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

REACH是一个为期8周的管道暑期课程，面向少数族裔和对神经科学职业感兴趣的未被充分代表的大学生和高中生。与医学博士Jenny Libien和博士Juan Marcos Alarcon博士共同开发的大学和高中生自闭症研究经验(REACH)暑期计划为未被充分代表的大学生在生物医学领域寻求职业生涯提供了优势。REACH课程是一个以研究为中心的计划，带有补充模块，旨在通过全面的讲座和临床经验，加强参与者对神经障碍的知识，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，重点是心理健康差距和文化能力。这些经验将告诉学生产生的假设和计划，学生将在整个暑假发展。该计划招募基础科学研究人员、医生、临床医生和研究生(博士和医学生)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敬业的教师和研究生导师的帮助下，开发关于自闭症的研究假设，他们将在为期8周的项目结束时通过实验解决这些假设。通过让参与者接触到不同的导师群体，我们希望给他们留下深刻的印象，让他们了解在神经科学和生物医学领域的生活之路和可达性。我们计划的长期目标有两个，首先是增加未被充分代表的少数群体进入神经科学/生物医学领域的机会和留住他们。第二，通过我们的学生积极影响代表性不足的社区。

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.