BP-ENDURE: Brooklyn Neural NETS (Neuroscience Education and Training for Scientists)

在考虑到种族和族裔群体之间不平等的护理和治疗给社会带来的成本和负担时，培训一支多样化的神经科学工作队伍以解决健康差异是至关重要的。许多报告将社会经济和种族差异与脑疾病和残疾的频率、护理和严重程度联系起来，包括中风、神经退行性疾病、癫痫、成瘾、创伤性脑损伤和心理障碍。布鲁克林区拥有260多万人口，是美国最多元化的城市社区之一。纽约市立大学（CUNY）的布鲁克林学院（BC）、纽约州立大学下州医疗中心（下州）和纽约市立大学的Medgar Evers学院（MEC）彼此相距几英里，位于布鲁克林的一个地区，这个地区的人口绝大多数是由代表性不足的群体组成的：50%的人口由主要来自西印度群岛和非洲加勒比背景的黑人居民组成，12%是西班牙裔，也是加勒比血统。我们的机构将合作制定一个以神经科学为重点的教育和研究议程，范围从基本的神经过程到认知和行为神经科学，包括向少数民族社区引入健康差异的社会经济学和与神经健康和疾病相关的公共卫生问题。我们的项目，BP- ENDURE：布鲁克林神经网络（科学家的神经科学教育和培训）或B-NETS，旨在培养对神经科学职业感兴趣的高素质，代表性不足（UR）的大三和大四学生，他们需要博士或医学博士/博士学位。这些个体将增加神经科学研究人员的多样性，并贡献研究成果，帮助解决在少数民族和低收入人群中更常见的慢性神经系统疾病，包括我们学生生活和学习的参与机构的集水区。作为一个紧密结合的联盟，利用之前成功的跨机构合作，B-NETS将有经验、科学专业知识、评估机构需求和动力，为来自大学背景的高年级本科生开发一个高效的BP-ENDURE项目。拟议的B-NETS计划将通过在BC建立完整的神经科学专业和在MEC扩展神经科学课程来实现发展神经科学研究教育项目的目标。所有三个B-NETS合作机构的高级管理人员都优先考虑STEM多样性项目和增加教师多样性，并全力支持B-NETS项目。我们的许多本科生，包括MARC和RISE等项目的一些本科生，都表达了成为大学教师的目标，并为像他们一样的大学本科生担任研究导师——这是增加大学教师队伍规模的重要渠道。B-NETS项目的创新方面包括基础神经科学、行为神经科学、社区参与研究和神经科学研究的杰出深度的融合，以培养一支新的多样化的神经科学研究人员队伍。

Training a diverse neuroscience workforce to address health disparities is critical when considering the cost and burden on society of unequal care and treatment among racial and ethnic groups. Numerous reports link socioeconomic and ethnic disparities to the frequency, care, and severity of brain disorders and disabilities including stroke, neurodegenerative disease, epilepsy, addiction, traumatic brain injury, and psychological disorders. The Borough of Brooklyn has a population of over 2.6 million, one of the most diverse urban communities in the nation. Brooklyn College (BC) of City University of New York (CUNY), State University of New York Downstate Medical Center (Downstate), and Medgar Evers College (MEC) of CUNY are located within a few miles of each other in a part of Brooklyn that is overwhelmingly populated by under-represented groups: 50% of the population is comprised of Black residents primarily from West Indian and Afro-Caribbean backgrounds, and 12% is Hispanic, also of Caribbean origins. Our institutions will partner to develop a neuroscience-focused educational and research agenda ranging from basic neural processes to cognitive and behavioral neuroscience, including the introduction of Fellows to the socioeconomics of health disparities and public health issues related to neurological health and disease in minority communities. Our program, BP- ENDURE: Brooklyn Neural NETS (Neuroscience Education and Training for Scientists) or B-NETS, is intended to prepare well-qualified underrepresented (UR) juniors and seniors who are interested in careers in the neurosciences requiring PhD or MD/PhD degrees. Such individuals will both increase the diversity of researchers in neuroscience and contribute research findings that can help to address chronic neurological conditions that occur more frequently in minority and low-income populations, including the catchment area of the participating institutions where our students live and study. Working as a tightly knit consortium and exploiting prior successful cross-institution collaborations, B-NETS will have the experience, scientific expertise, assessed institutional need, and motivation to develop a highly effective BP-ENDURE program for upper division undergraduate students from UR backgrounds. The proposed B-NETS program will meet the goal of developing neuroscience research education programs by creating a full neuroscience major at BC and an expanded neuroscience curriculum at MEC. The senior administration of all three B-NETS partner institutions has prioritized STEM diversity programs and increasing faculty diversity and fully supports the B- NETS program. Many of our UR undergraduates, including some in programs like MARC and RISE, express the goal of becoming college faculty and serving as research mentors for UR undergraduates like themselves – a vital pipeline to increase the size of the pool of UR faculty. Innovative aspects of the B-NETS program include the blending of basic neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience, community-engaged research and an outstanding depth in neuroscience research to develop a new cohort of diverse neuroscience researchers.