Pipelines into Biostatistics: Training in Quantitative Public Health

描述(申请人提供)：1994年，哈佛大学公共卫生学院(HSPH)生物统计学系为少数族裔和代表性不足的本科生设立了定量科学暑期课程，目的是鼓励这些学生未来参与公共卫生、生物医学和生物统计学的研究生课程。这一首屈一指的计划是全国类似计划的典范，这些计划继续并加强了增加公共卫生和生物统计多样性这一非常重要的使命。2010年，美国数学学会颁发了数学项目奖，以表彰哈佛大学的这一项目。该奖项每年颁发一次，表彰的项目是“通过可复制的方法……将更多来自少数族裔群体的个人带入数学科学领域。”该奖项的颁奖词写道：“该项目为培养更多从事生物统计学和公共卫生事业的少数族裔学生的国家努力做出了显著贡献。”现在，在2011年，我们开始了管道开发的第二阶段。通过我们的经验，我们认识到，尽管一个短期的暑期项目经验可以极大地成功地建立第一个部分，但它不足以增加我们在生物统计学的研究生、研究员和教职员工中所需要的少数人的存在。因此，我们建议加强和扩展我们已经启动的暑期项目的渠道，在我们的项目中加入以下全新的组成部分：1.年度研讨会，将有现任和过去的项目参与者、教师、研究员、研究生和外部咨询委员会参加，并将以各级参与者的口头陈述和海报为特色。研讨会将有学术和指导的双重目标。2.生物统计学专业毕业后的实习生每年夏天将在哈佛大学实习三个月。这些实习生将参与合作研究项目，并参加哈佛大学学术和临床中心为期一个月的三次轮换，他们将获得研究生院申请和选择的指导和支持。他们将返回哈佛参加研讨会，并在随后的夏天展示他们的研究成果。3.在少数族裔服务的本科院校，来自量化领域的教员将参加我们的年度研讨会，并在教员研讨会上与HSPH教员进行为期两天的密集会议。这些教师将向我们介绍他们的学生，我们将向他们传授定量公共卫生领域的知识，这样他们就可以教育他们的本科生了解这一令人兴奋的职业选择。我们已经在哈佛建立了一个广泛的个人网络，他们渴望并致力于提供必要的研究和指导支持，以使我们提议的项目取得成功，并帮助将生物统计学转变为一个丰富多样性的职业。 公共卫生相关性：这项T36提案的首要目标是增加生物统计学和定量公共卫生领域中所有级别的代表性不足的少数群体的存在，包括研究生、研究员和教职员工。为了解决这一问题，我们建议为少数族裔本科生开设定量科学暑期课程，包括生物统计学、合作研究以及专业和研究生指导方面的正式培训。我们了解到，我们需要加强和扩展这一渠道，以使其产生持续的影响；为此，我们提议让项目参与者在随后的夏季返回哈佛参加年度研讨会，建立一个为期三个月的生物统计学本科毕业后实习生项目，并邀请少数族裔在职本科生机构的教员每年夏天访问哈佛，参加研讨会和与哈佛教职员工的密集会议，以相互交流信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In 1994, the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) established the Summer Program in Quantitative Sciences for minority and underrepresented undergraduates, with the goal of encouraging the future participation of these students in graduate programs in Public Health, Biomedicine, and Biostatistics. This first-in-kind program served as a model for similar programs throughout the country, which have continued and strengthened this very important mission of increasing the diversity in Public Health and Biostatistics. In 2010, the American Mathematical Society recognized Harvard's program with its Mathematics Programs that Make a Difference Award, its annual award for programs that do an "outstanding job of bringing more individuals from underrepresented minority groups into the mathematical sciences ... through replicable methods." The citation for the award states: "The program has made a remarkable contribution to the national effort to produce more minority students pursuing careers in biostatistics and public health." Now, in 2011, we are embarking on the second stage of our pipeline development. We have recognized through our experience that while a single, short term summer program experience can be enormously successful at establishing the first segment in the pipeline, it is not sufficient to increase the minority presence that we need among graduate students, fellows and faculty in Biostatistics. Thus, we propose to reinforce and extend the pipeline that we have initiated with the summer program with the following completely new components to our program: 1. An annual symposium that will be attended by current and past program participants, faculty, fellows, graduate students, and the external advisory committee, and will feature oral presentations and posters by participants at all levels. The symposium will have dual academic and mentoring objectives. 2. Post-Baccalaureate Biostatistics Interns will reside at Harvard for three months each summer. These interns will participate in collaborative research projects and participate in three one-month rotations at academic and clinical centers at Harvard, and they will receive directed mentoring and support for graduate school applications and selection. They will return to Harvard to participate in the symposium and present their research in a subsequent summer. 3. Faculty members from quantitative fields at minority serving undergraduate institutions will attend our annual symposium and spend two days in intensive meetings with HSPH faculty in a faculty workshop. This faculty will teach us about their students, and we will teach them about the field of quantitative Public Health so that they can educate their undergraduate students about this exciting career option. We have developed a broad network of individuals across Harvard who are eager and committed to providing the necessary research and mentoring support to make our proposed programs successful and to help transform Biostatistics into a profession that is rich in diversity. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The overarching goal of this T36 proposal is to increase the presence of underrepresented minority groups in the field of Biostatistics and quantitative Public Health, at all levels, including the graduate student, fellow and faculty levels. To address this, we propose a Summer Program in Quantitative Sciences for underrepresented minority undergraduates, including formal training in Biostatistics, collaborative research, and professional and graduate school mentoring. We have learned that we need to reinforce and extend this pipeline in order for it to have a sustained impact; to this end we propose to have program participants return in subsequent summers for an annual symposium at Harvard, to establish a three month Post-Baccalaureate Biostatistics Intern program, and to invite faculty from minority serving undergraduate institutions to visit each summer and participate in the symposium and intensive meetings with Harvard faculty for mutual exchange of information.