Summer Program for the Advancement of Research Relevant to NIDDK (SPARK)

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Project Summary The R25 proposal “Summer Program for the Advancement of Research Relevant to NIDDK” (SPARK) aims to provide an intensive, high-quality, educational, and mentored-research summer experience to build and enhance the diversity of the biomedical, behavioral, clinical and social science research workforce in NIDDK mission areas. We will partner with 4 existing summer training programs for students from diverse backgrounds; 1) The Advanced Summer Program For Investigation and Research Education/Clinical Research Enrichment Scholarship and Training (ASPIRE-CREST), 2) The Pediatric Student Research Program (PSRP), 3) The WashU ENDURE neuroscience pipeline program and 4) the Programs to Increase Diversity among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research (PRIDE). SPARK will provide training in NIDDK-related research by leveraging the robust intellectual, physical, administrative, and educational infrastructure resources available at WashU to recruit, train, mentor and engage undergraduate and health professional students from WashU and partnering institutions around the country that come from groups under-represented in medicine (URiM) and help them gain entry into graduate programs. The key strengths of the SPARK program include: 1) the strong mentor pool, 2) our structured training program in nutrition, obesity, diabetes and related disorders (NODR), 3) our existing, research training infrastructure, 4) institutional commitment, 5) track record of leadership in administration of educational programs of the Program Directors, and 6) the range of research experiences offered by our Program and Mentoring Faculty, many of whom are NIDDK grantees. We propose to perform the following aims: Aim 1) Establish a scholarship and stipend-supported summer program for undergraduate credit that provides rigorous didactic coursework and hands-on participation in mentored research by established Washington University School of Medicine faculty, Aim 2) Recruit, train, mentor, and engage a diverse URiM undergraduate student group in NODR research; Aim 3) Implement a comprehensive mentoring research program to provide comprehensive, culturally-sensitive mentoring for each SPARK scholar and Aim 4) Perform robust tracking and evaluation of the SPARK program, trainees, and mentors to better understand the role of our program in relation to persistence and completion in STEM. These objectives will encourage and facilitate undergraduate students from URiM groups to stay engaged in scientific research and support their entry into graduate programs performing research related to NIDDK.