EXCEED THE SPACE PROVIDED. OVERVIEW. This application seeks continued support for short-term research training of underrepresented minority students in cardiovascular science, pulmonary science, and related areas. The program primarily targets two groups of medical students: those in the summer between year 1 and 2, and those more advanced students who want to go beyond the minimum research requirement (3 months) in year 3 or 4 to gain more in- depth and meaningful research training. It will also support up to two undergraduate students each year. Since inception of this grant in 1991, 46 underrepresented minority students have received support. Thirty-nine of these were medical students, 6 were undergraduates and one was a high school student; 7 trainees were appointed twice. In the next cycle of funding, we will continue to select trainees on the basis of their academic record, clarity of career goals, research training plan, suitability of project as a training vehicle, and suitability of the mentor. Perm has 96 NHBLI funded investigators, giving us a cohort of experienced and interactive faculty members to serve as mentors. They are working in areas that include hemostasis and thrombosis, vascular disease and related topics in hematopoiesis, pulmonary medicine, and in the hemoglobinopathies, particularly sickle cell disease. It is expected that 80% of the training experience will involve direct participation in research with the remainder devoted to directed reading and seminars. RECENT CHANGES. Dr. Poncz became the PI six months ago. The program will be administered by the Director and the newly named Co-Director Dr. Kim Smith-Whitley. The Co-Director and two other Advisory Committee members are African-American with NIH-derived research support and a special interest in training underrepresented minority students. We believe that we offer an unusually strong research training opportunity to an outstanding pool of underrepresented minorities, and that we have the commitment to encourage these students to select an academic career in these related fields. PERFORMANCE SITE ========================================Section End===========================================
