Our first cohort of teachers came from McKinley Technology High School.

Sherry Richardson, worked with Dr. Catherine Limperopoulos in the Developing Brain Research Laboratory. Her research looked at stress levels in pregnant women and its effects on their unborn children.

Melissa Friedman, worked with Dr. Joseph Scafidi, neurologist. Her research looked at mouse models of prematurity and biomarker. She also attended clinical rotations.

Geneva Jost spent her time with the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders and worked closely with Dr. Lauren Kenworthy, her team of MRI technologists and psychology staff who perform neuroimaging tests and neurocognitive testing, respectively. Her research was on how autistic boys differ from autistic girls. She spent one full day in the burn clinic to trace and experience a day in the life of clinical psychologists. A large portion of her time was spent observing the many different neurocognitive tests that contribute to the diagnosis of ASD.

Kiana Bennett shared her personal connection with why she chose the topic of sickle cell disease (SCD) and hemoglobin disorders. At Children’s, Ms. Bennett observed SCD infant clinic, transition clinic, did in patient rounds and spent a week in laboratory medicine and the blood bank where she observed and performed blood counts, hemoglobin electrophoresis, attended a blood drive on the blood mobile and followed the process of what happens once a blood unit is drawn with emphasis on molecular blood typing specifically for SCD. Ms. Bennett spent time learning about gene therapy and clinical trial design and was able to spend a week at NIH where she observed adult in and outpatient care including SCD patients post-transplant.

Andrew Schuster research worked with a de-identified human subjects data set of serial microbiome assays of infectious complications in Cystic Fibrosis with Dr. Andrea Hahn, from the Center for Genetic Medicine Research. Dr. Hahn helped teach a technique called metagenomic sequencing analysis. Due to the pandemic, in person meetings were impossible, so the pair instead relied on weekly check ins, readings, and other self-guided tutorials. Despite the circumstances, he was able to develop the skills needed to create coursework for his students in the 2021-time frame. Our teacher who worked with Dr. Hahn, based his summer project on the current work he was doing at his school.

Francisco Barrera worked with Conrad Russell Cruz, MD, PhD who co-runs GWU's cell-based immunotherapies lab. Dr. Cruz is with the GWU Cancer Center and CNRI’s Center for Cancer and Immunology Research which allowed this teacher to deepen content knowledge on immunology and bioinformatics. Through collaboration with Dr. Cruz, he acquired new skills using biological databases to analyze molecular interactions that are key to developing new therapies for cancers and viral pathogens and was able to engage in workshops where graduate students presented research conducted either using software or in the lab. Due to the pandemic, research was done using Bioinformatics databases, focused on finding cell surface receptor proteins in various pathogens (including COVID-19) which are essential in the attachment and entry to host cells. Throughout the experience, he received constant constructive feedback from his mentor and other graduate students which helped enhance his craft as a scientist, particularly in the areas of viral immunology. He gained valuable content knowledge through class lectures, assigned readings and presentations as well as research skills using various bioinformatic tools. These acquired skills will be translated into the classroom as he teaches a whole unit in immunology. The mentor and his experienced graduate students offered to be guest speakers in his classroom, an opportunity that will enrich and provide fruitful gains in the students’ learning experience.

Courtney was mentored by Tarik Haydar, PhD, Director of the Center for Neuroscience Research at CNH/CNRI and tenured Professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology and Physiology at GW University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences. As a result, the teacher will receive a STEM certificate from GW and a stipend. To conclude the program, all students and the participating teacher presented their work/research this summer to their peers, GWU School of Education Faculty, and mentors. Mentors were given the option to request continued work with their METEOR student/teacher. Of the 2021 cohort, three students started their work and our METEOR teacher continued her work in Dr. Haydar’s lab through 2022.