Montana American Indian Biomedical Research Program

Young, David

Abstract

The institutional setting for the Montana American Indian Biomedical Research Program involves a consortium consisting of Montana State University (MSU) and seven Montana Colleges (TC). In the consortium arrangement MSU serves as the principal administrative unit responsible for coordination leadership, programmatic and fiscal management. The overall objective of the Montana MBRS program is to address the serious underrepresentation of American Indians in health science and biomedical research careers.
Specific aims are: 1) to provide Indian students with an enrichment experience in a biomedical research environment thereby motivating them to pursue a career in a biomedical/health science fields; 3) to help strengthen facilities, faculty and resources at Montana's seven TC; 4) to increase the academic competitiveness of American Indian students in health science curricular; 5) to increase the rate of successful transfer of Indian students from TC to MSU and from MUS to professional/graduate schools; 6) to increase recruitment, retention and graduation of American Indian students in health science curricula. The Montana MBRS program involves 12 research subprojects employing 20 American Indian Students. Participating MBRS students will gain a comprehensive appreciation for various aspects of biomedical research with a special emphasis on the health relatedness of individual research subprojects. Working closely with faculty researchers, students will be exposed to the full spectrum of biomedical research including, but not limited to, advancing a hypothesis, designing experiments, developing and learning methods for performing experiments, data collection, analysis and interpretation of data, preparation of results for a scientific presentation (oral or poster), preparation of materials for a scientific publication, proper procedures for handling experimental animals and biohazardous materials, general laboratory safety and responsible conduct of scientific research. Participation in the MBRS research subprojects with associate investigators will provide Indian students with background experience and motivation to help achieve the overall goal of the Montana MBRS program to increase significantly the number of American Indians students in health, allied health and biomedical research fields.