Naturally Obsessed “SPURS” Minority Student Commitment to Science Career

“Naturally Obsessed: the making of a scientist” was screened on June 10 to a group of New York City college honor students participating in the Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons SPURS program (Summer Program for Underrepresented Students). The program is designed to expand the pool of medical and biomedical research applicants from diverse and economically disadvantaged groups whose members have been underrepresented in medicine and biomedical research.  Recruited to the Columbia summer program from various campuses in the City University of New York system, the students also participate in an NIH program aimed at broadening access to research careers at their home colleges (MARC, MBRS, or RISE).

Compressing three years of filming in the molecular biology laboratory of Dr. Lawrence Shapiro into an intense one-hour documentary, “Naturally Obsessed” is intended to convey the realities of laboratory research and the personal side of what it takes to become a scientist. The film was co-directed by Dr. Richard Rifkind, for many years a cell biologist at Columbia P&S, who took up filmmaking upon his retirement as a researcher and Chairman of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research.

“So, I’ll bet that seeing the real difficulties of laboratory research changed how at least half of you think about a career in science,” challenged program coordinator Alan Dindas, opening the post screening discussion. But most students disagreed..  “It was a vivid honest view.  This is what it takes. It made me feel more motivated.  I feel more prepared,” said one. “It didn’t scare me,” said another. “It’s what I want to do.” A student who is also a filmmaker was sure that he “could accept the ups and downs” of research,   appreciating the drama inherent in the human dimension of doing science.

On the other side, one female student worried that a science career might compete with the pull of a family, and threaten the personal relationships that she counts on. “How does a professor  feel when a student drops out?” a student asked Larry Shapiro, who had joined the session. “You worry,” he acknowledged. “Could I have done more, or differently? But I have mixed feelings; not everyone should be working in this area.”

The Directors of Naturally Obsessed and featured scientist Larry Shapiro chat with honor students participating in the SPURS program

One student commented on Larry’s cool and geniality. Others noted the friendships in the lab, the sense of common purpose and sharing, and that each of the three students in the film reflected a different personality and a different outcome.

Summing it up, Alan Dindas urged the students to keep the goal in mind. “You need to have a sense of who you are and how it matches up with what you want to do.”