The Short Term Research Training Program for Minority Students at The University of Chicago has been extremely successful in attracting undergraduate and medical students to research experiences and provides an entry to research for many participants. The program provides students with a wide choice of opportunities for high quality, mentor-based research aimed at encouraging the career development of medical scientists who will view research activity and investigation as an essential part of their long-term professional goals. The 12-week program is designed for minority undergraduates, 1st or 2nd year medical students who are selected from a pool of qualified trainees by means of a formal application and evaluation procedure. Students are integrated into the Summer Research Training Program at the University of Chicago which provides special activities including weekly cluster group meetings, lab discussions, and lectures. Students are appropriately counseled to identify a research project and advisor drawn from a large pool of investigator educators (representing all clinical and basic departments of the Division) and primary responsibility for monitoring student progress and program quality assurance resides with steering committee members who serve as cluster group leaders. Students submit a final written report and present their findings to peers and faculty at a closing scientific research forum. Trainees are followed as a means to continually assess the impact of the program in promoting further research activities and career choices in biomedical research. We are requesting support for the research training of 15 minority students/year, an increase from the 10 previously funded positions. This request is based on two main factors. First, there has been a consistent increased minority enrollment at Pritzker since the last grant submission, which has resulted in increased demand for research opportunities. Second, since Pritzker is a site for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Minority Medical Education Program, increased numbers of these participants know of this excellent research opportunity and desire training in a subsequent summer. Training occurs in the supportive environment of the Division of Biological Sciences where biomedical investigation and medical student research training combine to form a long-standing academic tradition. Pritzker maintains numerous federally funded pre- and post-doctoral training grants and an MSTP.
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