Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP)

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goals of Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP), for which renewed support is sought, are to: (i) increase enrollment of under-represented minority (URM) PhD and MD-PhD students in our own graduate programs and in other excellent programs. The longer-term goal is to contribute to greater URM participation in biomedical research careers at a high level of achievement. We will demonstrate to recent URM college graduates that a career in biomedical research is an exciting and achievable choice for them. The central activity in this demonstration is a cutting-edge mentored research experience, supplemented critically by special seminars, works-in-progress, journal clubs and opportunities to attend meetings, (ii) enhance PREP scholars' ability to succeed and, in significant numbers, to excel when they enter pre-doctoral programs. To achieve this, PREP scholars with be given the chance to adjust to a Graduate School/Medical Center environment as part of the supportive PREP mini-community and become full participants in the larger academic community before undertaking a full pre-doctoral course-load. PREP scholars will also have the option of taking or auditing appropriate course-work to experience the challenge of pre-doctoral academic work with a single course at a time and, when they succeed, gain confidence as well as a "leg-up" with respect to the requirements of their next program. An array of individualized development activities will enhance the skills of each PREP scholar from their own starting points, (iii) foster later participation in translational research and reduction of health care disparities by bringing them into the intense institutional efforts in these arenas as participants and/or learners. Mount Sinai's PREP will build on the success of its first 4 years during which a large majority of the first 17 PREP scholars to complete PREP entered doctoral programs; 13 of the 17 scholars entered PhD (11) or MD-PhD (2) programs and are progressing strongly, with one more now applying to PhD programs. To further enhance this success and foster an even deeper engagement with issues of health and health care disparities, we will refine the Program elements, will carefully monitor the long-term success of the Program and evaluate the contribution of specific Program elements by collecting and analyzing both short- and longterm outcomes data.