Welcome to the 6th Canadian National Medical Student Research
Symposium! The opportunity to indulge your curiosity, make a discovery and thereby make a change in the world is an incredible privilege that few have. Researchers are one group that is very fortunate to do so. At the same time, there is no doubt that learning how to conduct and interpret research, how to develop it into a substantial portion of your career, and how to maintain a successful program is hard work that is fraught with uncertainly, insecurity and the occasional burst of excitement. Over the next several days you have the opportunity to share your experiences, your emerging research projects and your own experimental findings with others. This is an excellent way of helping you determine if research truly is a passion for you. For those individuals who can combine the superb breadth of biological understanding that a medical degree provides with the ability to ask well focused, targeted questions that develops in a graduate degree program, there are a great many professional opportunities. Future options range from leading large multicentre research groups, to running your own laboratory, to being a key collaborator with a sophisticated understanding of the benefits (and limitations) of biomedical research. The trainees this year represent medical schools, and research disciplines, from across Canada. About one third of our 65 attendees are in their first year of hands-on research, one third have intermediate experience and another third are engaged in joint MD PhD programs. As the abstracts demonstrate, your work ranges from studies of individual gene polymorphisms or molecules through to population and health systems research. Because so much ground breaking research is highly multidisciplinary, we have designed the program to increase academic and social interactions between trainees such as yourselves with those enrolled in non-clinical graduate training programs. Make the most of the opportunity! I want to personally thank the individuals and organizations that have enabled us to offer you this special opportunity. Money is never is excess supply and they have gone to great effort to support this initiative. Contributors are listed at the back of the Symposium program. We welcome you and hope you enjoy the novel science, the professional development activities and the pleasures of meeting others with similar interests during your three days here.
Kent T. HayGlass PhD Canada Research Chair in Immune Regulation Director, Advanced Degrees in Medicine University of Manitoba
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