University of California San Diego Outreach Program To Inspire Minority and Underrepresented Students (OPTIMUS)

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The Outreach Program To Inspire Minority and Underrepresented Students (OPTIMUS) within Moores Cancer Center at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) seeks to create an engaging educational experience for underrepresented minority high school students within the local San Diego region. The overarching goal of this program aligns fully with the NCI's mission to increase diversity in the biomedical and cancer research workforce. The first objective (OPTIMUS Scholars Program) aims to provide an engrossing summer cancer research fellowship program for underrepresented minority high school students (OPTIMUS Scholars). This program will pair OPTIMUS Scholars with supportive research faculty for a mentored research experience. The students will concurrently participate in a complementary educational curriculum that covers core topics in cancer research, coupled to an array of personal and professional development activities. This objective aims to generate a lasting interest in science, healthcare, and cancer research among our underrepresented students. The second objective (OPTIMUS Associates Program) seeks to integrate UCSD biomedical trainees and education graduate students (OPTIMUS Associates) in the educational and operational aspects of OPTIMUS. We will create a new interprofessional course to teach our OPTIMUS Associates the skills required to create and implement an outreach program such as OPTIMUS. We will then provide an experiential education opportunity by incorporating our OPTIMUS Associates as apprentices into the operational aspects of the OPTIMUS Scholars program. This objective strives to create a generation of biomedical trainees and education graduate students who will become future leaders in creating and implementing community-based research education programs such as OPTIMUS. The final objective (OPTIMUS Educational Outreach Program) will have OPTIMUS Scholars teach local elementary school students in their community about basic concepts of cancer and cancer prevention. Our OPTIMUS Scholars will partner with our OPTIMUS Associates to create an interactive age-appropriate curriculum to deliver to these younger elementary school students. This objective partners with a local non- profit STEM-focused organization called the Elementary Institute of Science. This objective stands to solidify fundamental concepts of cancer among our OPTIMUS Scholars (learn by teaching), and will help teach younger local elementary students about the fundamentals of cancer. Altogether, these three objectives with OPTIMUS leverage the diverse and supportive environment within UCSD to help provide engaging opportunities for underrepresented students within our local community. Support for our program will help us take important strides to creating a future cancer research workforce that reflects the diversity of our community.