Biomedical Research Internship Oregon Health and Science University

Randy Woltjer is a Calvin grad and associate professor of pathology at OHSU in Portland, Oregon, where he runs a research laboratory that studies the biochemistry of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and rarer diseases. He also maintains the Oregon Brain Bank, a repository of over 2,000 cases of brain autopsy tissue that supplies researchers at over 50 labs throughout the U.S. who study a variety of brain diseases. Prof. Woltjer takes 1-4 interns each summer to help in the lab, to learn about research and the pathologic basis of brain diseases, and to enable them to find out if they have a real interest in science or medicine. Motivated interns can usually anticipate that they will be named as a coauthor on a scientific manuscript that incorporates the results of their efforts into the data section. The true value of the internship lies in the experience of working with real human tissue, studying real human diseases, and getting some professional guidance in biomedical careers.