In 2026, student organizations at Baylor College of Medicine and its Houston ISD educational partner schools have created opportunities for young people to become junior scientists, as well as student teachers.

First Student Teaching Competition at Baylor draws crowd

At main Baylor, a student-founded organization, Academic Medicine Collaborative (AMC), hosted its first Student Teaching Competition on April 15. Medical students were invited to submit abstracts on a topic of their choice, and eight finalists were selected by a panel of internal medicine residents.

Each finalist developed an eight-minute interactive presentation under the guidance of a faculty mentor and presented to a live audience. Presentations were evaluated by a panel of judges that included distinguished Baylor faculty. Awards were given for first place, second place and audience favorite.

The competition was created and run by two first-year medical students, three second-years, a third-year and two fourth-years, said Jamie Welsh, the organization’s co-president who just finished her first year in the School of Medicine.

“Our co-president and I both had an interest in medical education coming to Baylor, but we realized there wasn’t a lot of outlets for growing that interest already implemented,” Welsh said. “We are interested in starting a MedEd pathway to increase opportunities for medical students to have it earlier.”

The primary reason for the competition was learning how to effectively teach, including active learning components, different lectures styles for various audiences and hands-on experience, she said. Dr. Jonathan Le, a first-year resident, mentored the student organization through building the teaching event.

Forty-five people competed, and about 60 people attended the live presentations. The AMC is mostly interested in undergraduate medical education and aim to teach in the future as part of their career, Welsh added.

“There’s so many different routes where physicians can fit a role in MedED – broad spectrum, curriculum design, teaching, effectiveness of academic models or teaching models,” she said. “There is also residency and fellowship education, and interpersonal education between physicians and other healthcare associates, like physician assistants, nurse practitioners and nurses.”

AMC 2025-’26 officers and faculty sponsors

• Co-presidents: Varun Thavanampalli and Jamie Welsh
• Treasurer: Soham Datar
• Event coordinators: Matthew Darmadi and Luay Boulahouache
• Faculty coordinators: Aubrey Cui and Hachem Bey
• Social coordinator: Kendall Oh
• Secretary: Mitchell Howard
• Faculty sponsors: Dr. Peter Boedeker and Dr. Jonathan Le

Junior scientists in space

In addition to its own scientific programs and pre-medical education curriculum, Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan works to bring outside scientific and educational opportunities to its middle school students.

Last spring, student London Christmas was named one of five recipients of a Junior Scientist Award in the 2026 Genes in Space competition, a global program that invites middle- and high school-age students from around the U.S. to design DNA experiments to address challenges in space exploration.

Christmas earned a Junior Scientist Award for “Beyond Earth’s Daylight: Probing CRY1-Driven Circadian Changes Within Space Environments.” She was mentored by BCM reader-advisers Melanie Mew and Michael Dieffenbach. Research involving circadian rhythms is important in space science because astronauts experience disrupted light cycles and altered sleep patterns during missions. Understanding how these biological processes change in microgravity could contribute to future studies related to astronaut health and long-duration space travel, according to her research.

The competition presents 25 awards annually, including five Finalist Awards, five Junior Scientist Awards, five Constellation Awards recognizing outstanding schools and 10 Honorable Mentions.

Coming up on July 28-30, finalist teams will present their projects at the International Space Station Research and Development Conference during the Countdown to Discovery event. One finalist experiment will be launched to the International Space Station and carried out by astronauts using miniPCR™ biotechnology equipment.

Students who were enrolled in the school’s Principles of Bioscience course were mentored by bioscience teacher Jude Herbolario to develop research proposals and project concepts. Dr. Beatriz Perez-Sweeney, assistant professor in the Center for Educational Outreach and STEM specialist at BCM Academy at Ryan, partnered with Dr. Rasheida Hatcher, program management lead in the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, who recruited advisers and readers from Baylor’s cancer research community to support students.

This marks the school’s second consecutive year receiving recognition through the Genes in Space program. In 2025, students Sophia Luna and Jessica Henriquez Lainez received one of the five Junior Scientist Awards for “Antibacterial Resistance in Staphylococcus arlettae from ISS Astronauts in Microgravity.”

Together, these achievements reflect the school’s continued emphasis on student research, scientific collaboration and experiential learning opportunities in bioscience and space health.

Story by Julie Garcia and Michelle Moore, senior communications associates at Baylor College of Medicine