NeuroTexas Institute at St. David’s HealthCare Names Two University of Texas Students to Participate in Newly-Developed Internship Program

12/14/2009 12:00:00 AM

AUSTIN, Texas—NeuroTexas Institute at St. David’s HealthCare today announced the names of two undergraduate biomedical engineering students from The University of Texas at Austin who were chosen to participate in its newly-developed internship program. Jonathan Berezin and Renee Keller will take part in the interactive learning venture, with access to physicians, the operating room and all of the technology available at St. David’s Medical Center, beginning in late December.

“This program represents an opportunity for educational synergy between a nationally-recognized provider of neurosurgical services and one of the nation’s finest institutions of higher education,” Kit Fox, M.D., neurosurgeon and executive medical director of NeuroTexas Institute at St. David’s HealthCare, said. “By participating in this internship program, these students will be exposed to a range of concentrated, meaningful experiences in the medical field, and it will provide a forum for research project identification and involvement.”

The internship will focus on exposing students to opportunities within various sectors of the medical field, including neurosciences. Session topics will include surgery/operating room, radiology (MRI and CT), electrophysiology lab, hip and knee replacement, rehabilitation services, and computational biology.

The specified goals for this program are to provide students with early exposure to the medical field with personal access to physicians and medical personnel, and to allow students the unique opportunity to serve as an active contributor, using their engineering expertise to provide feedback on process redesign and efficiency improvement within the hospital. Additionally, this program will offer various research opportunities for students with NeuroTexas Institute at St. David’s HealthCare.

The students chosen for this unpaid internship, Berezin and Keller, are top students within their academic degree programs and have both expressed an interest in attending medical school. They were chosen by professors and academic advisors at The University of Texas at Austin through a highly-selective admissions process. The pilot program will begin on December 21, 2009, and will run through January 6, 2010.

NeuroTexas Institute at St. David’s HealthCare, in conjunction with The University of Texas at Austin, plans to continue this program next summer with two 4-week sessions, which could include up to 10 students per session.