Research Fellowships for NW Tribal Population Health Sciences Students

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The overall goal of this project is to increase the number of well-trained AI/AN researchers who are prepared to conduct population health sciences research in diverse settings. Numerous authors have documented the small numbers of tribal people who are career research scientists. Our efforts are aimed at addressing this situation. For this proposed fellowship program, we will build on our successful record of research career development for graduate students that we implemented in the previous cycles of NARCH funding. We will continue to support AI/AN graduate students for their mentored research, prioritizing NW tribal students enrolled in NW institutions. In addition, building on seven years of NIH support through the national BUILD program, we will support undergraduate AI/AN students interested in population science careers at Portland State University and other regional colleges and universities (new activity) as they undertake and complete mentored research projects. While all students will complete their programs’ degree requirements for graduation, we will increase trainee research competencies by additionally offering a mixture of skill-building courses in our Summer Research Training Institute program, via regularly scheduled Zoom and web-based seminars, in-person workshops, through near-peer mentorship, and by providing support to attend national, regional, and local research conferences. Using a population health sciences ’lens’, our fellowship program proposal includes the following aims: 1. Recruit and retain AI/AN graduate students in population health sciences into our research fellowships, in collaboration with NW college and university training programs and via national Indian education foundations and organizations (AIESES) (Latter is new activity) 2. Recruit and retain AI/AN undergraduate students interested in population health sciences and support them for research activities undertaken at their institutions (new activity for our NARCH). 3. Support development of all trainees via mentored research projects, Zoom-based seminars, and in- person workshops to foster research skills, and by providing AI/AN role models, near-peer mentors, and support for participation in national scientific meetings. 4. Evaluate the success of the project and track the trainees as they progress in their careers. The end product of our efforts should serve the national agenda to build tribal research capacity and reduce health disparities that currently separate tribal from non-Native groups in the U.S. In addition, our training efforts directed at regional AI/AN students will help establish NPAIHB as an important regional resource for tribal health research in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.