title: Enhancing Nephrology Career Interest through the ASN Kidney TREKS Program.
abstract: The Kidney Tutored Research and Education for Kidney Students (TREKS) Program is a product of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Workforce Committee that seeks to connect medical and graduate students to nephrology. This program starts with a weeklong camp-like course introducing participants to renal physiology through classic and modern experiments. Next, each student is matched with a nephrology mentor at his or her home institution to foster a better understanding of a nephrology career. Lastly, the students are encouraged to participate in scholarly activities and attend the ASN Kidney Week. Now in its third year, with a total of 84 participants, survey data suggest early success of the program, with a self-reported 40% increased interest in nephrology fellowship and/or research careers. In addition, students give high ratings to the course components and mentorship pairings. Continued student tracking will be necessary to determine the long-term program effect.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin; lmaursetter@medicine.wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Laura J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Maursetter
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Boston University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Lauren D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland;
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Sozio
authors.affiliation: Division of Renal Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and.
authors.forename: Ankit B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Missouri;
authors.forename: Reena
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, Hempstead, New York;
authors.forename: Hitesh H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: American Society of Nephrology, Workforce and Career Development, Washington, DC;
authors.forename: Katlyn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Leight
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia; and.
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Okusa
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachesetts;
authors.forename: Mark L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Zeidel
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Maine Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine, Portland, Maine.
authors.forename: Mark G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Parker
mesh_terms: D002321:Career Choice; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008611:Mentors; D009398:Nephrology / Q000193:education*; D012955:Societies, Medical; D014481:United States
keywords: Career choice; Mentor; Physiology course; education; nephrology