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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 2005)
Page A7 August 3, 2005 Diverse Students Explore Medicine at OHSU Program gives youth new opportunities Angel Ajtum-Sanchez slowly, carefully injects green fluorescent protein into ze bra fish embryos in the David Ransom Lab at Oregon Health & Science University. Later he examines the embryos under a microscope to see if the em bryos' devel opment has been affected. Ajtum-Sanchez, 18, looks like a typical teenager: short with spiked, black hair, thin, jeans, sweatshirt and running shoes. But two years ago, he couldn’t speak Engl ish. And he had never looked through a microscope. Ajtum-Sanchez came to this country two years ago from Guatemala. His father, Daniel Ajtum, a farm worker, wanted his son to be educated in the United States. Ajtum Sanchez was sent to live with his cousins in north Portland. He will be se nior at Roosevelt High School this fall. He learned about different opportuni ties for high schoolers during an OHSU educational tour last school year. He also met Pam Racansky, M.A., program coordi nator for the Center for Diversity and Multicultural Affairs that day. Ajtum- Sanchez applied to be part of the OHSU CURL Project, a joint program of the OHSU Cancer Institute and CeDMA. He and seven other diverse and academically successful students were accepted. They will be working in OHSU labs through Student Angel Ajtum-Sanchez (striped shirt, center) poses with his summer classmates learning about health careers at Oregon Health and Science University. Aug. 19. The students are paid, which helps Ajtum-Sanchez because he has to support himself. “ I am so excited to work in this lab. It is so wonderful. I am also so excited to be working with my peers because they help me so much. They are magnificent people. 1 am glad and proud to part of the CURE project. I am learning a lot about cloning RN AandDNA. My dad is so proud of me. He said he didn't know how I would do here. Now he says I am doing a great job. One thing that helped me so much has been my desire to study.” Allstate Names Latest Local Representative W endy Lee-K ano is am ong an elite group o f A llstate insurance agents who recently earned the "Personal Financial Representa tive" title. Lee-Kanno will now be able to offer her custom ers vari able annuity and variable life and mutual fund products, in addi tion to auto, hom eow ner and tra ditional life insurance products. L ee-K ano received the Per sonal Financial Representative title after passing the NASD Se- Wendy Lee-Kano ries 6 and Series 63 securities license exam s and com pleting an extensive A llstate training cu r riculum . She is appointed with the r e g is te re d b r o k e r - d e a le r A llstate Financial Services, LLC. "Planning for the future is just as im portant as protecting your self against a loss, which insur ance is designed to do,” Lee- Kanno said. To reach Lee-K ano, call 503- 620-1616. “We have a lot of hard-working stu dents that we come in contact w ith during the year. But we noticed that Angel has this presence about him from the first time we met him. H e'sal ways sincerely inter ested and always desires to learn more to further his career interests. Besides be ing one o f the nicest people I know, Angel is one of the most hard working and dedicated. I know he is going to be successful in his life and career and bring that experience and knowledge back to his com m unity,” Racansky said. Ajtum-Sanchez wants to becom e a physician to help people suffering from disease here and in his native country. Like a lot o f teens he wears different colored elastic wristbands. The purple one signifies Hope for Cancer: “ I hope someday som eone will find a cure for cancer because I know there are many people who suffer from it.” The black wristband he wears just be cause he likes it, he said. The CURE Project is a sum m er pro gram designed to offer research experi ence to a selected group of Oregon high school juniors from socially and eco nom ically disadvantaged populations from the Portland-metropolitan area. The long-term goal o f this program is to in crease participation of underserved and minority students in biomedical research and other health-related programs. Stu dents will work in research laboratories under the guidance o f an OHSU scien tists conducting cancer research for a minimum o f eight weeks. They are ex pected to create two formal reports, one on their mentors work and another on their own research. In addition to their own lab work, stu dents will attend weekly seminars on a range of scientific and ethical issues in various areas of biomedical research. There are about 150 students in vari ous programs or just working with an OHSU mentor. Minority Ph.D Support Shrinking According to a new study by the Woodrow Wilson National F ellow ship F oundation, only seven percent of Ph.D. recipients in 2003 were black or Hispanic, while nearly a third of all Ameri cans in the age group typically awarded the degrees were. Diversity.com report s that study suggests that increasing diversity on faculties will become all the more difficult because financial support for minority students in Ph.D. pro grams is shrinking. “The Ph.D.’s who lead the way of the world of thought and discov eries are far more monochromatic than the population, said Robert Weisbuch, the foundations presi dent. Weisburch said roughly one in four Americans are black or His panic, but only one out of nine earned a Ph.D. “The fact remains that doctoral programs have made significantly R ite O of 7^ P resented B y T fc irtltW Bi regon /fÍL . r O nly Benefiting 4 S p e c ia l O ly m p ic s C elebrating O regon ’ s FO O D, BEVERAGE N Portland City Grill Harry & David Pine Tavern Hurley's Stetson's House of Prime M ontana Mo's Restaurant Tamástslikt's Kinship Café less progress in diversifying than have business and government,” he said. The report also noted another problem. Too many black and His panic stu d e n ts w ho do earn Ph.D.’s tend to specialized in ar eas like education. For example, while blacks make up 6.6 percent of all Americans awarded Ph. D.’s, they make up 14 percent of all stu dents who received Ph.D .’s in education. B est M U S IC $5 A d m ission Bell Buoy of Seaside . Bluefish Bistro Huber's Restaurant Portland Steak & Chophouse Jackie's Ribs Salty's on the Columbia Lark's at Ashland Springs Hotel S M a n y M o re lli on 4 s^GE s; Little Richard *CT s Saturday August 13 Columbia Distributing John K a y & S tep p en w o lf Sunday August 14 supports diversity V io len t Femmes Friday August 12 in the workplace throughout the Portland Community. Visit the website for travel info, Oregonlive com Ambassadors sweepstakes, full entertainment schedule and much more! Oregon's favorite restaurants I SYSCO Chef's Palate Stage I FOODday Wine Pavilion I Oregon's favorite wines and brew I Oil Can Henry's Comedy Stage I Oregon Shakespeare Festival performances I Mt. Hood Jazz Festival Encore presented by Persimmon Realty I Cannon Beach Sand Castle Exhibition and morel A ugust 12 -14 W aterfront P ark , P ortland w w w .oregonlive.com /biteoforegon TfcrfTftwwv or llllllhlaii lu v www.biteoforegon.com EM T • 1 M ■ « L a 3 J2 « j Ç s » A I q »» T'A'W. £> —• sYsctr noflppc t G3 ix  fuñíate rovOTA «ww»
