Enhancing Virology Training of Underrepresented Minority Students through Summer Research

通过暑期研究加强对代表性不足的少数民族学生的病毒学培训

• 批准号: 10669049
• 负责人: Chandravanu Dash
• 金额: $ 35.1万
• 依托单位: MEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10669049
• 关键词: Academic Medical Centers; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; Acute; Address; Affect; African American population; Area; Basic Science; Behavioral Research; Biomedical Research; COVID-19; COVID-19 pandemic; COVID-19 testing; COVID-19 vaccine; Career Choice; Caring; Clinical; Clinical Research; Clinical Trials; Communicable Diseases; Communication; Communities; County; Creativeness; Dental Students; Disease; Diverse Workforce; Ebola; Education; Educational process of instructing; Environment; Evaluation Research; Faculty; First Generation College Students; Fostering; Funding Agency; Goals; Government; HIV; Health; Health Disparities Research; Hispanic Populations; Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Human; Immunity; Infection; Inflammation; Influenza; Institution; International; Laboratories; Leadership; Learning Skill; Medical Students; Mentors; Mentorship; Methods; Minority Groups; Minority-Serving Institution; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease; Oral; Participant; Play; Positioning Attribute; Postdoctoral Fellow; Problem Solving; Recording of previous events; Research; Research Personnel; Research Project Grants; Research Technics; Research Training; Role; Science; Site; Strategic Planning; Students; Tennessee; Training; Training Programs; Training and Education; Translational Research; Underrepresented Minority; Virus; Virus Diseases; Work; Writing; career; career development; collaborative environment; combat; evidence base; experience; faculty mentor; fighting; graduate student; hands on research; health disparity; improved; interest; laboratory experience; lectures; medical schools; member; minority health; next generation; operation; pathogen; pathogenic virus; peer; posters; prevent; programs; recruit; role model; skill acquisition; skills; student training; summer research; symposium; underrepresented minority student; virology

ABSTRACT Diversifying the biomedical workforce is a priority of the US government scientific funding agencies. To fulfill these priorities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other minority serving institutions have continued to play an outsized role in training underrepresented minority (URM) students. Specifically, Meharry Medical College (MMC) has been a leader in training URM students in basic, translational, and clinical research. Our graduate, medical and dental students are often first-generation college students, and first from their community to pursue training in biomedical research. Importantly, our trainees are role models for the next generation and often mentor and educate URM students post-graduation. Consistent with our history of providing care to the underserved since 1876, MMC is playing a vital role in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. As evident with other infectious diseases, COVID-19 disproportionally affects minority health, specifically African Americans and Hispanics. A key strategy to combat these evolving pathogens is to train the next generation of virologists from diverse backgrounds. The urgent need for a diverse workforce in virology is acutely felt during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has ravaged the World and disproportionately affected the minority population in the US. Furthermore, increasing the number of virologists from URM backgrounds is also critical to fight against deadly diseases caused by viruses such as HIV, Influenza, Ebola, and others. To address this unmet need, we propose the “Enhancing Virology Training (ENVIT) through Summer Research” program. The goal of this program is to prepare and increase the number of URM students in virology-focused careers. This 10-week program will provide an intensive research experience for graduate, medical and dental students. A local, regional, and nationwide recruitment strategy will be employed to attract URM students. We will provide classroom teaching and hands-on laboratory training in basic virology, lectures/seminars on career- development, scientific writing, communications skills and networking. Each student will work under the mentorship of a faculty mentor from Meharry Medical College (MMC) and/or Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) on a research project that focused on virology. The participants will attend seminars that allow interactions with virologists and expose students to career opportunities in virology. The program will end with a one-day Virology Mini-Symposium where students will showcase their research. This mini-symposium will also feature a keynote lecture from a national/international leader from the virology field. Finally, the ENVIT program will track the career path of participants to evaluate the extent to which program goals were met, and identify areas for improvement. Evaluations from research mentors will also be used to assess and improve the program. These focused research experiences and career development activities will meaningfully increase engagement of URM students in the area of virology and diversify the biomedical workforce specifically needed to fight the existing and emerging viral pathogens.

摘要 使生物医学劳动力多样化是美国政府科学资助机构的优先事项。至 完成这些优先事项，历史上的黑人学院和大学(HBCU)和其他少数族裔服务机构 继续在培训代表不足的少数民族(URM)学生方面发挥过大作用。具体来说， 梅哈里医学院(MMC)在培训URM学生的基础、翻译和临床方面处于领先地位 研究。我们的研究生、医学和牙科学生往往是第一代大学生，第一代是 他们的社区进行生物医学研究方面的培训。重要的是，我们的实习生是下一步的榜样 这是一代人，毕业后经常指导和教育URM学生。与我们的历史保持一致 自1876年以来，MMC一直在关怀弱势群体，在抗击新冠肺炎疫情中发挥着至关重要的作用。AS 与其他传染病一样，新冠肺炎不成比例地影响少数群体的健康，特别是非洲人的健康 美国人和西班牙裔美国人。对抗这些进化中的病原体的一个关键战略是培训下一代 来自不同背景的病毒学家。在病毒学领域，人们强烈感受到了对多样化劳动力的迫切需求 正在进行的新冠肺炎大流行肆虐世界，对少数人造成了不成比例的影响 美国的人口。此外，增加来自URM背景的病毒学家数量也是至关重要的 与艾滋病毒、流感、埃博拉等病毒引起的致命疾病作斗争。要解决这个问题 针对未得到满足的需求，我们提出了“通过暑期研究加强病毒学培训(ENVIT)”计划。 该计划的目标是准备和增加URM学生的数量，重点是病毒学 事业。这个为期10周的项目将为研究生、医学和牙科提供密集的研究经验 学生们。将采用地方性、地区性和全国性的招生战略来吸引URM学生。我们 将提供基础病毒学的课堂教学和动手实验室培训，职业生涯讲座/研讨会- 发展、科学写作、沟通技能和网络。每个学生都将在 梅哈里医学院(MMC)和/或范德比尔特大学医学中心的教师导师 (VUmc)一个专注于病毒学的研究项目。参与者将参加研讨会，这些研讨会允许 与病毒学家的互动，并让学生接触到病毒学方面的职业机会。该计划将以一个 为期一天的病毒学小型研讨会，学生将在研讨会上展示他们的研究成果。本次小型研讨会还将 以病毒学领域的一位国家/国际领导人的主旨演讲为特色。最后，ENVIT计划 将跟踪参与者的职业道路，以评估计划目标的实现程度，并确定 需要改进的地方。研究导师的评估也将被用来评估和改进该计划。 这些有重点的研究经验和职业发展活动将有意义地增加参与度 URM学生在病毒学领域的学习和多样化的生物医学劳动力特别需要抗击 现有的和新出现的病毒病原体。