Senior associate dean for pre-medical education and Education City collaborative curricular affairs, Dr. Marco Ameduri
Doha, Qatar: Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) has launched Research Bites, a new initiative designed to foster a culture of research among pre-medical students and help them connect with faculty researchers, explore scientific projects and identify opportunities to participate in research.
Developed by the Pre-medical Education Division under the leadership of senior associate dean for pre-medical education and Education City collaborative curricular affairs, Dr. Marco Ameduri, the initiative is being delivered in collaboration with the Research Division, with contributions from vice dean for research, innovation, and commercialization, Dr. Khaled Machaca and associate dean for student research, Dr. Nayef Mazloum.
Research Bites will feature regular one-hour lunchtime sessions that bring together pre-medical students, faculty researchers and research leadership in an informal, interactive setting. Each session will include short presentations introducing ongoing research projects, discussions of potential student roles and the skills students can develop, and opportunities to connect with mentors.
The initiative will also help students navigate existing research programs and funding opportunities, including the Student Research Mentorship Program (SRMP) and the Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP). Additionally, it will introduce students to the Pre-medical Research Structured Mentorship Portal (PRSMP), a new pathway designed to help prepare students for research and connect them with suitable projects and mentors.
The inaugural session brought the initiative to life, with presentations outlining the role of research in pre-medical education, the opportunities available to students, and the practical steps involved in finding and undertaking a research project.
Professor of physics and director of pre-medical student research, Dr. Mohammad Yousef opened the event by explaining the purpose of Research Bites. Dr. Ameduri then outlined the vision for integrating research into pre-medical education; he was followed by Dr. Mazloum, who discussed existing opportunities and how students can participate.
Three faculty mentors subsequently delivered short presentations describing their research projects, beginning with Dr. Yousef, who spoke about a project investigating molecular switches in proteins. Dr. Dalia Zakaria, associate professor of biology, spoke about COVID-19 research, and Dr. Ali Chaari, associate professor of biology, discussed a project that tested for mechanisms underlying metabolic brain disease. Two pre-medical student representatives then explained how the Research Bites platform will connect students with projects and mentors whose research interests match their own.
Through these regular sessions, Research Bites aims to make research more accessible to pre-medical students, encourage early engagement with scientific inquiry and foster connections that can develop into productive mentoring relationships and research experiences.
Dr. Ameduri said, “Our new Research Bites initiative offers a forum that brings together students and research faculty in order to facilitate the collaboration that underpins all successful research projects.”
