The AY 2002-2003 BMEP group was the first group to make the decision to come to the United States and to go through the visa application process after the events of September 11, 2001. There were many delays and disappointments due to political and bureaucratic decisions made during this time of uncertainty and unrest.

Four of the original twenty-four students who were selected to become members of the Class of 2002-2003 were not able to come to the United States with the majority of the group in September of 2002. Ali Poyan Mehr, who was initially denied a visa, has since received one and arrived at Dr. John Forrest's laboratory at Yale University School of Medicine, in New Haven, Connecticut in early February of 2003. Robert Schlösser, whose destination is the laboratory of Dr. Husseini Manji at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is still waiting to have the correct visa issued to him at this time (the third week of February, 2003.) Christine Krüger expects to arrive at the laboratory of Dr. Jonathan Schneck at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland on March 1st, 2003. Ruoyu Zhang, who hopes to work with Dr. Fady Charbel at the University of Illinois Medical School in Chicago, Illinois, is still waiting for visa approval. My sympathies and admiration go to these students for their patience and persistence in the face of inexplicable and irrational roadblocks put into their pathways by the United States government. Each of these students will be included in the yearbook published next year for the AY 2003-2004 BMEP group.

The remainder of this year's BMEP students (except for Alexander Göhler and Tobias Ringeisen, whose arrivals were slightly delayed) began their time in the U. S. at the FORUM in Maine on September 4th, 2002. The weather was perfect and the programs and activities were well received. The students particularly enjoyed a lecture given by Dr. Tom Koob, a research fellow at MDIBL and at the University of South Florida in Tampa, and a panel discussion about health care delivery in the U. S., which included as participants Dr. Edward Gilmore, a General Practitioner in Bar Harbor, Maine and Dr. Erik Steele, Director of Emergency Services at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine.

The students seem to have had very good times during their stays in the various cities around the country, despite the political tensions and economic stresses of the current situation in the United States. The possible war with Iraq, unpopular with most citizens of the world and also unpopular with many, many U.S. citizens, has made political discussions somewhat uncomfortable for the students. However, positive experiences, both in their laboratories and in their personal lives, have more than made up for that. There have been a few unpleasant things - a stolen bike, a stolen wallet, some illnesses, which required visits to hospital emergency rooms, car trouble, and the usual problem of unsatisfactory apartments, which cost too much money. However, once again the BMEP students will be taking home with them many excellent memories of the experiences and the opportunities that they have found during their BMEP year.

As I complete my third year with BMEP I would like to give many thanks to Dr. Stolte, Peg Bailey, and especially, to Birgit Heller, without whose help I would certainly be lost.

The BMEP program is completing its 24th year. Let us hope that the 25th Anniversary Year will be as successful as all of the previous years.

Sincerely,

Laurie B. Williams
U.S. Program Coordinator