Short-Term Training Program to Increase Diversity in Health-Related Research

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The Brown University Short-Term Training Program supports the training of 15 under- represented (minority and disadvantaged) undergraduate students each year to complete 9- week, faculty mentored summer research internships. The program recruits students from a national pool and provides them with early research training experience in cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematologic and sleep disorders research. This program has existed at Brown for the past 24 years. Over the life of the program 1 of every 15 trainees mentored has become a faculty member; ~50% of the trainees enter a graduate degree program; and ~3.6 of every 15 trainees mentored has earned advanced terminal graduate degrees such as the M.D. /PhD, or the PhD degree. The current proposal seeks renewal of this successful program. By doing so, we will continue to replenish and diversify the biomedical fields by supporting the training of under-represented racial & ethnic minorities, disabled and other disadvantaged individuals. This will be achieved by providing students from these under-represented groups with: a) research training experiences with outstanding faculty mentors at Brown, b) enriching peer mentoring and self-affirming activities led by UR graduate students from the same backgrounds’ c) engaging in activities that model the career lifestyle and habits of scholars, in part through participation in research forums, attending and participating seminars and engaging in social activities, and d) provide a long-term mentoring environment through both career development conferences and online programs. The participatory learning activities of our program will help to motivate trainees to pursue careers in the biomedical sciences. Moreover, by continuing this program we will expand the research opportunities & training experiences for under-represented students that would otherwise not be available to them. This will help to foster a stronger and more career oriented outlook among participants. Inevitably, this will help to preserve the U.S. global competitiveness in the areas of science, medicine, healthcare technology and education.