One important mechanism for achieving the goal of eliminating minority health disparities (MHD) is to increase the number of faculty, especially under-represented minority (URM) faculty, in public health, medicine, and related sciences who are trained and are participating in MHD-related research. Both the Institute of Medicine and the Sullivan Commission, in their reports on the importance of diversity within the health and public health workforce, emphasize that talented URM students with interests in health sciences should be identified as undergraduates, encouraged to pursue advanced study, and supported during these early phases of their development as research scientists. Because of of its emphasis on MHD and community-based public health, and given the significant racial and ethnic health disparities that exist in Arkansas, the UAMS College of Public Health has as a primary goal to maintain an over-representation (relative to the State census) of African-American students in graduate degree programs. Unfortunately, many undergraduate students, including URM students, are unaware of public health sciences as a career option, suggesting the need to inform them of public health career opportunities. To our knowledge, no other accredited school of public health has developed BA/MPH combined degree programs with multiple historically Black colleges or universities (HBCUs) throughout their region specifically to enhance involvement of URM students in public health graduate study, tracking them into research careers. The Education/Training Core of the proposed NCMHDA therefore has as its aims to work closely with all three HBCUs in Arkansas to: (1) implement BA/MPH collaborative degree programs and enroll multiple students into the programs annually; (2) provide support and peer mentoring systems for URM students enrolled in the BA/MPH programs and throughout the COPH to increase their academic success and support their readiness for related doctoral programs, and (3) increase COPH recruitment activities within partner HBCUs, not only for the BA/MPH program but also for all available degree programs, especially doctoral programs. The Education Core includes representatives from the COPH, the Arkansas Minority Health Commission, and each HBCU, and will engage in ongoing process and outcome evaluation, monitoring specific objectives under each specific aim.
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