April 27, 2020

Thanks to the rapid and catastrophic spread of coronavirus, students in the United States are reporting a higher interest in pursuing STEM and medical research in the future.

STEM, or topics in Science Technology Engineering Mathematics, has always been considered critical to propel the United States to the future economically. It’s part of the reason Coast Southwest has been a supporter and sponsor of the You Be The Chemist Challenge, for instance.  But now, professionals in medicine and STEM research are needed more than ever to end the global pandemic and save human lives.

Many medical professionals and students are hopeful the coronavirus will inspire more students to choose a medical or STEM focused path for their future education and career plans. 

“Maybe we’ll get a lot more doctors out of this,” Shreya Thatai, a second-year medical student at the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program told CNBC Make It. “I feel like for younger folks, maybe in high school or in undergrad right now, this could be a real motivating force to enter health care: nurses and doctors and medical practitioners and everyone.”

Experts point to an increased desire to help others, serve vulnerable populations, and to address inequalities and problems in the healthcare system for the burgeoning interest of younger people in the medical field. 

An increase in trained medical professionals would be critical to the U.S., not just to end the coronavirus, but also during the coming years. Currently, the American Association of Medical Colleges estimates the U.S. may be short up to 122,000 doctors by 2023. 

Interest in STEM and medical research rises

The growing student interest in STEM and medical research can also be linked to the large swath of research papers recently published about COVID-19. Since March 12, 2020, over 900 English-language papers, preprints and reports about the novel coronavirus outbreak have been published, according to Nature.com.

Reports published about COVID-19 include research on the clinical features of the virus, including the structure and how it spreads, the effectiveness of social distancing and quarantines, potential drugs for treatment, and the psychological effects of the virus on healthcare workers.

However, the recent swath of publications merely scratch the surface of the STEM and medical research that will be needed to end the pandemic. Currently, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have identified four key categories of scientific research needed to end the coronavirus outbreak.

The four key quadrants of the NIAID Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Research include:

• “characterize the virus and better understand how it causes infection and disease
•  the development of rapid, accurate diagnostics and assays to identify and isolate COVID-19 cases and track the spread of the virus
•  characterizing and testing potential treatments for COVID-19
• develop safe and effective vaccines to protect individuals from infection and prevent future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks”

With such widespread need and interest for scientific research that can help end the outbreak, generations of future U.S. students are primed to see the benefit of pursuing careers in STEM and medicine.  

Innovative support 

Medical and science students across the nation have also rallied to collect supplies or donate funds and services to healthcare professionals, and inspired younger generations along the way.

Several innovative volunteer initiatives created by medical students include:

• University of California, Los Angeles – medical students banded together to create LA COVID-19 Volunteers to offer services like grocery delivery, child care and more to health care workers
• University of Minnesota – through new organization MNCOVIDsitters, medical students are organizing and volunteering to provide child care, pet care, and grocery delivery services for health care workers
• University of Pittsburgh – students are delivering medications to at-risk patients 
• Georgetown University – students created the national campaign #MedSupplyDrive to gather and distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) to health care facilities 

As the efforts of current medical and STEM students to help during the outbreak continues to be shared widely on social media and the news, experts predict younger generations will be inspired to pursue similar paths.

The future of the U.S. workforce is being forged now

The future after the coronavirus pandemic is uncertain. However, thanks to the tireless work and innovation of STEM researchers, medical professionals, and students in training, entire generations of future U.S. citizens are poised to enter the life-saving fields of STEM and medicine.