Minority Research Training in Biomedical and Behavioral STEM Disciplines at FLC

描述（由申请人提供）：美洲原住民和西班牙裔社区迫切需要博士级医疗保健专业人员和研究人员，他们有能力了解和解决这些低收入人群独特的健康问题。提供文化上适当的护理的最有效方法是培训来自这些代表性不足的少数群体的个人，他们对具体的文化健康问题有个人的理解，以便进行研究和制定保健方案。刘易斯堡学院在增加少数族裔学生进入生物医学相关博士培训项目方面具有独特的优势。大约1000名本科生（约占学生总数的28%）是美洲原住民或西班牙裔。这758名印第安学生来自美国各地超过105个不同的部落，这是我们对印第安人学费减免的回应。西班牙裔学生来自四角地区的大量西班牙裔人口。STEM学科，尤其是生物学，是最受少数民族学生欢迎的专业。迄今为止，我们在指导少数族裔学生攻读博士学位方面取得的成功并不多，在过去五年中，大约有四名美国原住民和西班牙裔学生进入了博士学位课程。我们提出的MARC U-STAR培训计划将在未来五年内将有资格进入博士级研究生课程的少数族裔学生人数增加到至少9人。该项目将使学生沉浸在刘易斯堡学院的教师主导的、与生物医学相关的研究项目中，以及我们的研究密集型机构合作伙伴的目标是揭开科学事业的神秘面纱，并将在不同课程中学到的基础科学知识联系到一个更大的框架中。此外，我们将积极从高中和社区大学招收成绩优异、代表性不足的少数族裔学生，目标是在刘易斯堡学院建立一个学者社区。我们的长期目标是在培养代表性不足的少数民族学生作为博士级卫生专业人员和研究人员的成功职业生涯方面建立声誉。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Native American and Hispanic communities are in desperate need of doctoral-level health care professionals and researchers with the capabilities to understand and address the unique health issues of these low-income populations. The most efficient way to provide culturally appropriate care is to train individuals from these underrepresented minority groups who have a personal understanding of specific cultural health issues to research and health care regimens to develop. Fort Lewis College is uniquely positioned to increase the number of underrepresented minority students entering biomedical-related doctoral training programs. Approximately 1000 of our undergraduate students (about 28% of the student population) are Native American or Hispanic. The 758 Native American students come from more than 105 different tribes from across the United States in response to our Native American tuition waiver. The Hispanic students derive from the large Hispanic population in the Four Corners area. STEM disciplines, particularly Biology, are the most popular majors of the minority students. To date, our success in mentoring minority students into doctoral programs has been modest, with about four Native American and Hispanic students entering doctoral programs in the last five years. The MARC U-STAR training program that we propose will increase the number of underrepresented minority students with the qualifications to be admitted to doctoral level graduate programs to at least nine students over the next five years. The program will immerse the students in faculty-lead, biomedicaly-relevant research projects at Fort Lewis College and our research intensive institutional partners with the goal of demystifying the scientific enterprise and linking the basic scientific knowledge learned in disparate courses into a larger framework. Additionally, we will actively recruit high achieving underrepresented minority students from high schools and community colleges with the goal of developing a community of scholars at Fort Lewis College. Our long term goal is to establish a reputation for preparing underrepresented minority students for successful careers as doctoral level health professionals and researchers. RELEVANCE: Native American and Hispanic communities have the worst access to health care in the United States. Since Fort Lewis College attracts Native American students from more than 105 tribes from across the country, the training program that we propose has the potential to impact health care and delivery for Native American and Hispanic communities well beyond our local region.