Multiple studies have provided evidence that a more racially and culturally diverse biomedical workforce would enhance the quality of education and healthcare delivery in the United States. The MUSC Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) is designed to provide under-represented minority and disadvantaged students with an intensive one-year biomedical research and mentoring experience with which to acquire the skills, habits, and mindset it takes to be successful in graduate school and lifelon scientific careers. Our program will leverage our established IMSD program as well as our active Multicultural Graduate Student Association (MGSA) to provide role models that support identity development as scientists and long-term support systems for our scholars. Specifically we aim to: (1) introduce PREP scholars to the culture of the biomedical science community of practice through explicit teaching and structured experiences to enable them to assimilate and build their identities as members of the scientific community; (2) involve 100% of scholars in the creation and continuation of their own individual development plans that will guide their choice of supplemental activities during the PREP year and beyond; (3) provide 100% of our apprentices a mentored laboratory research project and oral presentation practice to acquire the critical thinking and communication skills expected at the graduate level; (4) provide challenging coursework to enhance cognitive and non- cognitive skills such that at least 80% of MUSC PREP scholars will matriculate into a top 100 biomedical science PhD or dual degree program; (5) actively develop long-term support networks for our scholars by involving family, peers, and faculty mentors ensuring that at least 80% of MUSC PREP alumni will complete the PhD and join the workforce in a scientific career; (6) collect pre-planned objective and subjective outcome data for continuous assessment and refinement of the program, publication of effective strategies, and to inform best practices for training all science graduate students.
The MUSC PREP program will increase the diversity (number of) of trained investigators in the fields of biomedical and behavioral research (from currently underrepresented groups), to produce a scientific workforce better able to address health disparities. Furthermore, it is expected that MUSC PREP strategies that are shown to improve retention and long-term career success of individuals from under-represented groups will ultimately be expanded to improve the training of biomedical scientists from all backgrounds.
| Jenkins, Carolyn; Ovbiagele, Bruce; Arulogun, Oyedunni et al. (2018) Knowledge, attitudes and practices related to stroke in Ghana and Nigeria: A SIREN call to action. PLoS One 13:e0206548 |
| Berthiaume, Andrée-Anne; Grant, Roger I; McDowell, Konnor P et al. (2018) Dynamic Remodeling of Pericytes In Vivo Maintains Capillary Coverage in the Adult Mouse Brain. Cell Rep 22:8-16 |
