The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) proposes to implement an academic enrichment program to enhance the graduate education of underrepresented minority students pursuing the PhD degree in biomedical and health science disciplines. Nationally, the number of underrepresented minority students enrolled in biomedical science graduate programs is disproportionately small, as is the annual graduation rate of underrepresented minority PhDs. Funding to support graduate academic students is insufficient and in stiff competition with the resource needs of undergraduate and professional degree programs. Low participation in graduate academic education is due to a nationally constricted pipeline of qualified applicants, a lack of adequate funding through the course of study, and other social and institutional challenges that militate against higher application, admission, retention, and graduation rates. Despite the bleakness of this national context, UCSF has a strong track record of enrolling and graduating underrepresented minority students. Nevertheless, the campus is committed to increasing enrollment rates and to ensuring the academic success of underrepresented minority students. The proposed program is structured to ensure that participating underrepresented minority students at UCSF are given the academic, intellectual, and social support necessary to achieve excellence while graduate students and when seeking career positions in the biomedical and health sciences. Program components include mentored research assistantships combined with other funding mechanisms to achieve an optimal availability, continuity, and mix of graduate student support; intensive academic mentorships provided by faculty and advanced graduate students; and academic and social support to prevent student isolation and/or marginalization . The program aims to promote cross-disciplinary learning; critical thinking; enhancement of research skills; close attention from faculty regarding academic progress; and development of skills not normally included in graduate curricula - such as training in research grant administration, resource management, scientific writing and publishing, oral presentation of findings, preparation of the curriculum vitae, and career planning skills. The overall goal is to ensure timely completion of graduate studies with the highest degree of excellence and academic success, and to foster biomedical and health science research careers in which graduates advance to leadership positions as independent investigators, career educators, and contributors to the permanent literature.
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