Pre-medicine society forms new UCLA chapter

For Josh Neman, a sixth-year pre-doctoral fellow at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, searching for medical and research experience was not easy as a UCLA pre-medicine undergraduate.

But last year, an important door opened to pre-medicine students during a research conference, he said.

Neman met Babak Kateb, the founding executive director of the International Brain Mapping and Intraoperative Surgical Planning Society, and began formulating plans to establish a UCLA chapter for the society.

This fall will begin the first academic year of the club’s existence, and the society’s connection to UCLA undergraduates began only about three months ago.

The society is a nonprofit association organized to encourage brain mapping and neurosurgical planning among physicians and scientists.

Kateb began the society in 2002 at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.

The UCLA chapter of the society will help pre-health students gain research and networking experience, which can be difficult to obtain at a big research university, said Neman, the chairman of the student board of trustees of the UCLA chapter.

Though the main brain conditions that are of the society’s interests are brain trauma and post-traumatic stress disorders due to concerns of wounded soldiers, students can choose other research topics such as stroke, autism or Alzheimer’s disease, said Dr. Warren Grundfest, a professor of bioengineering and electrical engineering at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering.

Grundfest is also a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine and the future faculty advisor of the student group.

The society will help connect students to pre-health professionals, assisting students in forming networks that will come in handy when applying to institutions of higher education, Neman said.

Members said undergraduate members will also receive valuable advice and friendship from graduate students and research mentors.

The UCLA chapter is unlikely to have a competitive admissions process like other established pre-health campus groups, giving more students an opportunity to gain experience, Neman said.

There will likely be many students in the first meetings before the less dedicated ones gradually leave, he said.

For David Lee, a second-year neuroscience student and a UCLA chapter member, it was difficult to keep track of the countless doctors he met from hospitals across the country during the society’s annual world conference last August on campus.

Yet it shows the potential networking benefits of the society, he added.

“We are planning to integrate a lot of dental school students, medical school students, pharmacy students,” Lee said, adding that the society’s holistic approach to medicine would also help nursing students and others.

In addition, members say that unique UCLA research opportunities will be a significant part of joining the UCLA chapter.

Since last summer, Lee has been researching in the UCLA Laboratory of Neuroimaging. Lee said he compiles online databases of magnetic resonance imaging or brain images. He then distinguishes different brain parts for the laboratory’s principal investigator to analyze. In this case, the principal investigator does not have to go through the MRIs.

“I think (the Laboratory of Neuroimaging) will be a great benefit to IBMISPS,” he said. “(The Laboratory of Neuroimaging is) really related to the group.”

Society leaders say they believe student involvement is very important in the society’s growth.

“We think it should start with students, not just graduates but undergraduates as well,” Grundfest said. Undergraduate members will be matched with appropriate research mentors after the students meet and discuss their specific interests in neurology, said Amir Goodarzi, a fourth-year biology student and president of the UCLA chapter.

Members say the society is multidisciplinary.

Subjects other than neuroscience such as psychology, immunology and computer engineering are very relevant.

UCLA IBMISPS students and faculty say they are looking forward to upcoming fall events that will involve collaboration between students and faculty.

At the end of the fall quarter, UCLA chapter members said they plan to democratically vote for officer positions, and student dedication throughout the quarter will be considered.