Program Introduction

In 2021, the Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine (WUSM) launched the Anesthesiology Summer Research (ASSURE) Fellowship as an innovative way to increase access to careers in medicine for historically underrepresented undergraduate students in the local community, particularly for students who do not have access to rich research experiences at their home institutions. This summer, ASSURE has welcomed its fourth cohort of scholars. Students will engage in improved programming designed to equip them with tools to advance toward the next step in their biomedical careers. We look forward to sharing program updates with the ASPBP community.

Relevance to ASPBP

Like others in the ASPBP community, ASSURE seeks to make the STEMM field more representative of the diverse populations we serve. We approach this by providing mentorship, networking, and training to strengthen participants’ skill sets while helping advance them toward careers in medicine or biomedical research. Though the program is housed within the Anesthesiology department, our fellows engage with clinicians, researchers, students, and educators across many fields. We also invite internationally renowned scientists from historically underrepresented backgrounds to share their work and career pathways with the students. The goal of ASSURE is closely aligned with the vision of the ASPBP, so we are excited to share our curriculum innovations and improvements with others as we advance toward fulfilling this vision together.

Target Population

Over three cohorts (2021-2023) we have served 20 undergraduate students, all from backgrounds historically underrepresented in STEMM. Each year the applicant pool has grown, both in terms of number of candidates and undergraduate institutions represented. In addition to MD and PhD program interest, we are now seeing students indicate interest in occupational therapy, physical therapy, veterinarian, and nursing careers. We have updated our eligibility criteria for this year to include community college students, and we established relationships and partnerships with institutions that align with our target applicant pool (HBCUs, community colleges). Due to these efforts and budget expansions, we were able to welcome nine students from across the St. Louis metro area for this summer.

Lessons Learned

We have expanded upon existing efforts to improve as well as adding some key focus areas: 1) redefining our target participant pool and cultivating relationships with relevant institutions 2) expanding clinical shadowing opportunities for participants. Each year we utilize pre- and post-program surveys to analyze our impact and gather feedback. Our participants reported that the networking opportunities and 1-to-1 mentorship were of particularly high value. Other impactful components noted were the Friday lunch sessions where students were exposed to a myriad of careers via interactions with professionals across WUSM, and the clinical shadowing opportunities which gave participants additional insight into the field of anesthesiology. We are also now beginning to track longer-term outcomes for our program graduates, which is providing us useful data about the post-graduate paths our participants seek.