Ponce_Health_Sciences_University_RISE_Graduate_Training_Program.

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Ponce Health Sciences University (PHSU) requests continued NIH/NIGMS support for its successful Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) Program which is about to enter the final year of its second cycle of funding. The overall goal of the PHSU RISE Program is to increase the competitiveness of underrepresented Hispanic students graduating from the Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program at PHSU in Puerto Rico, and to increase the number of underrepresented students who advance to postdoctoral positions and research-related careers. The PHSU RISE program (12 trainees) had a positive impact on the training of our PhD students and on the entire PSM community during the previous cycles. Since the initiation of the PHSU RISE Program the Ph.D. completion rate has increased from 73% to 83%, the average time to graduation has decreased from 6.2 to 5.7 years, and 89% of RISE trainees have continued with postdoctoral training after graduating. Of the 37 RISE trainees supported 12 have obtained independent fellowships, 19 have graduated with a Ph.D. and 4 have secured faculty positions. Our program tangibly improved and achieved the benchmarks established in our previous cycles of funding. We anticipate that this renewal application will build upon those successes and adapt to several important lessons learned, thus continuing our evolution from an “excellent” to an “outstanding” training program. The program proposes to accomplish these goals through enhancement of the academic, research, personal, and professional competence of our underrepresented minority students to better prepare them for careers in the biomedical sciences. The specific measurable objectives of the PHSU RISE program are to provide: (1) professional development and research skills training for PHSU RISE trainees; (2) communication skills training for PHSU RISE trainees; and (3) team building/networking opportunities for PHSU RISE trainees. Each of these objectives will be pursued with a balance of continuing activities that were highly effective as well as a strategic set of new training components that were developed to address the emerging needs of our students. The PHSU RISE program will work in concert with the existing Ponce School of Medicine-Moffitt Cancer Center Partnership and RCMI programs to significantly impact the overall research program by providing a better trained student workforce to conduct the funded research projects and provide the momentum to create new research initiatives.