SHORT-TERM TRAINING FOR MINORITY STUDENTS

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Summer Research Program of the American Pediatric Society/Society for Pediatric Research was instituted in 1991, with the goal of recruiting and training highly qualified medical students for careers as pediatric clinician scientists. The Program is designed specifically for students seeking a research opportunity at an institution other than the medical school they attend. Students spend 8 to 10 weeks working under the supervision of an experienced scientist in one of the participating laboratories (559 at the present time) conducting research related to pediatrics. Applications are solicited from students at all medical schools in the US and Canada, and underrepresented minority students are recruited specifically and encouraged to apply. Applications are evaluated by a six-member Steering Committee, a final ranking is prepared, and the top-ranked students are matched with their respective mentors and laboratories, as they indicate on their applications. The students are paid $1,513 per month to help cover expenses. To date, the program has received 1359 applications, and 453 students have participated or are scheduled to participate this (2002) summer. Ethnic group self-identification was not requested of applicants prior to 1994, but 98 subsequent participating students self-identified as underrepresented minorities (African-American, Hispanic, or Pacific Islander). In addition, female applicants outnumber male applicants and participants at ratios of 1.5 to 1. By questionnaire, students and research mentors overwhelmingly report that the unique opportunities provided by this Program are strongly positive. Objective measures of Program success are more difficult to acquire in the short term The typical period of participation by the student, in the summer between his/her first and second years of medical school, is separated from the establishment of an independent research career by nine years or more. The training grant mechanism is not designed to include objective evaluations of program effects; however, a systematic search of PubMed-retrievable citations showed that 363 students participating in the Program from 1991-2000 published 330 papers, whereas 254 papers were identified as attributable to 819 non-participant applicants. Notably, African-American students who participated in the Program were four times as likely to have published at least one PubMed-retrievable paper as were African-American applicants who did not participate. Of the students who have progressed in their medical educations far enough to select residencies, participants in the Program have chosen Pediatric Residencies at well over twice the national average of 11%. Further, participant students who have completed Pediatric residencies have entered Pediatric subspecialty training programs at a rate (36%) well above the national average of 22%. The data thus indicate that the Program is contributing significantly to the recruitment and training of future pediatric clinician-scientists, particularly among previously underrepresented ethnic groups and women.