Overview
The University of Utah Summer Medical School Student Research Program originated in 1993 with the assistance of a Short-Term Training Grant from the National Institutes for Health (NIH). The goals of this program are to create and foster research opportunities for Medical Students.
The Frank Tyler Fall Medical Student Research Symposium allows students to present research data obtained during the summer. The Symposium also allows students to gain experience in the presentation and discussion of medical research. The symposium is named for Frank H. Tyler, M.D., (January 5, 1916-September 7, 1994) one of the founding fathers of the four-year University of Utah School of Medicine and a truly distinguished physician-scientist. Dr. Tyler was the principal investigator on the first extramural research grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health. Funding for “The Study of Metabolic and Hereditary Disorders” began in 1946 and was renewed annually for 33 years.
As professor of internal medicine and chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism from 1948-1981, Dr. Tyler was instrumental in planning the first hospital on the University of Utah campus. The new University Medical Center brought together the medical school with its clinical facility. Six months after the University Medical Center opened its doors in 1965, the medical school’s Clinical Research Center was launched under the directorship of Dr. Tyler, who served in that capacity until 1986. This center is a fully staffed research unit within the University Hospital where patients participating in clinical research studies are cared for.