This is an application from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) that requests funding for four years to conduct a series of seminars and workshops involving 2 cohorts of 25 minority junior medical school faculty members. Each cohort would participate in a program lasting two years ( a total of 50 participants over 4 years). The program is designed to develop the participants' health services research (HSR) skills. It is focused on helping the participants develop a concept paper that would eventually grow into an R01-type grant application, over an 18-month period. This goal will be accomplished by demanding a commitment from the participant's department to free 20% of his/her time; by pairing each participant with a mentor; and by all participants attending four especially convened seminars (one being a mock study section to critique the applications), as well as two AHSR annual meetings. The investigators also state that the program will be evaluated using both process and outcome measures. The application models the project closely on predecessor projects which were funded by AHCPR in 1991 and 1993 which have taken 2 previous cohorts of 25 and 27 participants respectively through a similar process. The first cohort completed the program in 1994, and the second cohort will complete the program in 1996.
