Ethnic minorities and underserved populations suffer a disproportionate burden of cancer related morbidity and mortality. Minority investigators may be an important resource to address this disparity, however, there are few highly trained minority cancer researchers equipped to focus on this concern. The reasons behind this under representation include insufficient exposure to research during undergraduate medical education and lack of mentorship towards academic careers. One strategy to correct this shortage is to mentor undergraduate minority medical students to careers as cancer researchers. Meharry Medical College (MMC), a generalist producing, minority-serving institution has partnered with Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) through the MMC/VUMC Alliance, and the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center through the NCI U54 MMC/VICC Partnership Grant. We plan to utilize these existing relationships to provide a structured research experience for MMC medical students, mentor these students during their residency and career selection, and analyze the results of this experience to assess the impact of the program on the students sustained interest in cancer research.
The specific aims are to: 1. Identify and select promising medical students with a strong research interest in the biomedical, clinical, or epidemiologic aspects of cancer at a minority serving institution. 2. Match medical students with experienced cancer researchers involved in ongoing research projects. 3. Facilitate a short-term research exposure of medical students to cancer researchers, providing a structured research curriculum. 4. Advise and mentor the selected students through the residency match selection process, and track the students through residency training and ultimate career choice. 5. Disseminate the results of student research and program impact to student peers, cancer researchers and other academic institutions.
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