CONTACT: Robyn Gleasner, 277-5813

April 1, 2002 Aspiring doctor readying plans to return home to Raton Raton native Tony Salazar, an honors student in biology and chemistry at the University of New Mexico, is striving to become a small-town doctor in his hometown. “I want to be a family practitioner and go back to Raton. Not many people from Raton become doctors and go back. I want to be the first,” he says. Salazar was one of 11 students accepted into the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program at UNM in April 2001. The MARC program was designed to give minorities a chance to participate in research in biology, biochemistry, molecular genetics, or neuroscience. The students are also encouraged to travel to presentations and conferences outside of New Mexico. Salazar plans on attending the National Neuroscience Conference in Orlando, Fla., this November. He also plans on going to a lab in Irvine, Calif., “to teach them what we do and learn what they do.” The son of Marcus and Pauline Salazar, Salazar graduated from Raton High School in 1999. The small-town atmosphere is extremely important to Salazar, “Doctors in small towns have more contact with their patients than doctors in the big city. In the big city, doctors have to see so many people that they can?t remember them all.” The MARC program allows Salazar to do research in the neuroscience lab at the University of New Mexico Hospital. He works under the direction of Dr. Nora Perone-Bizzozero, who researches the correlation between Growth Associated Protein (GAP-43) with learning and memory processes in the hippocampus of the brain. “Rats respond to a tone, we then dissect the brain and see how much protein is expressed. It’s a lot like Pavlov’s experiments,” Salazar explains. Salazar works in the lab 10 hours a week as part of a federally-funded program that offers a high stipend. “I would work there even if it wasn’t paid. I want the experience,” Salazar says. He is the treasurer of the Pre-Med Club, as well as the volunteer committee chairman. “We bring in speakers and try to get people to do community service. Our main goal is to get speakers and provide information to people.” UNM gave Salazar the opportunity to participate in the MARC program and the Pre-Med Club. He was accepted to Princeton, but chose UNM, “because there is such a good contact with professors, which leads to good connections in the field. UNM is a great place.” Salazar is a Bill Gates Scholarship recipient and plans to graduate in May 2003. After graduation, he plans to attend medical school at UNM, and eventually work toward a Ph.D. in neuroscience. ###

The University of New Mexico
Public Affairs Department
Hodgin Hall, 2nd floor
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0011
Telephone: (505) 277-5813
Fax: (505) 277-1981