RISE Option III: Ponce School of Medicine MBRS-RISE Program

描述（由申请人提供）：Ponce医学院（PSM）请求NIH/NIGMS继续支持其成功的MBRS少数民族科学增强研究计划（RISE）计划，该计划即将进入其第一个资助周期的最后一年。PSM MBRS- RISE计划的总体目标是提高从波多黎各PSM生物医学科学博士课程毕业的未被充分代表的西班牙裔学生的竞争力，并增加未被充分代表的学生进入竞争激烈的博士后职位的人数。在前一个周期中，PSM MBRS-RISE项目（12名学员）对我们博士生的培养和整个PSM社区产生了积极的影响。所有受训者都有效地遵守了留在项目中的标准，并按照博士项目的时间表进行；此外，有几个人转到独立研究金，现在即将毕业。我们的项目有了明显的改进，并达到了我们第一个资助周期确立的基准。我们期望这个更新应用程序将建立在这些成功的基础上，并适应一些重要的经验教训，从而继续我们从“非常好”到“优秀”的培训计划的演变。拟议的申请将进一步改善我们已经成功的研究生项目的几个方面，包括高素质申请人的数量，专业研究生课程和研讨会的可用性，经济援助，研究生专业计划准备的指导，以及完善我们的评估系统，以监控我们的研究生，并为不断改进学生的培训提供方向。该计划建议通过提高我们未被充分代表的少数民族学生的学术、研究、个人和专业能力来实现这些目标，以更好地为他们在生物医学科学领域的职业生涯做好准备。PSM RISE计划的具体可衡量目标是提供：(1)为PSM mbr -RISE学员提供“动手”专业发展和研究技能培训；(2) PSM mbr - rise学员沟通技巧培训；(3)为PSM MBRS- RISE学员提供团队建设/交流机会。每一个目标都将通过高效的持续活动和为满足学生新出现的需求而开发的一套新的战略培训组成部分的平衡来实现。PSM MBRS-RISE计划将与现有的MBRS-SCORE和RCMI计划协同工作，通过提供训练有素的学生队伍来开展资助的研究项目，并为创建新的研究计划提供动力，从而对整个研究计划产生重大影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Ponce School of Medicine (PSM) requests continued NIH/NIGMS support for its successful MBRS Minority Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) program which is about to enter the final year of its first cycle of funding. The overall goal of the PSM MBRS- RISE Program is to increase the competitiveness of underrepresented Hispanic students graduating from the Biomedical Sciences Ph.D program at PSM in Puerto Rico, and to increase the number of underrepresented students who advance to competitive postdoctoral positions. The PSM MBRS-RISE program (12 trainees) had a positive impact on the training of our PhD students and on the entire PSM community during the previous cycle. All trainees are effectively complying with criteria to remain in the program and are on track with the PhD program timeline; moreover several transitioned onto independent fellowships and are now graduating. Our program tangibly improved and achieved the benchmarks established in our first cycle of funding. We anticipate that this renewal application will build upon those successes and adapt to several important lessons learned, thus continuing our evolution from a "very good" to an "excellent" training program. The proposed application will further improve several areas of our already successful graduate program including the number of highly-qualified applicants, the availability of specialized graduate courses and workshops, financial assistance, mentoring in preparation for post-graduate professional plans, and refinement of our evaluation system to monitor our graduate students and provide direction for continually improving the training of our students. The program proposes to accomplish these goals through enhancement of the academic, research, personal, and professional competence of our underrepresented minority students to better prepare them for careers in the biomedical sciences. The specific measurable objectives of the PSM RISE program are to provide: (1) "hands-on" professional development and research skills training for PSM MBRS-RISE trainees; (2) communication skills training for PSM MBRS-RISE trainees; and (3) team building/networking opportunities for PSM MBRS- RISE trainees. Each of these objectives will be pursued with a balance of continuing activities that were highly effective as well as a strategic set of new training components that were developed to address the emerging needs of our students. The PSM MBRS-RISE program will work in concert with existing MBRS-SCORE and RCMI programs to significantly impact the overall research program by providing a better trained student workforce to conduct the funded research projects and provide the momentum to create new research initiatives. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The enhanced training provided by the PSM MBRS-RISE program will increase the number of Hispanic Americans doing biomedical research and encourage the growth of biomedical research in Puerto Rico. By contributing to a more culturally diverse research workforce, the program will foster biomedical research of minority health disparities.