Short Term Research Education Program to Increase Diversity in Health Research

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), the research arm of Children's Hospital Oakland, is a premier medical and public health-related research organization in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area. Children's Hospital Oakland serves the surrounding counties, which are home to very diverse populations. CHORI is recognized internationally for its basic and clinical research. The clinical and laboratory based investigators at CHORI are committed to the goal of increasing diversity in health-related research and the health professions; research education and training of minorities are viewed as a key part of CHORI's effort to achieve this goal. For the past ten years, a NHLBI-funded summer minority undergraduate research program (T35) provided a structured curriculum and research training opportunity for 15 minority students at CHORI. Many college students also volunteer for this educational program, bringing the total number of students to 40 each summer. This year, on the advice of NHLBI, we are applying for this R25 award in lieu of seeking to renew our T35. The long-term goal of the CHORI Summer Research Program is to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in the basic and clinical sciences and provide opportunities to participate in research in NHLBI mission areas. The specific objectives of the current proposal are to: (1) Interest, encourage, and expose underrepresented undergraduate students and medical and health professional graduate students to career opportunities in basic, clinical and community-based biomedical research by offering short-term mentored research opportunities; (2) Stimulate students' interests and enhance exposure to minority health and health disparity issues; (3) Encourage past participants to continue to participate in the program to ensure their continued interest in pursuing careers in either basic or clinical research; (4) Inform students about the importance of increasing the number of minority subjects enrolled in clinical trials and the role of informed members of the community in increasing enrollments; (5) Pair each student with a mentor, who will provide a one-on-one mentorship and training in state-of-the-art research in a laboratory or clinical setting; (6) Provide culturally sensitive professional role models; (7) Develop and foster partnerships and sustained relationships with organizations at the regional and national level to ensure that we achieve these goals. Towards accomplishing these objectives, we will recruit 20 undergraduate and medical/health professional students each year for the next five years. We will provide short-term exposure to clinical and basic research activities of relevance to the mission of NHLBI for a 9-week period between June and August. The students will be recruited both from local areas and from across the nation, targeting areas that have documented large numbers of underrepresented populations. The CHORI Summer Research Program offers outstanding resources to students interested in clinical, basic and translational research at CHORI. Our experience in one-on-one mentoring of undergraduates and medical/health professional students, the commitment of our basic and clinical researchers to this education program, and our track record of successfully recruiting, training, and motivating students from underrepresented populations make CHORI well-qualified to receive this award. There is abundance evidence of the need for broader inclusion of underrepresented minorities in biomedical research and the health professions, both for recruiting subjects for clinical trials and treating patients. The Summer Research program at CHORI will aid efforts to encourage students from these populations to pursue careers in these fields. (End of Abstract)