The Paired Undergraduate Mentoring Program (PUMP) in Uronephrology

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ABSTRACT The U.S. is facing a biomedical workforce crisis, exacerbated by insufficient diversity among individuals entering the career path, starting with attrition from STEM majors in undergraduate training. The result, particularly for diseases that disparately impact minority and underserved populations, is a lack of innovative solutions to advance health outcomes. Chronic kidney disease and end stage kidney disease disproportionately affect African Americans and represent a substantial medical and economic burden in the U.S., with annual management costs estimated at $120 billion. Duke University is uniquely positioned to address this critical problem by building a robust, diverse, and sustainable pipeline of future academic biomedical scientists. Our recently established Office of Physician Scientist Development (OPSD) offers a sustainable structure for mentorship, professional development, and research funding. By leveraging this institutional structure, we are well positioned to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of a program that links resources across the training spectrum to introduce undergraduate students to varied research career opportunities, while preparing senior trainees transitioning to faculty positions to become strong independent investigators skilled in mentoring students from diverse backgrounds. To address the biomedical workforce gap, we propose the Paired Undergraduate Mentoring Program (PUMP) in Uronephrology, which will recruit diverse cohorts of undergraduate students and expose them to research skills-building and mentored research experiences in urology and nephrology. We will provide evidence-based professional development activities targeting both the student participants and the trainees who will serve as the day-to-day research project mentors. Duke PUMP will achieve our long-term goal, addressing barriers that limit the recruitment and retention of a diverse uronephrology workforce, through intensive research experiences, structured triangular mentorship, and sustained virtual engagement. The program focuses on 1) implementing a mentored summer research enrichment program to develop interest in uronephrology research careers among a diverse cohort of rising junior and senior undergraduates; 2) preparing next-generation uronephrology investigators to mentor a diverse biomedical workforce by training graduate students and postdoctoral associates in mentorship and providing them critical experience leading student research projects; and 3) preparing a diverse cohort of undergraduates for post-graduate training and entry into uronephrology research careers through sustained engagement that extends and enriches the summer research program experience. Successful implementation of the proposed program will lead to a scalable model for development of a robust pipeline for a diverse biomedical research workforce across disciplines.