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Hopkinton resident who is BU professor earns NIH grant for medical students

Dr. Steve Borkan, an associate professor of medicine at Boston University, is a Hopkinton resident.

Hopkinton resident Dr. Steve Borkan, an associate professor of medicine at Boston University’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, recently was awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health to train medical students. He and Vickery Trinkaus-Randall, Ph.D., co-direct the school’s M.D./Ph.D. program.

Also known as the BU Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), the program aims to develop students into “clinician-scientist leaders to solve health care challenges that can improve human health and prevent disease,” according to a press release from the school.

“[The grant] is such a big deal because its $1.6 million reward is totally allocated to support the students,” Borkan said in a recent interview. The money will support up to four MSTP students a year for the next five years.

“That will guarantee that the M.D./Ph.D. training program remains viable at a time where science is jeopardized and students might look the other way instead of picking a long and arduous training program like this one,” added Borkan.

The dual program helps students prepare for careers where they conduct both scientific research and clinical practice with the aim of improving human health. Borkan noted it is rare to find students who want to go into both clinical and research work, making the grant that much more important.

Part of the challenge is the amount of schooling involved; according to Borkan, completing the M.D./Ph.D. program is an eight-year commitment.

Borkan said the road to obtaining the NIH grant was not an easy one. “We have been trying to get this MSTP grant for almost 10 years,” he said. It took the investment of the school’s dean to get across the finish line.

Despite funding challenges at the national level, he added that it was the school’s mission for helping underserved populations along with BU’s reputation and investment in its students that convinced NIH to fund the program.

Borkan is a relatively new resident of Hopkinton. He and his wife moved three years ago in the hopes of finding a town with a good sense of community. He noted how quickly he felt welcomed by the town.

“It felt like a diverse, welcoming community that immediately attracted us,” said Borkan. “We absolutely love living in the town of Hopkinton.”

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Photo of the Day

A vehicle makes its way up Route 85 past Hopkinton State Park on a recent day.

PHOTO/AMIT JAGDALE