International Biomedical Research Training for Hawaiian & Pacific Island Students

描述(申请人提供)：夏威夷是美国种族最多元化的州。尽管夏威夷大学的多样性很高，但夏威夷人、太平洋岛民和菲律宾人以及其他少数群体在生物医学研究中的代表性仍然严重不足。热带医学、医学微生物学和药理学系(T3MP)有一项长期投资，用于培训来自种族代表性不足的热带医学背景的学生，目标是增加夏威夷人、太平洋岛民和菲律宾人的研究职业专业人员的数量。通过T3MP Step-Up计划，我们在关岛、塞班岛和雅普建立了实验室，并开始培训来自太平洋地区的高中生。来自这些网站和夏威夷的高中生利用暑假在夏威夷大学进行指导性研究。同样，我们最近在喀麦隆、泰国和中国为研究生和博士后研究员开发了培训项目。为了填补本科生国际研究培训的空白，我们现在申请NIMHD少数民族健康和健康差距国际研究培训(T37)补助金，以完成我们从高中到生物医学研究职业的培训努力。我们的计划是独特的，因为它关注的是与夏威夷有联系的不同种族的学生群体，他们没有参加其他MHIRT计划。由于我们的项目为那些正在考虑生物医学研究领域各种研究职业的学生(即对博士以外的职业感兴趣的学生)提供了国际研究经验，因此将提供夏威夷大学目前没有的研究机会。我们建议每年招收9名本科生和1名研究生。这些学生将来自夏威夷大学、檀香山Chaminade大学、太平洋地区的非公民国民就读的大学(例如关岛、美属萨摩亚)和在其他大学就读的前升学学生。本科生的工作经验至少为一年。学生将在秋季学期确定身份，并在春季学期参加定向阅读课程。在夏季，他们将参加为期8天的生物医学研究导论讲习班，讨论与他们的研究项目有关的研究工作的方方面面，以及与地方、国家和全球层面上的少数群体健康和健康差距有关的主题。然后，受训者将在喀麦隆或泰国花费约8周时间，研究影响健康差距的热带病。回国后，他们将与同龄人分享他们的文化经历；向教职员工、朋友和家人展示他们的研究成果；并加入研究实验室，在那里他们可以参与研究，直到毕业。作为毕业论文的一部分，这位研究生将在国外度过一学期。因此，我们的计划是专门为吸引和留住夏威夷人、太平洋岛民、菲律宾人和其他少数族裔学生而设计的，因为他们需要在所有生物医学研究领域提供多样性，不仅是在 夏威夷，但国内和国际上也是如此。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hawai'i is the most multiracial state in the nation. Even though diversity is high at the University of Hawaii, Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and Filipinos, as well as other minority groups, remain seriously underrepresented in biomedical research. The Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology (T3MP) has a long-term investment in training students from ethnically underrepresented backgrounds in Tropical Medicine with the goal of increasing the number of research career professionals who are Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and Filipinos. Through the T3MP STEP-UP program, we have set up laboratories in Guam, Saipan, and Yap and begun to train high school students from the Pacific. High school students from these sites and Hawai'i spend summers conducting directed research at the University of Hawai'i. Similarly, we recently developed training programs in Cameroon, Thailand, and China for graduate and post-doctoral fellows. To fill the gap of undergraduate student international research training, we now apply for the NIMHD Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training (T37) grant to complete our pipeline of training efforts from high school through careers in biomedical research. Our Program is unique because it focuses on a population of ethnically-diverse students with ties to Hawai'i who are not participating in other MHIRT programs. Since our program provides an international research experience to students who are considering a wide variety of research careers in biomedical research (i.e., students interested in careers in addition to PhD), research opportunities will be provided that are not currently available at the University of Hawai'i. We propose to enroll 9 undergraduates and 1 graduate student annually. The students will be from the University of Hawai'i, Chaminade University in Honolulu, universities located in the Pacific attended by non- citizen nationals (e.g., Guam, American Samoa), and former STEP-UP students enrolled at other universities. The undergraduate experience will be for a minimum of one year. Students will be identified during the Fall semester and take a course in Directed Reading during the Spring semester. In the summer, they will attend an 8-day Introduction to Biomedical Research Workshop and discuss all aspects of the conduct of research and topics on minority health and health disparities at the local, national and global level that relate to their research projects. Trainees will then spend ~8 weeks in either Cameroon or Thailand conducting research on tropical diseases that impact health disparity. Upon returning, they will relate their cultural experience with peers; present their research results to faculty, friends and family; and join research laboratories where they can participate in research until graduation. The graduate student will spend one semester abroad as part of their dissertation. Thus, our Program is specifically designed to attract and retain Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, Filipinos and other minority students into the biomedical sciences, as they are needed to provide diversity in all fields of biomedical research, not only in Hawai'i, but nationally and internationally as well.