The overall goal of this grant proposal is to change the institutional culture of schools and institutions of higher learning to encourage and inspire minority youth to pursue careers in the sciences and the health professions. It is focused on capacity building of teachers and scholars as the vehicle to increase minority scientists, physicians, dentists, nurses and other health professionals. This conference grant proposal will focus on dissemination of web-based and print materials on the history of African Americans in the sciences and in the health professions to include engineering, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, dentistry, nursing, and public health. It will be sponsored by the Center for Health Disparities and the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at the University of Virginia, and hosted by the Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) at NAS conference facilities in Washington, DC in the Fall of 2012. Conference invitees will include faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and community colleges, especially those with bridge programs, university faculty with affiliations and appointments in African American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Women's Studies and Departments of History and Sociology, faculty involved in medical humanities programs at health professions schools, undergraduate pre-medical advisors, high school and middle school science teachers, and public and health science librarians. The conference will address why developing a robust pipeline of minority youth for careers in science and the health professions is critical to eliminating health disparities. Sessions will be devoted to illustrating how these wb-based and print materials can be used for classroom instruction and in designing and teaching semester and year-long courses, separate lectures, and for special programming for Black History Month. Participants will be provided hands-on instruction on the use of these materials and assistance in creating curricula and lectures. In addition, sessions will feature traveling exhibits with a discussion on how to use them effectively to generate interest in careers in the sciences and health professions, and how to build partnerships between colleges, universities, and health professions schools and the communities they serve. A request for $50,000 in direct cost funding will cover partial cost of travel for participants and speakers, one meeting of an advisory board, testing of a web-site for broad dissemination, and conference and administrative expenses. In-kind support is provided in the form of free use of NAS conference facilities.
The goal of this conference grant proposal is to recruit minorities into the health professions by increasing their identification with and awareness of the contributions of African American scientists and health professionals to improving the health of the American public. This conference grant proposal is also designed to transform the learning environment by equipping teachers and faculty with knowledge of resources on the history of blacks in science and the health professions and with skills in using these resources to enable them to integrate this content into programs, lectures and courses for students from K through college and health professions schools, and to develop programs for Black History Month and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
