Turning the TiDe: Training Diverse Clinician Scientists in Rehabilitation Research

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The Training in Diversity education program, or TiDe, will transform the culture of rehabilitation research by educating current rehabilitation clinician scientists in the skills and knowledge needed to recruit, train, and support research trainees from populations underrepresented in biomedical science. TiDe will leverage partnerships across disciplines and institutions to provide didactic and hands-on research experiences and “training for the trainers” (current rehabilitation clinician scientists). These clinician scientists will in turn support the next generation of diverse clinician scientists with the capacity to advance rehabilitation research. The lack of diversity in science is problematic for several reasons, including limiting (1) the potential range of diverse talent and perspectives needed to push science forward, (2) the breadth and depth of questions that are asked, and (3) the generation of scientific outcomes that have the greatest potential impact for the entirety of society. Given changing demographics in our society, it is more critical than ever that the health sciences workforce reflects the true diversity of our citizens. Low diversity among the rehabilitation research workforce is particularly problematic. The lack of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity among rehabilitation students, practitioners, and faculty automatically reduces the potential pool of underrepresented rehabilitation scientists. Further, the change to entry-level doctoral degrees for rehabilitation graduate professional programs has increased education costs. These burdens risk even greater reductions in underrepresented personnel. To address these needs, rehabilitation professions have launched a series of strategies to engage, matriculate, and financially support underrepresented students in rehabilitation graduate professional programs across the nation. Thus, graduate professional programs are currently the richest environment to recruit and train potential future rehabilitation clinician scientists. Now is the time to augment these strategies and to create pathways for underrepresented students to transition from professional to research training. Our program will “turn the TiDe” and transform the extramural research climate by training current clinician scientists in best practices for recruiting, training, supporting, and advancing future diverse clinician scientists. Current clinician scientists need to learn how to create training environments that (1) embrace diverse talent and perspectives, (2) actively combat the sense of isolation often experienced by underrepresented trainees, and (3) provide unbiased, genuine mentorship and necessary financial support. TiDe will sustain the transformed research climate by investing in diverse future clinician scientists who will enrich the breadth, depth, and impact of rehabilitation research. TiDe will be led by rehabilitation scientists in top-ranked occupational and physical therapy research programs at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Delaware, Washington University, and Boston University. TiDe will also partner with national professional and scientific organizations invested in training rehabilitation clinician scientists who have agreed to provide personnel, resources, and funding to augment NIH R25 funding.