REACH Pipeline Summer Research Experience for Minority and Underrepresented High School and Undergraduate Students

REACH是一个为期8周的暑期预备课程，面向对神经科学职业感兴趣的少数族裔和代表性不足的大学和高中学生。与dr。Jenny Libien，医学博士，和Juan Marcos Alarcon，博士，在大学和高中学生的自闭症研究经验（REACH）暑期项目，为未被充分代表的大学生在追求生物医学领域的职业生涯提供了一个优势。REACH课程是一个以研究为中心的课程，设有补充模块，旨在通过全面的讲座和临床经验提高参与者对神经系统疾病的认识，重点是自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）。学生还接受职业发展方面的指导，重点是心理健康差异和文化能力。这些经历将为学生们在整个暑假中提出的假设和项目提供信息。该项目招募基础科学研究者、内科医生、临床医生和研究生（博士和医学院学生）作为REACH导师。利用基于团队和同伴指导的策略，学生参与者将在他们专门的教师和研究生导师的帮助下，提出关于自闭症谱系障碍的研究假设，并在8周的项目结束时通过实验来解决这些假设。通过让参与者接触到不同的导师，我们希望让他们对神经科学和生物医学领域的生活道路和可实现性留下深刻印象。我们项目的长期目标有两个，首先是增加未被充分代表的少数民族进入神经科学/生物医学领域的机会和保留。第二，通过我们的学生积极影响弱势群体。

REACH is an 8-week pipeline summer course for minorities and underrepresented college and high school students interested in careers in neuroscience. Developed, together with Drs. Jenny Libien, MD, Ph.D., and Juan Marcos Alarcon, Ph.D., the Research Experience in Autism for College and High School students (REACH) summer program, provides underrepresented college students an advantage in pursuing a career in the biomedical fields. The REACH course is a research centric program with supplementary modules aimed at enhancing the participants’ knowledge of neurological disorders with emphasis in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) through comprehensive lectures and clinical experiences. Students also receive instruction in career development with emphasis in mental health disparities and cultural competence. These experiences will inform the student-generated hypotheses and project that the students will develop throughout the summer. The program recruits basic science investigators, physicians, clinicians and graduate (PhD and medical students) students as REACH mentors. Utilizing team-based and peer-mentoring strategies, the student participants with the aid of their dedicated faculty and graduate student mentors will develop research hypotheses regarding ASD that they will experimentally resolve by the conclusion of the 8-week program. By exposing the participants to a diverse population of mentors, we hope to impress upon them the path and attainability of a life in the neuroscience and biomedical fields. Our program’s long-term goal is twofold, first to increase access and retention of underrepresented minorities into the neuroscience/biomedical field. Second, to positively impact underrepresented communities through our students.