Pipeline to Graduate Education and Careers in Behavioral and Social Science Research for URM Undergraduates: Addressing HIV in Sexual and Gender Minority Communities

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PROJECT SUMMARY Sexual and gender minority (SGM) people and communities account for the vast majority of HIV cases in the United States, with Black and Latinx people being disproportionately affected. Unfortunately these communities also experience a host of negative societal factors. Therefore, the next generation of HIV behavioral and social science researchers must have cutting edge knowledge of the complex factors that influence HIV prevention and care within SGM communities, and possess the interdisciplinary research skills and experiences needed to develop innovative and effective approaches to ending the HIV epidemic. This proposed NIMH Research Education Mentoring Program for HIV/AIDS Researchers (R25) is named Student Opportunities for AIDS/HIV Research (SOAR). It is a multi-component theory-based 2-year long research-intensive program for University of Michigan undergraduate students who will participate in faculty mentored research experiences and other evidence-based programs and activities during their junior and senior years. They will remain connected to SOAR after graduation and into their graduate programs through our interactive SOAR website, and will provide mentoring and role-modeling for current students. Recruitment of students will focus on individuals from NIH-designated groups that are underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral and social sciences (URM: NOT-OD-20-031). Given the program's thematic focus on HIV-centered behavioral and social science research priorities within SGM communities, we will also encourage participation from URM students who identify as SGM (NOT-OD-19-139). SOAR is grounded in the expanded Social Cognitive Career Theory (e-SCCT); patterned after the evidence-based U.S. Department of Education funded Ronald E. McNair Post- baccalaureate Achievement Program; and incorporates elements of the evidence-based research mentoring program Entering Mentoring and the evidence-based research mentee program Entering Research. The program will be located in the University of Michigan Office of Research's Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and be a collective effort across four prestigious and researcher-intensive UM Colleges and Schools—School of Public Health; School of Nursing; School of Social Work; and College of Literature Science & the Arts. SOAR was designed to advance the priorities in FY 2021–2025 NIH Strategic Plan for HIV and HIV- Related Research, the NIMH Division of AIDS Research Priority Areas, and Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America. We will provide the two-year SOAR program to four cohorts of 20 undergraduate students for a total of 80 SOAR graduates. Specific Aims are as follows: (1) To fully develop and deliver a multi-component theory-based HIV research education mentoring program for URM undergraduate students who will participate in two consecutive years of faculty-mentored research experiences and other evidence-based programs and activities during their junior and senior years. (2) To guide URM undergraduate students into career trajectories as independent researchers in the mental health of HIV/AIDS. (3) To provide evidence-based culturally aware mentor training for faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students as peer mentors themselves.