The University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) will identify and provide financial support and training for a total of 20 prospective underrepresented minority researchers, at a steady state of 10/year, to prepare them to successfully pursue a research doctorate in a biomedically-relevant discipline at MU, or at any other research institution. The MU/NIH PREP Scholars program will strengthen the research, academic, and personal communication skills of talented and promising minority baccalaureate graduates who elected or were forced by circumstance to postpone graduate school. We will prepare our PREP Scholars for entrance into and successful completion of PhD programs leading to research careers, especially in areas that address health disparities in minority populations. This project complements and will be carefully coordinated with MU'S current high school, undergraduate and graduate programs for underrepresented minority scholars, thereby advancing our comprehensive effort to increase the minority research scholar talent pool in the biomedical sciences. In this proposal we present a coordinated, intrusive plan to help underrepresented minorities make a successful transition to a doctoral graduate program by immersing each of them in a faculty research program and providing a coordinated academic, financial and personal support system. Those PREP Scholars Program participants who elect to remain at MU for their doctoral work will begin their doctoral program with advanced research skills, with a faculty and peer mentoring system already in place, with connections to departments and active membership in a smaller academic community, and with lasting friendships with other graduate students in the life sciences. This will help to alleviate the isolation that underrepresented minority students often experience at a predominately majority, research-oriented institution and thus will help to insure their continued success.
