BESTScience! Program

High school teachers work with lab equipment in Ochsner's BEST Science program.

In 2012 Ochsner Clinic Foundation was awarded a 5-year, $1.25 million Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund BEST Science!, a program administered by Ochsner’s Academic Division in conjunction with Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and local educators. Dr. Jawed Alam, former Interim System Vice-President for Research at Ochsner, and Dr. Paula Gregory, Associate Professor of Genetics at LSUHSC, serve as co-principal investigators of the project. The BEST (Bioscience Enrichment for Students and Teachers) Science! SEPA grant was one of 16 awarded nationwide in 2012 and is to date only the second to have been awarded in the state of Louisiana . It is projected to impact more than 11,000 students and 130 teachers in the New Orleans Metropolitan Area through 2017.

Program Team

Allison Sharai - Program Administrator
Jawed Alam, PhD, MBA - BESTScience! Co-Principal Investigator
Paula Gregory, PhD - BESTScience! Co-Principal Investigator
Fern Tsien, PhD - BESTScience! Co-Investigator
Rebecca Fisher, PhD - Laboratory Assistant/Curriculum Developer
Stephanie Messina, MS - Laboratory Assistant/Curriculum Developer
Gerlinde Beckers, PhD - BESTScience! Program Evaluator
Aimée Thomas, Ph.D. - BESTScience! Program Evaluator