The Weill Cornell Graduate School (WCGS)?an educational and training partnership between Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center?is a premier institution for PhD training in the biomedical sciences. We look to leverage our training capacity ($275 million in research funding, 340 graduate school faculty, and over 330 PhD students) to increase our rates of attracting, retaining, and developing underrepresented minority (URM) doctoral students as leaders in the biomedical workforce. To accomplish this goal, we propose a Weill Cornell IMSD program with the following aims: (1) Attract a pool of well-prepared URM students to WCGS through partnerships with local and minority-serving institutions; (2) Build a robust, self-renewing community of URM doctoral students and faculty through an early start program, multifaceted mentorship, and social gatherings; and (3) Equip IMSD scholars with leadership training, professional skills and networks to be leaders in a variety of biomedical and science-related careers. WCGS is primed for training the next generation of URM biomedical scientists and we are confident that through the Weill Cornell IMSD, we can develop a steady stream of well-trained PhD's that will both diversify and bring innovation to the biomedical workforce.
The Weill Cornell Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (Weill Cornell IMSD) will increase the number of underrepresented doctoral students who are trained to conduct exceptional research and continue as leaders in biomedical research careers. By helping to diversify the biomedical workforce, the Weill Cornell IMSD will take part in addressing the critical need to reduce racial and ethnic health and health care disparities.
