The University of Arizona (UA) College of Medicine Diverse Student Medical Research Program (DSMRP) introduces, trains, and nurtures diverse inquiring medical and undergraduate students [encompassing underrepresented minorities (URM)] in health-related basic/clinical biomedical research emphasizing NHLBI cardiovascular, pulmonary, and blood mission areas; and encourages subsequent intensive/extensive research experiences to retain and strengthen the diverse student researcher pipeline. We continue to build on the infrastructure, high level of student and faculty mentor participation, esprit-de-corps, and outstanding trainee productivity of our multifaceted medical student and disadvantaged high school student programs to bridge the discontinuous leaky pipeline of entering and exiting students as they advance in training and strive for professional/academic careers. Full-time summer-vacation laboratory/clinical investigation is integrated into an internationally recognized and paradigm-shifting Curriculum on Medical Ignorance (CMI) concentrated in a Summer Institute on Medical Ignorance (SIMI) and sustained through year-round trainee-related contact network and enrichment opportunities. These include topical seminars and workshops, clinical correlations, advanced extracurricular research in a Research Honors Distinction Track, Introduction to Molecular Medicine laboratory practicum, a new progressive Translating Translation and Scientific Questioning face-to-face/online curriculum interweaving the known and unknown from bench to bedside to community, research methodology/ communications/thriving/leadership/ responsible conduct seminars, visiting professors, and individualized career advising. CMI fosters attitudes and questioning skills to recognize and deal with the vast shifting world of medical ignorance [what we know we don't know (research), don't know we don't know (discovery), and think we know but don't (error)?]. A unique Virtual Clinical Research Center/Questionarium with mobile phone access forms a centerpiece and platform for inquiry-based training and national/international networking. Organized around rapidly expanding UA Specialized Centers of Excellence and departments and overseen by Program Director and staff, Steering Advisory Committee, and faculty-elected Medical Student Research Committee, research encompasses cross-cutting themes and in vivo, in vitro, in situ, in silico, and modeling approaches to the cardiovascular system and its disorders (cardiac contractility, hypertrophy, development; genomics/ proteomics, imaging, regeneration, biomaterials, prosthetics; endothelial biology, microcirculatory physiology, lymphology, bioengineering), pulmonology/respiratory disorders (ventilation, asthma, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension) and blood/stem cell biology/disorders; and interdigitating research and technology in neurosciences, genomics/protreomics/metabolomics, bioinformatics, and public health and other topics attracting the interest of DSMRP students. Based on our ~34-year NIH student training track record and established access to diverse/disadvantaged populations reflected in 922 medical students and 615 high school students trained to date, many continuing their research interests and the majority seeking/pursuing science/healthcare careers, we anticipate that DSMRP will further cultivate many more diverse scientific physician/healthcare professional contributors to the research enterprise and a growing cadre of medical science leaders to energize the scanty diversity pipeline of healthcare professionals and translational researchers. Detailed S/T and L/T formative/ summative program and participant evaluation including database registry, individual development plans, long-term followup and career portfolios, will document effectiveness and promote networking.
This renewal proposal is continuing and further enhancing an innovative program to recruit, train and mentor a large number of diverse/disadvantaged (including URM) undergraduates and medical students in biomedical research predominantly targeting heart, lung, blood disorders. We are building a continuous career pipeline to promote retention and career progression, thereby contributing to the NIH Strategic Plan of creating the diverse clinical research teams of the future and advancing translation of medical discoveries from bench to bedside to community.
