UC Merced medical school makes moving home easier for Valley medical student

We caught up with Scott Matthew Summers, a 26-year-old Valley native and (of course) former classmate after he sent us an excited e-mail regarding U.C. Merced’s medical school.

“You’re probably familiar with this, but it’s relevant to your blog and really exciting for me,” he wrote.

We took notice, one because we can’t remember the last time we talked to Scott online or in person. And two, because from what we remember, Scott doesn’t wear excitement on his sleeve.

Here’s our e-mail/facebook messenger interview with Scott, an MD/PhD student at U.C. Irvine.

One-sentence summary: A Valley medical school means he could live both his dreams–to live in the Valley and flourish professionally.

It means that returning to the Central Valley will likely become considerably easier for me…

— Scott Matthew Summers, sixth-generation Valley native

What year are you in school?

I’m just starting my 7th year in the MD/PhD program at UC Irvine. Meaning I’ve completed the PhD and two years of med school. I have two years of med school left there.

What are you researching?

My PhD is in pharmacology, specifically cardiovascular pharmacology centered around treating orthostatic intolerance, a.k.a. fainting when you stand up.

Why is this news exciting?
The Central Valley desperately needs not only more physicians, but also some sort of biomedical research facility. A medical school tends to foster much greater biomedical research opportunities, particularly in the basic sciences, than are available at a university without a medical school or a hospital that only offers resident training such as what is currently available at UCSF-Fresno.

What does this news mean for you, personally?

It means that returning to the Central Valley will likely become considerably easier for me in terms of career opportunities.

Do you plan to move back to the Valley? Why or why not?

Yeah. I’m a 6th generation Central Valley native. My family on all sides still lives in the area around Fresno and Sanger. I really can’t imagine living somewhere other than where they are for the long term. Further, I had a great childhood here and I would want my kids to have that as well.

What in particular did you like about your childhood in the Fresno area?

I liked the open space. I played in the furrows between grape vines on grandfather’s farm. The people are nicer than a lot of other places in the state.

How did you think you’d move to the Valley before this?

I thought my research would probably be more clinical. But such as it is, this might allow me to do the goal that most MD/PhDs have which is 80% research and 20% clinical activities.

Ok, let me get this straight, before UC Merced’s Med school, you thought your only option to move back to the Valley with an MD/phD would be to work at a Community hospital doing clinical research?

The other option was to work at UC Merced, but do only basic science. Now I could actually do both.

The whole bench-to-bedside process that MD/PhDs dream about.

 

Would Jesus slash Darwin’s tires?

In learning about Central Valley Cafe Scientifique, we stumbled upon a startling incident that may or may not reflect on the scientific climate in the Valley.

The cafe’s next speaker, Fresno State professor Dr. Ryan Earley, found his car tire punctured this week and with a nasty note on his windshield saying: “Fuck you Darwinist. Take your car to heaven.”

(Editors’ Note: Please excuse the profanity, but we thought it was a necessary evil in this case.)

Earley, who displays a bumper sticker of a Darwin fish chasing a Jesus fish on his car, says its not the first time he’s received this sort of reaction to the sticker he meant lightheartedly. “I’ve gotten a bunch of notes on my car, especially when I lived in Georgia and Kentucky.” This is the second note he’s received in less than two years working in Fresno. A similar, but less profane note was left on his car while he was shopping at Borders, he says.

Earley, an expert on behavioral ecology, appears to be shrugging the incident off. He didn’t report it to authorities, but simply took it to the dealership since his car was still under warranty. (We heard about it in passing from another Fresno State professor, while learning more about Cafe Scientifique and other science projects). Earley says he found the incident humorous, only in that it reflects what he thinks is a larger issue of science illiteracy and a misunderstanding that religion and science are at odds.

“Honestly, my whole take on the issue is: It’s not just the Central Valley, it’s everywhere.”

Earley says, “If you went to Europe, you’d never ever see this sort of thing…Certainly, it’s symptomatic of a greater problem. The biggest problem is education. People are not educated to be open-minded and to think and to be able to recognize that when something is opposing your beliefs–[that] that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

 

Is the San Joaquin Valley starved for science?

Unlike the newest chain store to open in Fresno, we’re always hungry for happenings that gets us excited—I mean really excited–about returning to the San Joaquin Valley. When we heard about Central Valley Cafe Scientifique, we had to learn more: mostly the who, what, where, when, why and how can we help out.

That’s because Central Valley Cafe Scientifique is a free monthly forum for the public to hear lectures and ask questions of local scientists. The talks are half-a-year-old, have no advertising budget and garnered no major media coverage, but organizers tell me that meetings have attracted as many as 60 to 80 participants and counting.

“It’s been an embarrassment of riches,” said Scott Hatfield, a Bullard High School science teacher, an evolution activist, and one of the organizers.

“It just shows that Fresno County is really starved for opportunites to hear science.”

A Worldwide Trend

Cafe Scientifique is a concept that started ten years ago in England and is catching on worldwide in Uganda, Japan, Hungary, Poland and now Fresno, California . The idea is to take science out of the classroom and into public spaces. It’s commonly held in cafes, bars and restaurants, where people can munch on chips and salsa while contemplating the cosmos.

A Growing Audience

Hatfield says people who have attended are part of the Fresno State community, but they are also members of the public–people who might watch public television, or be active in their communities. The crowd has grown so large that the group has stopped actively promoting its meetings to make sure the venues don’t overflow. They might even branch off into two cafes to meet the demand, and also become more accessible to participants in the north Valley– such as near U.C. Merced.

Think Globally; Learn Science Locally

One important draw is that the cafe will feature local scientists from academic institutions, private industry and also the local branches of governmental organizations– such those at the US Dept. of Agriculture, Dept. of Fish and Game and US Forest Service.

The cafe’s first topics demonstrate the depth of our science community. They’ve spanned the gamut of forensic biochemistry, social psychology, global warming and sexual diversity. The talks are billed as provokative, but also playful. The next meeting on June 2 is on “Finding your inner fish.” Reading the promo, we’re already intrigued and educated: Fish use tools? They can switch gender mid-life?

Would you like some Central Valley with your science?

Now, it’s no secret that since this is the Central Valley’s Cafe Scientifique, this is all going on in the midst of the creationism/evolution controversy. We’re not well-schooled in creationist battlegrounds, but at least one of the topics seem to take the religious alternative head on with lectures on the age of the universe. Hatfield says they welcome participants from all backgrounds to engage in mature scientific discourse.

If you’re interested in attending the next Central Valley Cafe Scientifique it’ll be held:

Monday, June 2

6:30 to 8:30pm

at Lucy’s Lair

10063 N Maple Ave

Fresno, CA 93730

(559) 433-9775