This proposal represents a unique collaborative effort between Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU), the University of Kansas (KU) and the Haskell Health Center (HHC). Virtually adjacent institutions, HINU is the largest of the tribal colleges, KU is a Research I institution, and HHC is a part of the PHS's Indian Health Service. These partners seek to ease the transition of Native American students from HINU to the biomedical sciences at KU and to increase the number of Native American students who complete BA degrees in the biomedical sciences. To accomplish their goal, barriers that impede success in completing a BA program have been identified. The program is designed to remove these barriers and enhance the opportunity for students to succeed. The barriers include: l) difficulties in articulating programs and activities between institutions, 2) Native American students not being acculturated into science, lack of research experience, 3) lack of financial and other support for students after transfer to KU, 4) reluctance to leave a small nurturing institution for a large less personal institution, 5) inadequate advising, counseling, information about majors and careers in biomedical science, 6) lack of faculty appreciation for potential student contribution to lab sciences, 7) failure to track students so as to learn from mistakes and celebrate successes. Barrier 1 will be lowered by establishing a Collaboration Promotion Committee of HINU, KU and HHC faculty and students to develop, articulate, and assess joint programs. Courses taught jointly by HINU and KU faculty will be offered at HINU and KU to enhance student preparedness for the 4-yr school (Barriers 2 and 4). To familiarize students with the culture of science, KU faculty will provide biomedical-relevant research experiences in any of 14 departments or 2 centers during the academic and summer terms (Barriers 2 and 4). Existing HINU/KU mentoring programs and continued interactions with KU faculty research mentors will provide support after student transfer to KU (Barrier 3). Financial support from a variety of sources, including Provost Office commitment, have been identified (Barrier 3). KU and HINU faculty and project staff will recruit, advise and mentor students who are candidates for participation in the bridge program (Barrier 5). Seminars, discussions, and field trips will be used to strengthen interactions between KU faculty and Native American students at HINU (Barrier 6). Students will be careful tracking from entry into program to completion of training in a biomedical science field (Barrier 7). Barriers will be lowered, transition and graduation rates in biomedical-related sciences will increase. Because of a variety of self-correcting mechanisms, the results from the program will improve continuously.
| Wacker, Michael J; Godard, Michael P; McCabe, Everlee H et al. (2008) Sex difference in the association of the angiotensin converting enzyme I/D polymorphism and body mass index. Med Sci Monit 14:CR353-7 |
