Clinical and Translational Science Workforce Development through a Statewide Community College Partnership

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Summary This R25 Research Education Module, leveraging the infrastructure of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (I-CTSI), will foster development of a diverse clinical and translational workforce within Indiana through education and immersive experiences of learners from historically marginalized backgrounds enrolled in Ivy Tech, our statewide community college system. The clinical and translational science workforce is lacking diversity. This has profound negative consequences across the translational spectrum. There is strong evidence that career exposure and experiences have a positive impact on career choices. Ivy Tech is the largest singly accredited statewide community college system in the country, with campuses across Indiana and an undergraduate enrollment of ~120,000. Over half of all the Black/African American or Hispanic/Latinx undergraduate learners in the Indiana public education undergraduate system attend Ivy Tech. The numerous majors at Ivy Tech that have connections to clinical and translational research make this an ideal platform to engage learners into these careers. Herein, we propose to combine career exploration with an immersion research experience to help learners develop a pathway toward the clinical and translational science workforce. Our program has three components. The first (AIM 1), focused on broad exposure to learners about careers in clinical and translational science, will be achieved through synchronous virtual programming across the statewide Ivy Tech system. The second (AIM 2a), focused on immersion research experiences, will connect learners, termed CTSI-Scholars from Ivy Tech campuses near one of the four University campuses of our I-CTSI (Notre Dame, Purdue, Indiana-Bloomington, and Indiana-Indianapolis) into a 10-week summer experience. These Universities each have thematic foci of clinical and translational research/science that will serve as primary research experiences. The program will prioritize learners from historically marginalized populations as CTSI/Ivy Tech Scholars. The third program component (AIM 2b), will provide support through a cohort-based longitudinal mentoring/professional development, focused on career-pathway attainment over the subsequent year. The program's efficacy will be determined (AIM 3) through evaluation of learner progression into educational tracks/careers connected to clinical and translational science. The Overall proposal is led by a Multi- PI team, who serve as co-Directors of Workforce Development program in the I-CTSI. They bring complementary expertise to the leadership and are supported by an Advisory Committee of leaders at Ivy Tech and the I-CTSI as well as numerous program staff from both entities.