The proportion of African-, Black- and Hispanic- and Latino- Americans (UR) in the U.S. population increased from 24.8% to 30.6% (1.23 fold) between 2000 and 2014. However, from 2006 to 2016, the proportion of awarded STEM PhDs was abysmally low, (5% to 7% of total), for the same groups and remained below 1% for Native Americans. Workforce diversity brings a diversity of ideas, experience and productive interactions, accelerating creative problem-solving. Importantly, an increasingly diverse workforce is also urgently needed to address the increasing diversity and complexity of health issues. Therefore, the STAR-PREP program at University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) was recently created to provide rigorous, integrated and comprehensive academic and research training to prepare UR to ascend to quality PhD or MD-PhD programs to meet the urgent workforce diversity need. Our underlying prediction for the program was that this multidimensional program would result in at least 75% of participating students enrolling in rigorous and high-quality PhD or MD-PhD programs. Indeed, in just 3 years, a 77% ascension rate to quality PhD or MD-PhD programs was achieved. Students were prepared by immersion in rigorous programing, including graduate academic and enrollment-preparation courses, activities and workshops which were guided by comprehensive, individualized development plans (IDP) and frequent cohort assessments and evaluations. We learned that the students wanted and needed research, academic and also emotional preparation for the rigors of graduate school. Multiple levels and channels of engagement were created to meet this need, resulting in building of trust and the scholars and excitement in the UMB academic community to host, challenge, nurture and support the students in collaboratively-, culturally-, contextually- and experientially-informed capacities. This renewal application builds on the successes of the first funding period and incorporates best practices from lessons learned to test our current outcome predictions that student preparedness and institutional cultural impact will make programs and mentors much more receptive and accepting of UR scholars and vice versa, which will lead to greater scholar integration, better scholar performance and ultimately to increased MD- STEM-PhD and STEM-PhD enrollment and graduation. We propose a bold and innovative STAR-PREP program that builds on successes and lessons learned, to pursue the following aims:
Aim 1), We will maximize student academic and research preparedness through intense lab and graduate course experiences, Aim 2), We will strengthen and prepare the scholars holistically (academically, mentally, emotionally) for the rigors of graduate school through courses and professional development activities.
Aim 3), We will use the STAR-PREP model to widen its impact to collaboratively shape the culture and expectations of the higher-learning institution to receive and nurture UR scholars.
These aims will be pursued while maintaining the 75%/25% balance in research and development activities, respectively and the program will continue to deliver a 75% of better ascension rate to high quality MD-PhD and PhD programs.
The population of the United States is becoming increasingly diverse and research and healthcare issues are becoming increasingly diverse and complex as well. Despite this, the biomedical research workforce remains largely undiversified and there are urgent needs and demands for workforce and experiential diversity for creative problem solving, which will improve the health and lives of all. The UMB STAR-PREP program was designed to holistically, rigorously and comprehensively prepare diverse students to enter and be successful in strong MD-PhD and PhD programs and then in careers to address critical biomedical workforce diversity needs.
