Interdisciplinary and Inclusive Predoctoral Training in Molecular, Cellular, and Biochemical Sciences

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Promoting wellness and strategies for building resilience is important for retaining talented scientists, especially women and underrepresented minority scientists, in the workforce, and facilitating their long-term success. The activities proposed here would fill an important gap in our offerings, and address an increased need for access to these resources brought about by the pandemic. We propose to build upon and sustain the NIH's "Becoming a Resilient Scientist" series at Brown via three primary activities: 1. Development and delivery of an expanded resiliency curriculum; 2. Engagement of Resiliency Ambassadors who will serve as peer facilitators; and 3. Recruiting additional faculty to participate and train to be future facilitators of the curriculum. The three faculty that will lead this initiative are trained facilitators who piloted the NIH content and facilitated discussions in Fall 2021. Based on feedback collected from the initial cohort of 20 trainees, we propose to develop this content into a course with additional interactive content, including expert guest speakers and experiential learning activities. We will recruit participants from the parent T32 program, as well as our other NIGMS-funded T32/R25 programs, doctoral programs in the Division of Biology and Medicine, and postdoctoral trainees from life science disciplines across the university. Indeed, we currently have a waitlist of trainees eager to obtain resiliency training, and who will benefit from the proposed course. Peer facilitators who have been involved in resiliency content previously will further engage course participants, serve as a resource, and participate in dissemination of the course experience and outcomes. Additional faculty facilitators will be trained to help sustain the course in future years and advocate for resiliency supports. Altogether, we aim to build a community of resiliency at Brown, which will, in turn, support the continued success of our trainees as they build careers in the biomedical sciences.