Growth Through Guidance Program Transforming Students’ Paths to Medicine: School of Science : Indiana University

Through its first year, one of Indiana University Indianapolis’ newest career preparation programs is already netting positive results. Established in 2024, the Growth Through Guidance program, a partnership between the School of Science at IU Indianapolis and IU School of Medicine, provides firsthand insight into life as a medical student through six interactive sessions.

This special program, created by the School of Science’s Pre-Professional & Career Preparation (PREPs) Office and IU School of Medicine’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), welcomed its first cohort of students last fall, and for School of Science senior Jarin Parton, the experience proved fruitful.

Parton, a biology major seeking a career in biomedical research, joined the program in hopes of gaining clarity about his future in medicine. Through mentor pairing and the program’s structure, he was able to do so.

“MSTPs are sparse and because of this, it can oftentimes be confusing for prospective students to decipher whether MSTPs, MD programs or graduate school would best suit them,” Parton said. “Through these peer-based interactions, I was able to get much needed clarity on what the role of an academic physician would look like. In addition, I was provided solid advice on determining whether graduate school or medical school would best suit me.”

Outside of valuable career information, the program played an integral part in Parton landing a spot within the IU School of Medicine’s MSTP Summer Research Program. From May through July, Parton took part in independent research while shadowing a clinical mentor during hospital rounds and outpatient clinics.

The balance between research and clinical experience was one of the things he appreciated most during his time in the MSTP Summer Research Program.

“A highlight of the program was that once a week, we spent a half day shadowing in clinic to help better convey what the traditional 80/20 pathway is like for physician-scientists,” Parton said. “That is, when 80% of the time is dedicated to research and the latter 20% is clinical. As a lay person, I was able to gain a pretty good understanding of how physician-scientists leverage their research experience in clinic and vice versa.”

Similar to the Growth Through Guidance program, students get to network with Indiana MSTP students and meet with practicing physician-scientists at Indiana University. The partnerships led to what Parton describes as a supportive research experience.

“Everyone seemed to have solid data by the end of the program,” Parton said. “This can be attributed to the support the program directors provided in addition to the matching process with principal investigators who wanted to provide pre-MSTP students with an excellent research opportunity.”

As Parton looks to take his next steps this spring, he’s appreciative of the opportunities he’s received while at the School of Science. Through Growth Through Guidance and the MSTP Summer Research Program, he was able to see and share the passion by those in the field of medicine, and that’s something he’ll take with him as he continues his educational and career journey.

“Aspiring physician scientists have different aspects and interests in medicine; however, it was really nice to see where we all aligned: our love for basic bench work and patient care.”