Photo By Sidney Hinds | SILVER SPRING, Md. (Aug. 12, 2025) Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC) interns with...... read more read more
SILVER SPRING, Md. – Student interns with Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC) presented findings from their summer research at a STEM expo on Aug. 14.
The expo featured poster presentations by NMRC high school interns with the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP), and college students with the Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program (NREIP). Posters summarized work in multiple research areas relevant to U.S. service member health and readiness, including infectious disease, undersea medicine and neurotrauma.
The NMRC NREIP summer internship program runs for ten weeks, and the SEAP program for eight, placing high school and college students with command mentors. These mentors familiarize interns with research and laboratory techniques, and provide hands-on experience in military medical research.
“My group welcomed Vyness Simbi as a summer student, from the University of Maryland, College Park,” explained Dr. Yoann Le Breton, an NMRC research microbiologist and intern mentor. “She quickly adapted to the lab environment, and learned how to perform cell culture assays. She was able to show great results with new iterations of our prototypes, and accomplished a lot in such a short period of time. She was a rock star!.”
NMRC summer interns put their skills toward the challenges facing Navy Medicine, and assisted the command mission to ensure the health of U.S. service members. Over the course of the summer, their mentors also shared information on opportunities within the Navy and within military medical research.
“Our mentors were super-intelligent, obviously,” said Aditi Ramesh, SEAP intern and rising high school senior, “but they were also really down-to-earth, and always took time answering our questions and creating a good environment to do the sort of work they do.”
“They foster a great learning environment,” Ramesh added. “You feel like you’re contributing to something really important
“It feels intimidating at first,” said Avril Hsu, another SEAP intern, recently accepted as a freshman at The University of Maryland, “but the researchers here know you’re new, and will take the time to teach you. You just have to be proactive, and not too shy about asking questions.”
The SEAP and NREIP program coordinators also arranged several events for interns over the course of the summer, including a lunchbag session with staff representing different careers in Navy Medicine, and a tour of the National Museum of Health and Medicine.
“What makes this program extraordinary is the caliber of its interns,” said Lt. Sara Tuck, a microbiologist, and a coordinator for NMRC’s internship program. “Their intellect, enthusiasm and curiosity not only enriches the program today, but points toward a bright future for STEM and service member health.”
This summer was Tuck’s first as a coordinator, alongside NMRC microbiologist Lt. Ha Na Choe.
NMRC, headquarters of Navy Medicine Research & Development, is engaged in a broad spectrum of activity from basic science in the laboratory to field studies in austere and remote areas of the world to investigations in operational environments. In support of Navy, Marine Corps and joint U.S. warfighter health, readiness and lethality, researchers study infectious diseases, biological warfare detection and defense, combat casualty care, environmental health concerns, aerospace and undersea medicine, operational mission support and epidemiology.
| Date Taken: | 08.18.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.18.2025 15:42 |
| Story ID: | 545881 |
| Location: | SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 109 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NMRC’s 2025 Interns Conclude the Summer, Present Findings and Accomplishments, by Sidney Hinds, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
