Research in the Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP)

PREP students may, under the direction of the PREP directors, select a research mentor affiliated with any of the 11 graduate programs.

Students selecting the Basic Biomedical Sciences pathway undertake a yearlong laboratory research internship in which mentors seek to expose the student to every aspect of laboratory research. This includes background reading, hypothesis development, the design of experiments that challenge the hypothesis, learning new laboratory methodologies and instrumentation, data collection, analysis and interpretation, research presentations at lab meetings and writing the scientific paper.

Students selecting the Population Health Sciences pathway are paired with a research mentor at the beginning of the program. Students apply their knowledge of the use of clinical and epidemiological databases and national health surveys to ongoing research of the mentor, as well as an independent project developed and executed under the supervision of the research mentor.