This application is requesting five additional years of funding for the UTMB training program in Health of Older Minorities. This program was originally funded in 1999 and now supports three predoctoral and three postdoctoral positions. In this application we are requesting funding for four predoctoral and four postdoctoral positions. In Years 1-5 of the original grant, we recruited a total of six predoctoral and seven postdoctoral fellows. We have been successful in our minority recruitment efforts with four of the six (67%) predoctoral and three of the seven (43%) postdoctoral fellows being members of underrepresented minority groups. All fellows who have completed the training program have obtained academic or research positions at federal agencies (NCI, NIA) or universities (see details in Section 8. Progress Report). In this competitive renewal, we request funding for four predoctoral and four postdoctoral positions, each for two years. The University of Texas Medical Branch has a strong minority aging program, particularly with respect to the Mexican American populations of Texas and the Southwest. This is a rapidly growing population that remains understudied. The specific need for the development of faculty with research interests related to minority health draws from the historically greater barriers to health care access experienced by minority elderly, from the unique needs of these populations, and from their recent and future demographic growth. A particular problem is the absence of trained Mexican American and other minority investigators.
We aim to recruit promising new investigators through our established network of minority undergraduate institutions in Texas and elsewhere. In addition, we propose to attract minority M.D.s to careers in aging research. UTMB has the largest enrollment of Mexican American medical students in the nation, and we will actively recruit them to postdoctoral fellowships and subsequent research careers in minority aging. Fellows will work with faculty supervisors who have established research records, current federal funding and demonstrated ability to mentor graduate students and postdoctoral trainees in aging and minority health research.
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