Networking Core

The major objectives of the Networking Core (Net Core) are to increase the pool of interested and academically prepared students for KUH-focused careers in biomedical research or academic medicine, to provide KUH-focused research training opportunities to individuals from populations that have been underrepresented in science and medicine, to support and stimulate communication and near-peer mentoring among all PERFORM-KUH trainees, to maintain longitudinal engagement with the trainee community across the early career spectrum, and to facilitate interactions among the entire PERFORM-KUH community.

The Net Core will leverage the resources and expertise of two umbrella programs:

• Summer Undergraduate Internship Program (SUIP) - A long-running, highly successful 10-week summer internship program. It supports ~60 undergraduates each year from over 700 applicants through its Apply Web interface or through Penn’s affiliation and membership within The Leadership Alliance, which is a consortium of over 30 academic institutions, including several historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), focused on mentorship and training to promote diversity across disciplines. In addition to hands-on experience, all trainees engage in weekly faculty-led research seminars, training in the responsible conduct of research, preparation for giving presentations, graduate school application sessions, and end of program poster presentations. All SUIP trainees attend the Leadership Alliance National Symposium where they give presentations, hear talks by students in peer programs, participate in workshops, and attend a graduate school fair. Nearly 850 students have completed SUIP in its 30 years of existence, with >71% moving on to PhD or MD/PhD programs and 10% pursuing MD programs in the last 10 years.
• Outreach, Education and Research (OER) - This well-established program provide continuous recruitment and application support, academic intervention, and college and career readiness to District of Philadelphia (SDP) high school students to stimulate their interest in STEM careers. The OER pathway initiatives provide recruitment and application support, academic intervention, and college and career readiness to high schools in zip codes considered “STEM deserts”. Through out-of-school programming, these students are empowered to learn at the bench and bedside.