The University of Cincinnati Opens Medical Research Labs to LabTV Filmmakers

    STAMFORD, CT, June 13, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- LabTV and the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, OH have agreed to partner LabTV filmmakers and young medical researchers from the university to create human-interest video profiles with the intention of encouraging new interest in the field.

As medical research is becoming increasingly important in today's world and interest in the field is waning in younger generations, it is essential to act on the opportunity to energize the field with new minds. LabTV's mission is to engage students by creating a personal connection with the heroes who have advanced medical research behind closed doors.

"Medical research is the greatest science adventure of our time, but very few people know about it," said LabTV Executive Producer David Hoffman. "On LabTV our short videos are about people, not about science. The medical scientists we profile are passionate young men and women from every background, every nation and every ethnic group. They find medical research incredibly exciting and rewarding. They are eager to encourage today's students to enter the field."

LabTV is an online video platform that showcases short human-interest videos of young medical scientists, turning them into the "human faces of medical research" and inspiring today's high school and college students to follow in their footsteps.

"The film staff was very professional and did an excellent job capturing my research," said Erin N. Haynes, Dr.PH, MS with the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division of the Department of Environmental Health at the University of Cincinnati. "I applaud the mission of LabTV to provide students an inside look into the career of a scientist."

The University of Cincinnati is one of the top medical research institutions in the United States, and is considered to have one of the oldest medical schools in the country. The College of Medicine is ranked in the top 50 "Best Graduate Schools" for research in 2014,U.S. News & World Report. It received more that $400 million in financial endowments, including the award for a highly competitive $2.3 million grant renewal from the National Cancer Institute to support the College of Medicine's doctoral training in cancer therapeutics.

The National Institutes of Health is encouraging America's labs to open their doors to LabTV so that both professional and student filmmakers can create the videos that will celebrate young scientists and excite today's students.

Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, has repeatedly stated that the United States needs visible role models in medical research who can encourage more of our brightest young people - especially women and minorities - to join this crucial profession.

To that end, LabTV is sending amateur and professional filmmakers to 40,000 NIH-funded medical research labs across the United States where they will create short video profiles of tens of thousands of young scientists.

"Our goal," said LabTV founder Jay Walker, "is to help students find role models they can identify with - young scientists who are people just like themselves, and who share their dreams and passions."

Universities that wish to have their young scientists profiled on LabTV at no cost to the university or the lab may contact LabTV's Debbie Pranckitas at (415) 813-8100 or by email at [email protected].

David Hoffman is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker of more than 150 television documentaries and multi-part series for PBS, Turner, A&E and the Discovery Channel. Mr. Hoffman has produced more than 200 television programs, five feature-length documentaries, and hundreds of Youtube "movies" that together have over 10 million views.

Jay Walker, the founder of LabTV, is also the chairman of Patent Properties and curator of TEDMED, the health and medicine edition of the famous TED conference. A noted entrepreneur, Mr. Walker has founded three companies that serve more than 50 million customers. He is best known as the creator of Priceline, which brought a new level of value to the travel industry.

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LabTV, in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health, inspires STEM-oriented students, particularly women and minorities, to consider a career in medical research. LabTV does this by having filmmakers, primarily undergraduates, interview young medical scientists, and post their interviews on LabTV.com where viewing students can find and connect with successful young medical scientists just like them.

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