Hispanic Clinical and Translational Research Education and Career Development (HCTRECD) Program

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The Hispanic Clinical and Translational Research Education and Career Development (HCTRECD) program at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus (UPR-MSC) has a documented track record of increasing diversity in clinical and translational research by supporting research career development of Hispanics since 2002. Our program consists of formal research training (Phase I) through an established institutionally supported post-doctoral Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Research (MSc). We have already enrolled 89 health professionals from multiple disciplines, including medicine, occupational therapy, audiology, dental medicine, nursing, pharmacy and psychology, among others. These scholars have become leaders in clinical and translational research and health disparities and have produced 150 peer revie wed publications and 62 grant submissions on topics that disproportionately affect Hispanics. The most qualified graduates from Phase I compete to receive additional support for advanced clinical research experiences through Phase II. We have been successful in supporting 10 phase II scholars who have moved on to become independent clinical researchers. In addition, our program has contributed new knowledge on how to recruit and train professionals from underrepresented groups through active leadership in national programs and a productive publication record. The research that has been supported by the HCTRECD has added important knowledge to relevant areas of health disparities research among Hispanics including cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, infant/maternal health, and mental health. The purpose of this renewal application is to develop and implement innovations that will strengthen our program. These enhancements will lead to more Hispanics entering the clinical and translational research workforce and t o new knowledge on how to reduce health disparities. Our proposed improvements are based on what we have learned from our 14-year trajectory training Hispanic clinical researchers. The overall goal of the HCTRECD program is to increase the number of Hispanics performing clinical and translational research while also increasing the knowledge on the causes and interventions that can help reduce health disparities. In order to continue pursuing this goal, we will now achieve the following specific aims: 1) Enhance the didactic program by providing our scholars with individualized training on advanced research tracks such as precision medicine, patient centered methodologies, population health and clinical trials and 2) Enrich the mentored research experiences to address the individual clinical and translational research skills needs of our scholars.