Evan Schroder ‘20 attended the Travis B. Lewis High School Internship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center over the summer. In the fall of 2018, Schroder went through a lengthy application to apply for the internship.

“For the application process, I had to send in letters of recommendation, a transcript, a resume, and a personal statement,” Schroder said.

He had mixed emotions when he found out that he had been accepted into the program.

“I was told that this was the most competitive program in Nebraska. With only five high school students in Nebraska being accepted, I was nervous,” he said. “I was going to work with researchers that are changing the face of modern medicine.”

The internship started on June 3 and lasted for ten weeks. Schroder worked with the Summer Undergrad Research Program, a program usually reserved for college students. While there, he worked forty hours a week in different labs researching Parkinson’s, HIV, HPV, Hepatitis B, and a neurological drug, Pharmacokinetics.

“While I was there, they actually cured HIV in a humanized mouse,” he said. “They put a human immune system inside of a mouse, and used a drug routine of entry inhibitors, reverse transcriptase, and protease inhibitors. After that, they cut out the HIV virus from the human DNA.” 

During the internship, Schroder made many connections that will help him further his interest in medicine.

“I met many people at the internship, some of whom went to Ivy League schools, he said. I also met someone that had parents that were both surgeons. I talked with his parents and I set up plans for me to shadow one of them for a day.”

Schroder was also invited back to join the UNMC team as an employee next summer.

“They invite all the participants of the internship back to work as employees instead of interns, so I am excited to work there again next summer,” he said.