Community

Take a Hike Day – September 19

Occupational Health Services and the R&W Club teamed up again to hold Take a Hike Day on September 19. About 45 employees walked or jogged the 1.3-mile course around Fort Detrick during their lunch hours. The event is designed to encourage employees to engage in physical activity, according to Sarah Hooper, RN, manager of OHS. Sports pouch kits that included a water bottle, sunscreen, and an exercise band were given out as prizes to those employees who correctly answered walking trivia questions.  The next Take a Hike Day will be held in the spring.

By Andrea Frydl, Contributing Writer

The NCI at Frederick Employee Diversity Team (EDT) has prepared a new display that features a sample of the foreign films from the team’s collection in the Scientific Library. “Foreign films really help stimulate an awareness of different cultures and countries. I think it is a great celebration of diversity to have the Employee Diversity Team promote films from across the globe and make them available to our employees,” said Amber Elia, program analyst, NCI at Frederick Office of Scientific Operations, and member of the EDT.

Editor’s note: This article is the first in a series describing one NCI at Frederick parent’s perspective on special needs parenting.

By Melissa Porter, Staff Writer

My husband and I find calling ourselves “special needs parents” difficult. Yes, we do have a child who has autism, and yes, we approach each day differently, but I have never thought of that as special needs parenting.

By Anne Arthur, Guest Writer

The HIV Drug Resistance Program Conference on “Virus Structure: Putting the Pieces Together” will be held at NCI at Frederick on October 21, 2014, from 1:00 to 5:45 p.m. in the Conference Center auditorium, Building 549.

By Nathalie Walker, Guest Writer

Editor’s note: This article represents one student’s perspective on her experiences as a Werner H. Kirsten student intern.

Failure isn’t just a possibility, it is a certainty; yet failure is what leads you to success. Above all else, that is what I will retain from my experience in the Werner H. Kirsten Student Intern Program (WHK SIP).

By Nathalie Walker, Guest Writer, and Carolynne Keenan, Contributing Writer

On July 31, NCI at Frederick hosted Student Poster Day, an annual event in which student interns can showcase the work they do in their various positions in NCI at Frederick labs and offices.

Participating students are interns in the Student Internship Program, a program designed for undergraduate and graduate students during their summer breaks, as well as interns in the Werner H. Kirsten Student Internship Program (WHK SIP), a program for high school seniors. All the students have an opportunity to present their scientific posters. 

By Carolynne Keenan, Contributing Writer, and Ashley DeVine, Staff Writer

The winners of the 2014 Spring Research Festival (SRF), held May 7 and 8, were recognized on July 2, and included 20 NCI at Frederick researchers:

Matthew Anderson, Victor Ayala, Matt Bess, Cristina Bergamaschi, Charlotte Choi, Rami Doueiri, Laura Guasch Pamies, Diana Haines, Saadia Iftikhar, Maria Kaltcheva, Wojciech Kasprzak, Balamurugan Kuppusamy, James Lautenberger, George Lountos, Megan Mounts, Uma Mudunuri, Martha Sklavos, Gloriana Shelton, Alex Sorum, and Shea Wright.

By Robin Meckley, Contributing Writer                                          

By Carolynne Keenan, Contributing Writer

Joseph Barchi, Jr, Ph.D., calls teaching “the noblest and most important profession.” So it makes sense that Barchi, senior scientist and head of the Glycoconjugate and NMR Section, Chemical Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, NCI at Frederick, would encourage his lab to offer a fun, educational program at Take Your Child to Work Day (TYCTWD).

By Carolynne Keenan, Contributing Writer

When Amy Stull, a 2000 graduate of Walkersville High School, began working in a laboratory at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at Frederick, she likely did not know the role NCI would play in her career.

Stull started at NCI as a Werner H. Kirsten (WHK) student intern after her junior year of high school, working in a lab as she prepared for a career in chemical engineering. The student intern program pairs rising high school seniors with laboratory scientists to encourage the students to pursue careers in both science and health care fields.