4th November 2016 -  Student stories and testimonials:

It was a productive experience both from a human point of view, as it allowed me to have a first but indispensable approach to a culture (understood as language, customs and traditions) quite different from ours, and from an academic point of view: below the careful supervision of prof. Abbate it was possible, during the course of the first two weeks, to acquire the basic notions of research methodology (clinical and preclinical) and combine, in the following month of stay in Richmond, research and departmental activities, returning enriched with a baggage of inestimable value.
Michael Viscusi

Being able to follow a course on research methodology is in itself an opportunity for a medical student, since during the master's degree course they prefer to study the results of scientific studies rather than studying "how" to do research. Furthermore, being able to attend him in the United States made this experience important not only from an educational point of view, but also from a personal point of view. The course was structured in a theoretical part and a practical part. The theoretical part with lessons carried out by Prof. Abbate and his collaborators and with the "readings” carried out by professors internal or external to the VCU, open to all. The practical part, on the other hand, was "personalized" to each of our interests in the various specialist fields; you could, for example, follow preclinical research studies (in laboratories) e clinical research studies. Having the opportunity to follow a course entirely dedicated to research methodology and structured in this way allowed me to have an overview of what research is made up of and to have feedback in practice, albeit limited due to of the short term. What struck me the most were their structures, their internal organization and also the direct relationship between students and their mentors/professors (there seems to be almost no barrier that sometimes separates the student from the teacher). Furthermore, I was struck by the great interest that the United States has in research and how much it is funded. A separate note, however, on their lifestyle, far from ours and in my opinion not too healthy; to give a striking example, there were fast food outlets inside the hospital. Overall it was a constructive experience, which opened up new paths and scenarios for the future. For this I thank UCBM, the professor. Abbate and his collaborators. 
Ettore Distefano

I found the experience at VCU extremely enriching both academically and personally. Since my return to Italy I have a great desire to do, try new experiences and, why not, get closer to world of research. I thank the Alumni association for giving us this opportunity and I hope to be able to repeat it again in the coming years.
Maria Luigiin Vaiano
 
The strong point of the Richmond experience was the possibility of following lessons which systematically covered every single aspect of the designing a scientific work. It would be nice to set up a similar experience in UCBM, as this possibility does not exist so far. Attending a research lab there allowed me to see similarities and differences with how work is conducted here atUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma.I wish everyone an experience similar to mine.
Paul missing