High school students have the opportunity to work alongside Duke undergraduate students and faculty, as they learn and develop pharmaco‐epidemiological research methodology and writing skills. This is also an opportunity for students to network with peers, undergrads and university faculty.
Summary
Duke’s STAR Program provides a high‐quality research experience for undergraduate students, high school students, and high school teachers during the summer academic break. The program takes place over 8 weeks and focuses on pharmaco‐epidemiological research methodology and writing skills. Participants are placed in teams and matched with Duke faculty mentors to work on an original, hypothesis‐driven project, progressing through draft figures and tables, an abstract, a PowerPoint presentation, and a written thesis. The research experience is supplemented with content‐related tutorials provided by Duke medicine and pediatrics faculty members, a statistician, and a medical writer. The program also includes an intensive medical ethics seminar on the responsible conduct of research. Additionally, students (ages 18+) may experience clinical medicine firsthand by shadowing a physician on hospital rounds.
