Aspirnaut

The 2023 Aspirnaut summer research interns, flanked by the program’s co-founders, Julie Hudson, MD, left, and Billy Hudson, PhD, back row, right. (photo by Susan Urmy)
July 25, 2024

Aspirnaut Summer Research Program symposium set for July 30

The presentations will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in room 202 Light Hall and are open to the public. 
July 10, 2024

Aspirnaut Summer Research Symposium is July 12

Now in its 17th year, the Aspirnaut pipeline offers a summer research program at VUMC primarily for rural and diverse high school and undergraduate students.

By Bill Snyder
The 2023 Aspirnaut summer research interns, flanked by the program’s co-founders, Julie Hudson, MD, left, and Billy Hudson, PhD, back row, right. (photo by Susan Urmy)
October 12, 2023

Student researchers at VUMC earn accolades for their report

A research paper co-authored by 23 high school and undergraduate students participating in Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Aspirnaut summer research program has been selected as one of the “Editor’s Picks” by the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

By Bill Snyder
Aspirnaut student Nayla Ramos Vega, 15, wants to be a neurosurgeon.
July 19, 2023

Summer program gives high schoolers taste of discovery

Since the Aspirnaut high school summer research internship program was launched in 2009, 334 students from 34 states have participated. To date, nearly 90 of them have gone to earn MD degrees, PhDs, or both.

By Bill Snyder
Julie Hudson, MD, far left left, and Billy Hudson, PhD, far right, with this year's cohort of 19 high school students from eight states who participated in the summer research program at VUMC. (photo by Susan Urmy)
July 11, 2023

Aspirnaut scientific symposium set for Friday, July 14

The Vanderbilt University Medical Center community is invited to attend a scientific symposium on Friday, July 14, presented by high school participants in the Aspirnaut K-20 STEM pipeline for diversity and wellness.

By Bill Snyder
Aspirnaut Sahra Hassan, right, a senior at Burlington High School in Burlington, Vermont, worked on mitochondrial DNA maintenance with postdoctoral scientist Iva Chitrakar, PhD.
March 2, 2023

VUMC’s Aspirnaut program to install science lab at Wynne High School in Arkansas

A chemical biology research lab fit for an academic medical center is being installed at Wynne High School (WHS) in Wynne, Arkansas, as part of a pilot project of Aspirnaut STEM pipeline at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

By Craig Boerner
August 3, 2022

VUMC’s Aspirnaut program celebrates 15th anniversary, and NBC News returned to highlight its students

A link to the video story and an inside look at the taping and some of this year's participants
By Bill Snyder
August 3, 2022

Science career “pipeline” garners national attention

Vanderbilt's Aspirnaut STEM pipeline for diversity and wellness recently celebrated its 15th anniversary with a daylong scientific symposium, followed by a feature on the program broadcast Aug. 2 on NBC Nightly News.
By Bill Snyder
August 29, 2019

Aspirnaut education program reaches decade mark

Ten years on, a unique summer research program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center designed primarily for rural high school students with limited resources is achieving its goal of increasing the diversity of the nation’s scientists and engineers.
By Bill Snyder
July 20, 2017

Aspirnaut program helps launch students into science

Now in its ninth year, a unique summer research program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) designed primarily for rural students with limited resources is proving that talent has no zip code.
By Bill Snyder
July 16, 2015

Aspirnaut event details impact of art in science

Students watched, transfixed, for nearly an hour last Friday as internationally known portrait artist Igor Babailov sketched Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs and dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
By Bill Snyder
April 22, 2014

Class of 2014: Domonique Bragg and Cody Stothers are Aspirnaut pioneers

Seniors Domonique Bragg and Cody Stothers, who both hail from rural Arkansas, followed a similar path to Vanderbilt.
By VUMC News and Communications
December 19, 2013

Ancient chemical bond may aid cancer therapy: study

A chemical bond discovered by Vanderbilt University scientists that is essential for animal life and which hastened the “dawn of the animal kingdom” could lead to new therapies for cancer and other diseases.
By Bill Snyder
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