PROMOTING ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN PUBLIC HEALTH TRAINING

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application continues the previously funded doctoral research education program, Promoting Ethnic Diversity in Public Health Training. The program remains in the University of Michigan School of Public Health's (UMSPH) Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture, and Health (CRECH). The program continues its central focus on training students from traditionally underrepresented racial/ethnic groups (i.e., African American, Latino, and American Indian). The program will employ three specific mechanisms to accomplish this goal. First, the UMSPH education program will maintain its substantive focus on supporting only those students interested in research on racial and ethnic health disparities. Second, the program will institute additional targeted recruitment and outreach, including efforts focused on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges in order to build a diverse pool of potential trainees. Third, in keeping with the purpose of the IMSD, the program's selection committee will in its deliberations emphasize the importance of identifying students from racial/ ethnic groups which have been traditionally underrepresented in public health. The IMSD program will make a special effort to ensure participation by minority students who often are from cultural and educational backgrounds that have inhibited their ability to pursue research careers in health-related research. Students admitted to one of the UMSPH doctoral programs will be eligible to be nominated for one of the IMSD slots. Selected IMSD students will be appointed as paid graduate research assistants. All IMSD students will be matched with faculty who will be responsible for hands-on instruction and mentoring. The program will continue to focus on the development of writing and public speaking skills in addition to research skills. To this end, all IMSD students must enroll in the doctoral seminar where they are required to deliver a research presentation their first year and a formal polished presentation in their second year. Students will also be exposed to training in the responsible conduct of research. In order to build upon the success of the first two funding periods, the educational program will: 1) support eight doctoral students each year; 2) support students for a minimum of two years (with the possibility of a third year depending upon availability of funds; 3) establish a partnership with the Michigan's new National Center for Institutional Diversity; 4) establish partnership with the new Michigan Center for Integrative Approaches to Health Disparities which includes the Jackson Heart Study and the Program for Research on Black Americans' National Survey of American Life; partner with the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research Health Disparities Research Program, and with the newly funded Men4Health Study; 5) coordinate with the UM graduate school's merit fellowship competition in order to offer students up to three additional years of funding. The independent evaluation of the IMSD program will be handled by the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT). Public health relevance: Despite the fact that many serious health conditions occur disproportionately among ethnic minority groups, minorities are underrepresented among tenure-track faculty in schools of public health. How best to address racial and ethnic disparities in health status and medical care is an important problem facing public health researchers. The University of Michigan School of Public Health's Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture, and Health (CRECH), proposes an IMSD research education program dedicated to developing viable approaches to preparing students to meet the public health needs of a culturally diverse society. The primary goal of this doctoral research education program is to increase the number of students conducting research on the reduction and elimination of racial and ethnic disparities in health.