Tulane Program to Advance Representation in Minority Health Research (ARMHR)

7. 项目总结/文摘

7. Project Summary/Abstract The Tulane Program to Advance Representation in Minority Health Research (Tulane ARMHR) builds on the foundation of the past 13 years of funding through the Tulane-Xavier MHIRT Program to provide mentored research training experiences for graduate students from groups that are underrepresented in biomedical, behavioral, and social science research, and to encourage participants to pursue research careers in these disciplines. Scholars from minority groups based on race, gender or sexual orientation, and socio-economic disparities are eligible to apply. Each year AMRHR, will provide research training for two doctoral candidates for extended 12-month research experiences and six masters and/or doctoral students for short-term 10 to 12- week research experiences. Trainees are placed either in New Orleans area research sites or at international sites affiliated with collaborative research projects led by program faculty. New Orleans-based trainees will benefit from a rich environment of opportunities through Tulane-affiliated programs, including studies of the impact of the physical and social environment on nutrition, obesity, and physical activity through the Prevention Research Center; research on health promotion and advocacy to improve health for women, children, and families through the Mary Amelia Women’s Health Center; and the KATIVA NOLA longitudinal studies of resiliency in diverse New Orleans communities impacted by Hurricane Katrina, including first-generation Vietnamese-American families. The current program maintains the most successful international sites from the Tulane Xavier MHIRT Program, in Peru where the largest number of former trainees were placed and where faculty maintain many active NIH-funded research and training programs, and in Cuba where our program has critical institutional collaborations that allowed us to be the first NIH training program permitted to place students in that country. The addition of new established research sites in Sierra Leone, a West African country with many historical ties to the United States, and the Dominican Republic, a country colonized by people of African descent with a long history of Spanish cultural influences, provides rich opportunities for comparative studies in health disparities and social determinants in these diverse sites. Scholar research plans are tailored to the primary research agendas at the individual overseas site, based on the funded research programs active at each site. Prior to the research experience, ARMHR scholars receive training and mentoring designed to foster improved self-efficacy, knowledge, and interest in research with a focus on health disparities with a global and US lens. All trainees participate in a standardized research training program prior to site placement, including a biweekly seminar series on research methods, an extended research planning process with faculty mentors, and an individualized five-year research career plan. Following the research experience, the cohort of scholars will meet to synthesize findings across experiences and sites in order to identify common themes rooted in health disparities.