WCMC-Q students awarded UREP funding for seven projects

The Fund's Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) awarded $10,000 to each of the participating students, who will conduct their investigations under the leadership of seven WCMC-Q faculty members and nine mentors representing WCMC-Q, Hamad Medical Corporation, College of the North Atlantic in Qatar, and Qatar University.

WCMC-Q faculty designed the studies, ranging in topic from the molecular effects of diabetes to environmental protection in Qatar. They have begun mentoring the students, and will guide them in running experiments, gathering results and explaining their meaning.

"UREP gives students the chance to build their research skills and to better appreciate how research is conducted—in many cases it helps the students appreciate the value of research that they already have learned from their premed training," said Dr. Chris Triggle, professor of pharmacology at WCMC-Q and faculty mentor for an awarded study on diabetes.

Abdulwahed Zainel, 20, a second-year medical student and researcher on a project to measure patient satisfaction at a public hospital, said he is excited to learn how to address problems by gathering information and using it to explain how systems work so that they can be improved.

"I look forward to learning how to collect data, how to write a paper and how to get a result that helps to improve the patient-doctor relationship in Qatar," he said.

Premedical and medical students may participate in research opportunities through UREP. The program promotes "learning by doing" and "hands-on" training as effective methods for undergraduate education. There are two UREP cycles per academic year, one in the spring and the second in the fall. This was the sixth award cycle.

WCMC-Q students will embark on investigations under the following topics:

- Environmental protection in Qatar
- How hyperglycemia induces vascular disease
- The effect of television viewing and video games on youth
- Patient opinion of the doctor-patient relationship in a public hospital in Qatar
- Vocabulary learning with technology
- Studying osteoporosis
- In-depth study of the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into certain tissues