The overall goal of the Research Training Core is to develop and institutionalize a training infrastructure and curriculum that will foster, develop, equip, and increase the number of health services researchers prepared to address health disparities in their research. Therefore, this health services and translational research training program is designed to be implemented along an academic developmental/adult learning continuum that includes research training of graduate and post-doctoral students and clinical and research faculty at MMC, TSU, and Vanderbilt University. The long term objective of the Research Training Core is to increase the number of independent health services scientists from underrepresented minorities who are prepared to pursue careers in health services research focusing on health disparities. We are proposing to develop a continuum of health services educational and training venues that will identify and foster the development of promising new minority investigators prepared to undertake health services and translational research to eliminate health disparities and improve minority health. The research training framework will use an inter-disciplinary, integrated research approach to prepare participants to explore multi-level determinants of health disparities and to conceptualize innovative approaches to research that reflect the complex interactions of the social and physical environment, behavioral factors pathways, and macro-social forces that determine health disparities and disease outcomes. To achieve this framework, the research training core will support thematic aims of both the research and community engagement cores. The research training core will offer health service research education and training opportunities to a broad spectrum of interested medical students, residents, graduate students, faculty members, and community members. The research training core will utilize inter-disciplinary training experiences appropriate to the target audience across disciplines, areas of research interest, departments, and communities. Resources of the research training core will be enhanced through collaboration with academic partners and community organizations, including public agencies, faith-based organizations, schools, and nonprofit community agencies and neighborhood organizations. Opportunities for community participation open an important avenue for trying to ensure that cultural competency is integrated throughout the health disparities research training core. Trainees that complete the research training core at Meharry will be recognized by others for their systems approach to health disparities, their understanding of the value of including community participation in the research process, and for excellence in conducting health services research.
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