Ana Clemmer

IR 2/10-GT
9/10/18
Site Visit Reflection
6
Site Visit to the National Library of Medicine

On September 10, 2018, I visited the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus in Bethesda for

a tour of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The tour was led by Tara Mowrey, Chief of Visitor

Operations, with whom I had an extensive conversation before the tour, receiving lots of information

about how I can use the National Institutes of Health for my research project, even including tips on

getting an internship there, as well as ways to have a researcher in the NIH be my advisor. At the end of

our tour, I was also introduced to Kenneth M. Koyle, Deputy Chief of the History of Medicine Division.

During the tour, we visited the computer room in which the database PubMed is stored and operated.

Prior to that, Ms Mowrey showed us an 8-minute video showing all the NLM programs and an overview

of what they do at NIH. In addition, I learned how to use the PubMedCentral database to access entire

articles written by professional researchers, some of which are at the National Institute for Allergy and

Infectious Diseases. This institute is the main institute focusing on antibiotic or antimicrobial resistance.

I visited the National Library of Medicine to learn about how I can be involved with the National

Institutes of Health and find out how to use the National Library of Medicine as a resource. Also, to figure

out how I might be able to apply and have an internship there. I learned that in order to fully use the

library on site, one must bring a flashdrive to scan the pages of the books and journals, since that is the

new and improved method of keeping the international collection of medicinal literature safe while still

having it accessible to the public.

I am so glad that I went the the NLM, since I was so encouraged by Ms Mowrey’s advice and

enthusiasm, as well as learning about how rich of a resource the NLM can be. I plan to visit the NLM

again to use the library itself, as well as visiting the PubMed database online. As well as visiting the

library, I am looking forward to organizing an informational interview with on of the researchers at the
NIH. I was informed that there is a lot of overlap in research within the institutes, so my method of

finding a professional to interview will be to search and read articles written by NIH members, then email

them or their assistants, secretaries, or colleagues in order to get in touch with them. After building a

connection with the researcher, I can volunteer, shadow, or intern in the lab once I am 16. There are also

locations in Baltimore and Frederick, so I could also look there for advisors or opportunities closer to

home.

There are many more thing that I learned from this site visit that will be beneficial to me in the

future for my research. For example, the NIH is partnered with the Center for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). I would like to contact

the FDA in order to learn more about antibiotic resistance from a producer and consumer standpoint.

Finally, I learned that I can volunteer at the Children’s Inn or in the Clinical Center to receive first-hand

experience in the research field of study, as well as in medicine.

Overall, I had an overwhelmingly successful visit to the National Library of Medicine and I am

looking forward to my next site visit.