Short-term Research Training Program for Minority Students

简介（申请人提供）：西奈山医学院预防医学系拟开展少数民族学生短期培训项目。该方案的目标是培养少数民族学生对科学和医学的兴趣，提高他们的研究能力，支持多学科教育，利用基于社区的战略减少在当地少数民族社区非常普遍的心肺疾病。拟议的方案将以现有方案为基础，该方案为少数民族学生提供环境卫生科学研究方面的培训，提供职业指导，并在方案完成后指导许多参与的学生实现其职业目标。现有的项目被国家认可为培养少数民族学生的典范，并得到NIEHS 15年来的持续支持。在NIEHS项目因资金流终止而取消后，首席研究员将向NHLBI寻求支持以继续该项目。这种过渡是无缝的，因为该项目已经非常关注社区环境中的呼吸系统疾病，这是首席研究员的专业领域。目前的提案建立在先前项目最有效的特征之上，并得到了该部门成员的强有力的机构支持，其中许多人对社区和职业肺部健康有浓厚的研究兴趣。此外，该项目将通过与西奈山其他教育项目的合作而得到加强，这将使学生接触到丰富的机会和职业选择。这将通过提供培训机会，弥合学科之间的差距来实现。具体目标是：1)选择、培训和培养一批代表性不足的少数民族学生，并激励和支持他们在卫生领域从事职业；2)为参与项目的学生提供贯穿其整个职业生涯的长期指导和指导。短期研究培训项目完全符合首席研究员目前指导的基金资助组合，并且是西奈山预防医学部门生命中不可或缺的一部分。机构的支持是由教师和项目主任的持续承诺和参与证明的。为不同教育水平的学生提供的其他相关培训项目也证明了这一点。该方案将培训和指导20名少数民族学生学习与社区和职业肺部疾病有关的健康科学。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Department of Preventive Medicine of Mount Sinai School of Medicine proposes to develop the Short-term Training Program for Minority Students. The goal of the Program is to nurture minority students' interests in science and medicine by enhancing their research capacity in a way that supports multidisciplinary education using community-based strategies to reduce cardiopulmonary diseases, which are highly prevalent in local minority communities. The proposed program will build on an existing program that has provided training in environmental health sciences research for minority students, offered career mentoring and guided many participating students after the completion of the Program towards achieving their professional goals. The existing program received national recognition as a model for training minority students and had continued support from the NIEHS for 15 years. Upon cancellation of the NIEHS program due to end of the funding stream, the Principal Investigator seeks support from NHLBI to continue the program. This transition is seamless as the program already had a strong focus on respiratory disease in community settings, an area of expertise of the principal investigator. The current proposal builds on the most effective features of the previous program and counts with strong institutional support from members of the department, many of whom have strong research interests in community and occupational pulmonary health. In addition, the program will be enhanced by collaboration with other educational programs at Mount Sinai that will expose students to a wealth of opportunities and career options. This will be achieved by offering training opportunities that bridge the gaps between academic disciplines. Specific aims are: 1) To select, train and nurture a cadre of underrepresented minority students and to motivate and support them in pursuing careers in the health fields; and 2) To provide students who participate in the program with long-term mentoring and guidance throughout the length of their careers. The Short-term Research Training Program fits perfectly within the portfolio of funded grants that the Principal Investigator currently directs and is an integral part of the life of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai. Institutional support is evidenced by the continued commitment and participation of the faculty and program director. It is also evidenced by the creation of other related training programs that are available for students at different educational levels. The program will lead to the training and mentoring of 20 minority students in the health sciences related to community and occupationally-based pulmonary disease. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The Department of Preventive Medicine has a long history of providing short-term training and mentoring for minority students. Upon the end of the funding stream for that program, the department is seeking to continue to support minority students by re-focusing the program on respiratory illness that affect communities, such as asthma, and occupationally-induced pulmonary diseases such as those observed in workers exposed during the World Trade Center disaster. It is expected that students will be better prepared to pursue careers in health research after the completion of this program.