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Prostate Politics F affairs and Peoria campus liaison to Careers in Medicine, helped formulate and submitted the entry for the winning program—a residency interviewing workshop that explained and provided guidance on the interview process— one of four winners nationwide. About 40 students attended the workshop, which targeted both fourth-year medical students applying for residency positions and third-year students explor- ing specialty choices. Representatives from Peoria's internal medicine, psychiatry, T Linda Rowe HE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AT PEORIA has been named a winner of the second annual National Career Development Month Contest, sponsored by Careers in Medicine, a program of the Association of the American Medical Colleges. Linda Rowe, EdD, assistant dean for student Researcher studies environment-cancer connections, earns university award OR MORE THAN TWO DECADES, Gail Prins, PhD, has studied the molecular biology of the prostate to better understand the complex connection between environmental exposure to certain chemicals early in life, and the onset of cancer and other diseases years if not decades later. Early exposure to even extremely small amounts of Bisphenol A (BPA), a building block of many common plastics that's chemically similar to es- trogen, sets in motion genetic changes to the prostate as it matures, according to Prins' research, and she continues to investigate definitive ties to prostate cancer. A professor in the departments of both urology, and physiology and biophysics, Prins is serving as principal investigator on three National Institutes of Health studies looking at the effects of exposure to BPA early in life. More unexpectedly, her work has led to social and political activism. For ex- ample, her presentation to the Chicago City Council in 2009 helped bring about a citywide ban on sales of cups and baby bottles that contained BPA. And recently, her work has earned Prins the Researcher of the Year recogni- tion at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In nominations for the award, Prins was repeatedly praised for making the extra effort to mentor young scientists— particularly women—early in their careers. Although Prins has built a successful career herself, she sees that women are more likely to be assistant professors than full professors. "I'm not interested in taking someone out to lunch—but I try to be there to help by reading grant proposals, having conversations about ongoing work and offering strong advice," Prins says. "It's my way to better the future." Gail Prins, professor in both urology, and physiology and biophysics, earned Researcher of the Year recognition. Exemplary Career Development Peoria campus wins Careers in Medicine contest emergency, radiology, pediatrics and family medicine residency programs formed an advisory panel and coached students. During the panel, moderated by the president of the Student Government Association, they provided tips on: n preparing for residency interview season; n making a good impression before, during and after interviews; and n tailoring applications to particular programs and specialties. "The success of this workshop is due in large measure to collaborative relationships among administrative offices, student groups and our affiliated hospital," Rowe said. "It was promoted as part of our ongoing programmatic activities designed to help students select and apply for specialties. Comments from students indicated that the interviewing workshop was well received and answered many of their questions and concerns." Information about the Careers in Medicine contest, along with informa- tion about the 2011 winners can be found at: https://www.aamc.org/services/ cim/268832/ncdm_winners.html. 6 | FALL 2012 PHOTO: ROBERTA DUPUIS-DEVLIN