Promoting Minority Students' Interest in Research

描述(由申请人提供)： 进入医学、护理和相关卫生保健专业的少数民族学生人数正在下降。举个例子，在过去的5-6年里，进入我们医学院的少数民族学生人数下降了约82%(从1998年的50人下降到2002年的9人)。这种逐渐下降的招生情况并不是我们医学院独有的，因为全国许多高等教育机构都出现了这种情况。研究生教育项目也出现了类似的趋势。可以采取的扭转这一趋势的一个关键方法是让代表不足的少数族裔学生在他们的本科教育过程中参与生物医学和行为研究。德雷克塞尔大学医学院(德雷克塞尔医学院)培养学生生物医学已有150多年的历史。它最近与德雷克塞尔大学(Drexel University)的合并，带来了更多的机会。德雷克塞尔大学是工程和计算机科学领域备受尊敬的领导者。在德雷克塞尔医学院，我们拥有成功启动和实施暑期研究项目所需的经验和专业知识。我们目前有三个项目，为当地高中生、本科生和医学生提供短期暑期研究培训机会。这些成功的方案是与NHLBI合作，在德雷克塞尔大学和切尼大学--美国历史上最古老的黑人大学--的不同学校和学院的本科生和研究生课程中为未被充分代表的少数民族学生提供类似研究机会的典范。由于NHLBI的主要目标是支持心血管、肺、血液和睡眠障碍领域的研究，根据这一培训补助金注册的少数族裔学生将被分配到基础和临床部门中在相似兴趣领域工作的众多(&gt；19)研究人员之一。我们相信，通过为本科和研究生课程中未被充分代表的少数族裔学生提供这样的机会，我们不仅将丰富他们的学术经验，还将促进他们进入和保留与医疗保健相关的职业道路。这一结果将满足我们种族分化的社区日益增长的需求，并有助于缓解少数群体在普通民众中的代表性与保健专业中的少数群体代表之间的现有不和谐。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The number of underrepresented minority students entering into medicine, nursing, and related health care disciplines is declining. To illustrate, in the past 5-6 years, the number of underrepresented minority students entering into our medical college has dropped by about 82% (from 50 in 1998 to 9 in 2002). This gradual decline in enrollment is not unique to our medical college, for it is observed in many institutions of higher education across the nation. A similar trend is also witnessed in graduate education programs. One key approach that could be adopted to reverse this trend is to involve underrepresented minority students in biomedical and behavioral research during the course of their undergraduate education. Drexel University College of Medicine (Drexel Med) has been educating students in biomedical sciences for over 150 years. Its recent merger with Drexel University, a respected leader in engineering and computer sciences, has unveiled yet additional opportunities. At Drexel Med, we have the required experience and the expertise to successfully initiate and implement summer research programs. We currently have three programs which offer short-term summer research training opportunities to local high school, undergraduate, and medical students. These successful programs serve as an archetype for initiating, in partnership with NHLBI, similar research opportunities for underrepresented minority students in undergraduate and graduate programs in various schools and colleges within Drexel University and at Cheyney University - the oldest black historical university in the country. Since the primary goal of NHLBI is to support research in the areas of cardiovascular, pulmonary, blood, and sleep disorders, minority students enrolled under this training grant will be assigned to one of the many (> 19) investigators in basic and clinical departments who are working in areas of similar interests. We believe that by providing such an opportunity to underrepresented minority students in undergraduate and graduate programs, we will not only enrich their academic experience but would also facilitate their entry and retention into health care related professional pathways. This outcome would meet the growing needs of our racially divergent communities and help alleviate the existing discord between the representation of minorities in the general populace as compared to that in the health care profession.