African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics are clearly under represented in the biomedical research community (53, 54). In fact, the under representation of these ethnic groups among research based faculty of universities, non-profit institutions and commercial research entities is worse than that seen for practicing physicians, nurses, or dentists from these ethnic groups (4, 53). Moreover, this under representation in the sciences extends to other areas such as computer science, engineering, and physics. It is recognized that healthcare providers who come from an ethnic group that is at higher risk for health disparities are more likely to care for patients from these high risk groups (4). Similarly, we believe biomedical researchers who are from these ethnic groups at high risk for health disparities are more likely to focus their research efforts on diseases where significant disparities exist. Therefore the goal of this core is to facilitate the development of independent biomedical researchers who are African American or from other underrepresented minority groups. There are many reasons for the disparities in ethnic representation among biomedical researchers. These include, but are not limited to, lack of exposure and adequate instruction in education programs ranging from kindergarten to college, lack of available mentors with whom students can identify, lack of knowledge of career opportunities in biomedical research, and lack of resources to support the long and intensive training that is necessary to be successful in the area. These same factors also contribute to under representation of women in biomedical research. Other parts of this proposal address the issues in secondary education (see pipeline program in community engagement core). Arguably, intervention at or before secondary school may be most important as lack of adequate education and preparation at this point drastically reduces the numbers seeking undergraduate degrees. Clearly, there are several barriers to the development of a successful biomedical researcher from an underrepresented minority group (55, 56). The successful navigation through these barriers is much more likely with early quality research experiences, appropriate mentorship, and the presence of an adequate support structure (47, 54). The programs outlined in this section are structured to provide these critical experiences and skills for early career biomedical researchers from underrepresented minority group
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