Alabama State University-Auburn University Partnership to Promote Diversity in Aging Research

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Project summary: In the US, aging related diseases and health disparities are frequently observed; the differences in disease incidence and outcomes are thought to reflect the interplay of socioeconomic factors, access to health care, culture, diet, the environment, and population-specific genetics/biology. To address this issue, educational and socio-behavioral changes are needed. These changes can be facilitated by diversifying the aging related research and educational workforce. Moreover, the rapid growth and accumulation of specialized knowledge in today’s biomedical fields, combined with health issues that persist among certain groups within the US population, emphasize the need to diversify this workforce. Based on national statistics, the numbers of PhD graduates from underrepresented backgrounds are low and have not changed appreciably over three decades, despite efforts from various funding agencies, including the NIH. Several national reports point out factors that challenge underrepresented students in graduate and biomedical programs in achieving terminal degrees. Therefore, we propose to build an Alabama State University (ASU)-Auburn University (AU) R25 Partnership to provide aging focused educational modules and to expose underserved students to a summer research experience, thereby accelerating the development of scientists/health care providers from underserved backgrounds. By leveraging the educational and research infrastructure of the AU (Auburn, AL) and educational programs of Historically Black College and University (HBCU)-minority- serving ASU (Montgomery, AL), we have developed a persistent, multi-faceted strategy, combining multidisciplinary and inter-institutional education and basic aging related research projects, to train undergraduate students from underrepresented communities. The proposed aging education and research experience will be available to rising juniors and rising seniors majoring in biomedical disciplines. As part of this R25 program, introductory aging related educational modules (online module development) and basic research training will be offered to selected students at ASU during academic year while aging research experiences will be provided at the AU. Each year, the program will support 10 students (recruited from ASU). During academic year with continuous and consistent engagement, the selected students at ASU will participate in enrichment activities, including education; mentoring (research and pre-professional); scientific writing seminars; technical, bioethics, and scientific workshops; and training for presentations. During summer, these students will perform aging related research at AU for 10 weeks. Each year, all students will make presentations during either a reginal or national Scientific Symposium. In summary, this proposed program at ASU and AU will train students from underrepresented communities and advance the national goal of increasing diversity in the US biomedical sciences workforce, particularly in aging research.