A consortium of seven California State University campuses and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science proposes to continue a training program at prestigious Universities, Centers, and Research Institutes in Thailand, Argentina, and the United States. The different locations provide outstanding opportunities for training in diverse aspects of health disparities. The objectives of this program are: 1. To increase the numbers of individuals belonging to groups underrepresented in biomedical, behavioral, clinical and social sciences research that pursue advanced degrees and careers in these fields. Our training program is committed to developing a cadre of researchers that possess a deep understanding of health disparities issues, passion for resolving them, and potential to be the future leaders that will spearhead new solutions; 2. To make these trainees aware of health problems that disproportionally affect the most disadvantaged and underserved sectors of the society, and to prepare them to seek novel approaches to address them; 3. To show these trainees the importance of national and international research collaboration in addressing health issues and health disparities; 4. To make them aware of the existing opportunities for research collaboration to address health issues, and reduce health disparities; and 5. To contribute to the reduction, and eventual elimination of health disparities among racial and ethnic minority groups in the U.S. To achieve these goals we will offer a wide variety of training opportunities in U.S. and international locations, using as common model HIV/AIDS, a paradigm of health disparities. It is well established that in spite of concerted efforts and advances in HIV prevention and care, people belonging to minority groups remain at significantly higher risk of acquiring HIV, are more likely to be unaware if they are infected, have less knowledge about prevention, and are less likely to seek care or comply with treatment. A group of 8 to 10 students/year will participate in 10-12 weeks research experiences in which they will: a. Receive training in experimental research, design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of data, use of current literature and the different venues to publish results; b. Be provided with opportunities to communicate their research results in the form of publications or submissions to scientific conferences (oral or poster presentations), c. Have opportunities to interact with members of the scientific community in the place of training as well as in scientific meetings and other related forums like workshops; d. Become familiar with the cultural characteristics affecting the scientists and population in the different training locations; e. Be mentored to ensure that they complete the degree they are pursuing at the time the training takes place and pursue advanced degrees or other health-related careers. The training locations have been carefully selected to ensure the highest quality educational experience in subjects relevant to the goals of NIMHD as well as MHRT and to expose the trainees to environments with various kinds of health disparities, and different ethnic and racial mixes.
Students belonging to groups underrepresented in biomedical, behavioral, clinical and social sciences research will receive training in these disciplines on subjects related to health disparities. These students will be part of the future cadre of researchers that thoroughly understand health disparities issues.
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