Professional Development Core

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Abstract/Summary The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has recognized that underrepresented minority (URM) faculty receive less mentoring and training than their nonminority peers and that this gap contributes to less success in clinical and research careers. Thus, there is an urgent need to train qualified underrepresented minorities (URM) clinician/scientists, RNs, Pharm Ds, basic scientists, behavioral and other health care professionals, to fill in the demand for researchers that address the health needs of medically underserved Hispanic and minority communities. The goal of the Professional Development Core (PDC) of the Hispanic Alliance for Clinical and Translational Research (Alliance) is to design and coordinate trainings, support and mentoring programs to address the need for more underrepresented minorities in clinical and translational research and mentoring. The objective of the PDC is to design and coordinate competency based training, mentoring, and support programs to maximize the productivity of potential CTR researchers and expand the breadth and scope of CTR in focus areas of prevalent health needs: chronic disease prevention, achievement of healthy lifestyles, emerging infectious diseases and health disparities. We hypothesize that providing these activities to researchers with diverse backgrounds and incorporating community leaders to training sessions will result in the development of a critical mass of URMs researchers addressing health issues in medically underserved communities. We propose the following Specific Aims: 1. Address the current gap in research competencies on health and healthcare research in URM-serving institutions through access to a coordinated and effective educational and support program. Innovative use of technology-based training will expand opportunities for potential trainees. Support provided for writing publications and developing proposals will enhance productivity. 2. Address the mentoring gap for URM faculty by developing a robust mentoring program aimed at fostering relationships that will enhance the productivity and retention of clinical and translational researchers. The program will focus on two models: developing teams of mentors-mentees and training of potential individual mentors. Interactions with recognized USA based mentoring programs as well as an in- house program will enrich the mentors’ training. 3. Address community health needs by training scientists and community partners jointly to carry out multidisciplinary research responsive to the Hispanic community needs. The Professional Development Core and the other Alliance’s cores will collaborate in the implementation of a tailor-made training curriculum. The impact of the PDC training program is significant because it will support the development of qualified researchers and mentors that understand, have the know-how, and are interested in addressing the health needs of a growing US Hispanic and other medically underserved population.