Health and disease are not strictly biological phenomena. Health research must be developed in a manner that is culturally appropriate and relevant in order to address public health concerns in economically disadvantaged communities and communities where health disparities persist. To this end, there is a need to expand research efforts and scientific training of individuals from groups underrepresented in the biomedical sciences, and to fill the professional and intellectual void brought on by their relative underrepresentation in research careers. University of Washington (UW) faculty members and their partners have demonstrated commitment and success in working to fill these voids. Since the inception of the UW-MIRT Program in 1994, 116 students (80 undergraduate and 36 graduate students) from 26 U.S. universities have received research training while working on collaborative research projects with investigators in countries including Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Vietnam and Thailand. All trainees (1995-2003 fellows) earned degrees that they were working towards at the time of the fellowship. To date, UW-MIRT trainees have gone on to earn 19 MD, 8 PhD, and 26 Master's degrees, respectively. Trainees currently in advanced degree programs are as follows: 15 MD, 11 PhD, and 16 Master's. We are proud to report that in the relatively short 10-year span of the UW-MIRT Program, five of our trainees are themselves now faculty members in US academic-research institutions. UW-MIRT trainees have presented some 87 papers at national/international conferences, and they have published 25 papers in peer-reviewed research journals. The primary aim of this new MHIRT application is to continue to encourage students underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences to pursue research and public health leadership careers.
We aim to select eight undergraduate and two graduate/professional degree students into the program annually. We are here proposing the addition of exciting new research training sites in Ethiopia, Chile, Australia, and the Republic of Georgia to our productive and on-going sites. Over 50 faculty members in biomedical and behavioral sciences are available to serve as mentors. We will continue to develop collaborative research and research training activities with institutions in developing countries with the primary objective of continuing to train students from health disparities populations. We also expect to continue to share our talents and resources with collaborators in these countries who share in the task of training our fellows. ? ?
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