# Southeastern Medical Scientist Symposium

> **NIH NIH R13** · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · 2020 · $5,000

## Abstract

Summary/Abstract
The Southeastern Medical Scientist Symposium (SEMSS) was established in 2010 by students from
the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Emory University, and Vanderbilt University Medical
Scientist Training Programs (MSTPs). The three programs have co-hosted the symposium for six
years with the location rotating among Birmingham (2010, 2013), Atlanta (2011, 2014), and Nashville
(2012, 2015). The objective of the symposium is to encourage a collaborative and interdisciplinary
educational environment within the Southeast region of the United States. This fully student-
organized symposium seeks to foster connections between the MD/PhD students at multiple
institutions across the Southeast, exposing students to trends, challenges, and opportunities inherent
in careers of academic physicians. Future SEMSS meetings will continue to rotate locations between
Birmingham, Atlanta, and Nashville in order to optimize regional student participation. The program of
each SEMSS has and will continue to include keynote speaker presentations, multiple topic-specific
breakout sessions, MSTP student research oral and poster sessions, and social events. The
breakout sessions are divided into sessions of interest to MD/PhD students, undergraduates, and
residents/fellows. The meetings span two days, with content starting in the early afternoon on a
Saturday and ending in the early afternoon on Sunday. The target audience for the SEMSS is
MD/PhD students in training programs in the southeast and residents/fellows, MD students, and
undergraduate students at southeastern institutions who have an interest in future careers as
physician-scientists. An additional purpose of this symposium is to expose undergraduate students to
physician-scientist trainees and faculty in order to foster excitement about careers in academic
medicine and increase the pipeline of future physician-scientists. We think that this additional focus
on undergraduate students from the region is critical to our purpose of enhancing the pipeline of
students from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine (URIM), as according to US News and
World Report, nine of the top twenty historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are located
in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, or Louisiana.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9853803
- **Project number:** 5R13GM109532-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
- **Principal Investigator:** Talene Alene Yacoubian
- **Activity code:** R13 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $5,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-03-17 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9853803

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9853803, Southeastern Medical Scientist Symposium (5R13GM109532-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9853803. Licensed CC0.

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