MAY 3, 2004 | Future scientists from across Arkansas recently gathered at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) with one common goal – to learn more about what the future might hold for them.  

About100 participants attended Career Day for Basic Biomedical Sciences on Friday, April 23. The event allowed university undergraduate and graduate students to meet with leading scientists from across the nation to discuss potential careers in the health sciences field. Thirty-one UAMS graduate students attended along with 62 undergraduate students and faculty from Arkansas State University, Arkansas Tech University, Central Baptist College, Harding University, Henderson State University, Lyon College, Ouachita Baptist University, Southern Arkansas University, University of Central Arkansas, University of Arkansas at Little Rock and University of Arkansas at Monticello.

Students spent the day listening to scientists talk about careers available in such fields as biotechnology research, biotechnology company sales, patent law and research in government. Participants also got a chance to view the winning clinical research displays presented by UAMS graduate students, medical students, postdoctoral fellows and house staff and see first-hand research under way at the Biomedical Research Center.  

Dana Gaddy, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Departments of Physiology and Biophysics and Orthopaedic Surgery in the College of Medicine at UAMS, organized Career Day and said this year’s event has been the biggest yet. “This is our third year to hold this event and registration grows every year,” she said.

Gaddy said Career Day was begun in response to a request from the Graduate Student Association. “Some students in the Graduate Student Association wanted to know about their career options after graduate school,” she said. Gaddy then realized the need for Career Day after doing a recruiting effort at an Arkansas college. “The recruiting effort was an abysmal failure because the students just didn’t understand what graduate school at UAMS is like, or what you can do with an advanced degree.”

Gaddy added that with today’s society being more driven by science and technology, the demand for students interested in biomedical research is rapidly increasing.

Career Day is sponsored by the UAMS Graduate School and is a part of the UAMS College of Medicine’s annual Student Research Week. For more information on the UAMS Graduate School, contact Kristen Sterba, Coordinator and Recruiter for Graduate Studies, at (501) 526-7396.

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http://www.uams.edu/gradschool