Bridgette L. Jones, MD, MSCR

Marion Merrell Dow Endowed Chair in Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology; Staff Physician, Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology; Staff Physician, Allergy/Asthma/Immunology; Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Education Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Kansas School of Medicine

Full Biography

Children’s Mercy’s STAR 2.0 Program recently received $224,800 in sponsorship funding from Janssen Research & Development, LLC (Janssen) to support the program over the course of four years. 

The Summer Training in Academic Research (STAR) 2.0 Program provides hands-on, high quality research experience during the summer academic break for high school students and educators. Its goal is to increase the diversity of clinicians and scientists finding treatments and cures for tomorrow by fostering interest through scientist-led student mentorships.

The STAR 2.0 Program was launched in 2020 with discretionary funds directed by our Children's Mercy Research Institute director, Dr. Tom Curran. With the initial funding, its team led by Bridgette Jones, MD, MSCR, and Vickie Yarbrough, MA, BA, was able to develop a six-week summer research science program at the Children’s Mercy Research Institute, which was partly modeled from, and in collaboration with, the Duke Clinical Research Institute. Participants received a stipend to participate in the program to provide financial support and allow full participation throughout the program.

Early in 2021, the team selected five high school students and one middle school science teacher who identified from racially/ethnically diverse backgrounds that are underrepresented in medicine and science through a competitive application process that was advertised Kansas City metro-wide. The philanthropic support from Janssen will help the team achieve their goal of growing the program to 25 students and five teachers by 2025.

Recent feedback was obtained at the end of the STAR 2.0 2021 program in July. One hundred percent of the students said they were more inclined to pursue a career in medicine and/or science after participating in the program. Student comments included the following:

• “I loved the experience of learning to correctly write a scientific paper. It was challenging, but a good challenge that was needed to prepare me for the future.”
• “The knowledge I learned from every speaker will always stay with me.”
• “It has led me to look further into research rather than just medicine.”
• “It has influenced me to be a physician who also does research to better educate my career.”
• “My favorite part was meeting people who were in very different fields that are still important people.”
• “I learned that there are many options for me and it's ok to not know what to do yet.”

You can learn more about the STAR 2.0 Program at childrensmercy.org/STAR-program.