West Virginia HSTA Students Design Public Health Clinical Trials

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The Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) of West Virginia University submits this Phase l+ll proposal based on clinical trial protocol as a format to bring together biomedical and clinical researchers, university faculty, and community to disseminate science education to 9th-12th grade under- represented students, their high school teachers and to the general public. Critical components of clinical trials will be embedded in population-appropriate and age-appropriate context and inquiry based experiences using diabetes as the disease system and life-style interventions focused on nutrition and exercise. Clinical Trials Protocol curriculum will be designed by both HSTA teachers and university faculty and used for both campus summer programming and academic year, community-based, student research projects. In WV, over 43% of children have been classified as at-risk or overweight. In the last decade WV has recorded the highest diabetes related deaths in the nation though it is believed to have a high prevalence of modifiable risk factors for diabetes and obesity. The objectives of this proposal are to demystify clinical trials for the general public with special attention to under-served populations (a mission of NIH) and to improve the health of the state through education. The goals are to guide students and teachers in research projects involving life-style interventions for obesity and diabetes in communities where they transmit their new knowledge and understanding of research and clinical trials protocol to their parents and community members in order to: . address critical barriers to progress in healthy lifestyles, address critical barriers to demystifying clinical trials research through the use of a novel teaching format using clinical trial protocol as the foundation, raise the level of rigor to the science training for both teachers and students involved, excite teachers to incorporate the clinical trial protocol curriculum in their classrooms, provide academic enrichment in science and math to better prepare under-represented students for academic success in college, stimulate student interest towards biomedical research with particular attention to under-represented