Tulare. She travels from Tulare to attend San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno. Under the direction of Cynthia Curry, MD, and UCSF Fresno Clinical Professor for CHCC, Andrea is learning about genetic conditions. Andrea is helping to catalogue slides of genetic conditions to teach medical residents.

At the conclusion of the 10-week UCSF Fresno Summer Biomedical program, interns are awarded educational stipends.

Note: For more information about the Summer Biomedical Internship Program, contact Cara Peracchi Douglas at 559.243.3606.