FDSRPGoals
"Creating an extensive network of Native American health professionals"
The Four Directions Summer Research Program (FDSRP) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School helps Native American students realize their dreams of becoming physicians, researchers, and public health professionals; as well as role models and teachers in the academic community.
Our student alumni also take information and ideas back to their own communities, increasing the impact and influence of the program.As we near our 20th year of continuous operation, we are creating an extensive network of Native American health professionals that will serve as a venue for knowledge sharing, nationwide mentoring, and advocates for improving the health of Native Americans.
Our previous participants say:
“Prior to attending the FDSRP I was hesitant about pursuing a career in the medical field because I was intimidated. The program helped me realize that applying to med school or trying to get into a good graduate science program is very possible if have knowledge about the process, and experience. … I feel that after being in FDSRP I am better prepared to meet the challenges of the application process; I am ready and willing to experience the demands of learning medicine…; and most importantly, I have greater confidence that I can achieve my goals as well as fulfill the expectations of my desired career. The FDSRP was a valuable and unique experience for anyone who [wants] to get an in-depth idea of what it is like to be in a science or medicine related career, without the pressure of being evaluated or judged.”
“I’ll never forget the great friends that I made while attending FDSRP. Being able to interact and connect with other Natives with similar goals and interests was fantastic!”
“The impact upon my intellectual and academic development and the relationships that were begun and continue to be maintained have been invaluable to me in my professional development. My professional development and choices have always been guided by the ethic that I witnessed in the FDSRP. That is, to not only achieve as best as you can, but to provide opportunities for others to excel as well.”
Alumni SPOTLIGHT
Erin Tansey – FDSRP 2003
Erin was born in Albuquerque New Mexico, and spent her childhood in Gallup and Albuquerque. While working towards her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry She chose FDSRP to gain new and exciting experiences before going out into the working world.
Erin says that FDSRP presented the opportunity for her to network with peers, medical students, and physicians with common interests and most importantly inspired her to pursue the goal of going to medical school. She said “FDSRP gave me a great sense of confidence in myself that I could be anything that I wanted to be” and fondly remembers being voted most likely to become surgeon general. When the program was over, she was even offered a job in the research lab she had worked in.
As an undergraduate she was able to do research on Gene therapy at the National Human Genome Research Institute and was awarded for work on their educational programs in 2005. In 2007 while involved in a research project with the Mayo Clinic, she was named “Spirit of the Eagles Hampton Scholar” She is proud to have continued to work through her goals, starting medical school in 2007 at University of Minnesota Duluth, the mission of which is to train physicians that want to work in rural areas or with an American Indian population. Erin became a mom in 2007 and says “whatever path life leads me down after medical school, I hope it will be a balanced on in which I can use my training and knowledge to help address issues in health disparities in American Indian communities.”