Biomedical Research Abroad: Vistas Open!/MHIRT

描述（由申请人提供）：H.G.威尔斯恰如其分地指出，人类历史越来越成为教育与灾难之间的竞赛。这在今天或许比以往任何时候都更加真实。科学正以令人眼花缭乱的速度向前发展，但普通民众的科学识字率却在下降。一个消息灵通的公众可能是科学进步的一个重要组成部分，以防止恐惧阻碍通往新发现的道路。考虑到这个国家人口之间的健康差距越来越大，推进科学并使其对改善人口和个人健康产生影响的必要性就显得尤为迫切。造成这些差异的因素很多，包括获得卫生保健的机会、卫生保健的质量、环境污染物、遗传和生活方式的差异以及卫生保健提供者的态度。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): H.G. Wells aptly remarked that human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. This is perhaps more true today than ever before. Science is advancing at a dizzying pace, yet science literacy rates among the general population are declining. A well-informed public may be an essential component to the advancement of science to keep fear from blocking the path to new discoveries. The need to advance science, and to bring it to bear on improving the health of populations and individuals is particular pressing when one considers the growing health disparities among populations in this country. Many factors contribute to these disparities including access to health care, quality of health care, environmental pollutants, genetic and life style differences, and attitudes of health care providers. This proposal describes a plan to prepare students from health disparities populations to address health disparities in the nation and in the world. The program, called Biomedical Research Abroad: Vistas Open! (BRAVO!/MHIRT), enables undergraduate, graduate and health professions students to conduct research abroad that builds upon the research they do at the University of Arizona (UA). Student projects span a broad range of disciplines but all are related to biomedical or behavioral research. The project will prepare students to address health disparities in a variety of ways: 1) trainees will continue to develop the critical thinking skills that they have acquired doing research at UA; 2) working in a foreign culture enables trainees to examine their own culture and stereotypes in a way that will allow them to see the problems of others and to approach these issues in a new way-which is critical to solving problems; 3) trainees will become more independent and confident as they find that they can contribute to the scientific effort in a foreign country; 4) the skills trainees acquire will integrate them further into the scientific community and make it more likely that their views will be heard both by scientists and in their home communities. For 12 years, the UA BRAVO!/MIRT Program has worked to increase the number of underrepresented students who pursue careers in biomedical and behavioral research. Of the 79 MIRT trainees to date, 75% have continued on for postbaccalaureate degrees (40% to med school; 60% to grad school), 9% are working in research labs, 11% are undergraduates and 5% are involved in other activities (teaching, etc).