The goal of the proposed Postdoctoral Research, Instruction, and Mentorship Experiences (PRIME) IRACDA program is to develop highly skilled biomedical scientists to teach the next generation of clinical researchers and allied health professionals, as well as to promote research competencies of under-represented minority undergraduate and graduate scholars in the health professions. Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFSM) and Winston-Salem State University (WSSU), an HBCU with longstanding commitment to biomedical and allied health training programs will train PRIME scholars by integrating traditional mentored postdoctoral research at WFSM, regular in-depth professional development programming at WFSM, WFU and WSSU, and a broad variety of teaching assignments in pre-professional and allied health professional (with a focus on Physical Therapy) courses at WSSU. PRIME will aid in recruitment, retention, and development of more underrepresented minority clinical scientists by immersing PRIME scholars, their WFU mentors, and undergraduates in the MARC U*STAR and MBRS RISE programs at WSSU in a rich collaborative learning environment. Additionally, PRIME will strengthen existing collaborations in research and teaching between WFSM and WSSU. To meet these goals, the PRIME Program aims are to: 1. Train scholars in research with a faculty member in WFU's programs in Integrative Physiology and Pharmacology, Neuroscience, Molecular Medicine and Translational Sciences, or Molecular Pathology. 2. Train scholars in mentored teaching experiences at WSSU for the entire three year training, including tutoring, lecturing, laboratory design and development, guiding students through robotics simulations, leading case-based learning (PBL), and open-source digital teaching tools. 3. Introduce PRIME scholars to current pedagogical techniques and educational philosophy through a semester-long course, and short workshops from the WFU Teaching and Learning Center and others. 4. Facilitate mentoring skills by pairing PRIME scholars with WFSM faculty to oversee the research training of WSSU MARC U*STAR and MBRS-RISE undergraduates, and PREP postbac students. 5. Train PRIME scholars in translational research practices (WSSU DPT) and grant writing (WFSM). 6. Train PRIME scholars to become leaders in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) education programs. We will recruit 3 PRIME scholars each year for 3 years (a total of 9) from a national pool of racial and ethnically diverse individuals who hold the Ph.D., M.D. or comparable degree. Outcomes of the program will be documented as academic progress in both research and teaching (presentations, publications, meritorious activities), as well as benefits to partner WSSU (improved outcome measures for students~ sustained course modules digitally captured for plug-and-play use). Strategic Evaluations, Inc. is the external evaluation team.
The Sullivan Report (2004) reveals that a major impediment to health equity in the US is the paucity of underrepresented minorities (URM) in the medical and allied health professions. The partnership of Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFSM) and Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) will contribute to overcoming this disparity by training translational scientists as medical educators for the health professions in western North Carolina, a region populated by rural African American families (17% of North Carolinians) and the fastest growing Hispanic American population in the country (>600% increase in the last decade). By recruiting from a diverse population of applicants, we will increase the numbers of URM academic researchers, and train them to utilize innovative methods that enhance the learning environment and support the career development of URM pre-professional and allied health professions students.
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