Photo courtesy of Lied Lodge

MD-PhD Scholars Program Retreat (2020): Highlights

Due to COVID-19, our retreat committee worked exceptionally hard to convert our usual in-peron retreat to a virtual one over Zoom this year.

Workshops and Mentorship

This year's retreat featured a number of workshops and peer-mentoring opportunities:

NIH F30 Grant Writing Workshops, led by peers
Mentoring sessions on transitions (such as medical school to graduate school and graduate school to medical school)
Each cohort had the opportunity to mentor the cohort a year behind them and to be mentored by the cohort a year ahead of them
A panel of work-life balance, led by faculty and senior students

Scientific Lectures and Presentations

We had a nice variety of presentations and lectures from UNMC and visiting faculty:

Virtual poster session, led by current student sin the Graduate Phase of training
"How to excel in M3 year" by UNMC Pediatrics Clerkship Director Dr. Jason Burrows
Keynote speaker, Dr. Will Parsons, MD, PhD, serves as the PSTP director at Baylor COM

Social(ly Distant) Activities

Although we couldn't gather in person, we still found creative ways to socialize as a program:

We started off the retreat with Jackbox party games, which are fun group games that can be played over Zoom.
For the afternoon, one option was a group mindfulness session, which focused on being present in the current moment. Mindfulness is a very popular technique used to relieve stress.
The other option was a virtual murder mystery house, which was played in teams. Students had a lot of fun working together to solve puzzles and find clues to the game!
Virtual game night and a virtual planetarium visit were optional evening activities to replace our usual in-person game night and star-gazing activities during the evening of our in-person retreat.

We hope to return to physical gatherings at next year's retreat. For reference of a typical year's retreat, our 2019 retreat is shown below.

MD-PhD Scholars Program Retreat (2019): Highlights

Networking

The MD/PhD retreat is a unique opportunity for the entire program to be together for the weekend.
Friday afternoon, the students plan an outing of their choice. This year, we all went bowling and had a blast competing in the tournament.
Many faculty and MD/PhD program leaders attend the retreat and are eager to get to know the students. There are many opportunities to form relationships with faculty as well as your fellow students.

Mentorship

The retreat has multiple workshops that are held by more senior students; this is a great time to develop peer mentoring relationships.
Student-led workshops this year included: Interpersonal Networking, Using Social Media Professionally, Preparing an NIH Grant, Preparing for M1 Year, and Preparing for Graduate School.
Program director Dr. Justin Mott, MD, PhD put on a workshop this year, “Residency: What you should be doing now to prepare,” which was valuable experience for the next steps in our career path.

Scholarship

There is a cocktail hour before dinner where graduate students have the opportunity to present a poster on their graduate research. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about the research of fellow peers as well as to practice presentation skills.
The MD/PhD Scholars retreat invites a distinguished guest speaker each year. Colin Weekes, MD, PhD and delivered a wonderful lecture over dinner.

Former Keynote Speakers

2020	Donald W. (Will) Parsons, MD, PhD Deputy Director, Texas Children's Cancer and Hematoogy Centers, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, Texas Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Hematology-Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
2019	Colin Weekes, MD, PhD Associate Professor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts Director of Medical Pancreas Cancer Research, Medicine - Division of Hematology/Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
2018	John Morrison, MD, PhD Chief Resident & Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellow, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida
2017	Thomas Gross, MD, PhD Deputy Director of Science, Center for Global Health, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland
2016	Monte S. Willis, MD, PhD Associate Professor, McAllister Heart Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
2015	Kimberly A. Chapman, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
2014	Eric Benner, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina
2013	Jennifer Larsen, MD Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska Christopher Kratochvil, MD Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska Kenneth Bayles, PhD Associate Vice Chancellor for Basic Research, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska Rodney Miles, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Pathology, Director of ARUP Laboratories, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
2012	Herbert O. (Dele) Davies, MD Incoming Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs and Dean of Graduate Studies, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska
2011	Bradley Britigan, MD Incoming Dean of the College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska
2010	Rodney S. Markin, MD, PhD Interim Dean of the College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska