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A research education program model to prepare a highly qualified workforce in biomedical and health-related research and increase diversity
BACKGROUND: The National Institutes of Health has recognized a compelling need to train highly qualified individuals and promote diversity in the biomedical/clinical sciences research workforce. In response, we have developed a research-training program known as REPID (Research Education Program to...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2014
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4197236/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25248498 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-14-202 |
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author | Crockett, Elahé T |
author_facet | Crockett, Elahé T |
author_sort | Crockett, Elahé T |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The National Institutes of Health has recognized a compelling need to train highly qualified individuals and promote diversity in the biomedical/clinical sciences research workforce. In response, we have developed a research-training program known as REPID (Research Education Program to Increase Diversity among Health Researchers) to prepare students/learners to pursue research careers in these fields and address the lack of diversity and health disparities. By inclusion of students/learners from minority and diverse backgrounds, the REPID program aims to provide a research training and enrichment experience through team mentoring to inspire students/learners to pursue research careers in biomedical and health-related fields. METHODS: Students/learners are recruited from the University campus from a diverse population of undergraduates, graduates, health professionals, and lifelong learners. Our recruits first enroll into an innovative on-line introductory course in Basics and Methods in Biomedical Research that uses a laboratory Tool-Kit (a lab in a box called the My Dr. ET Lab Tool-Kit) to receive the standard basics of research education, e.g., research skills, and lab techniques. The students/learners will also learn about the responsible conduct of research, research concept/design, data recording/analysis, and scientific writing/presentation. The course is followed by a 12-week hands-on research experience during the summer. The students/learners also attend workshops and seminars/conferences. The students/learners receive scholarship to cover stipends, research related expenses, and to attend a scientific conference. RESULTS: The scholarship allows the students/learners to gain knowledge and seize opportunities in biomedical and health-related careers. This is an ongoing program, and during the first three years of the program, fifty-one (51) students/learners have been recruited. Thirty-six (36) have completed their research training, and eighty percent (80%) of them have continued their research experiences beyond the program. The combination of carefully providing standard basics of research education and mentorship has been successful and instrumental for training these students/learners and their success in finding biomedical/health-related jobs and/or pursuing graduate/medical studies. All experiences have been positive and highly promoted. CONCLUSIONS: This approach has the potential to train a highly qualified workforce, change lives, enhance biomedical research, and by extension, improve national health-care. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4197236 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-41972362014-10-16 A research education program model to prepare a highly qualified workforce in biomedical and health-related research and increase diversity Crockett, Elahé T BMC Med Educ Research Article BACKGROUND: The National Institutes of Health has recognized a compelling need to train highly qualified individuals and promote diversity in the biomedical/clinical sciences research workforce. In response, we have developed a research-training program known as REPID (Research Education Program to Increase Diversity among Health Researchers) to prepare students/learners to pursue research careers in these fields and address the lack of diversity and health disparities. By inclusion of students/learners from minority and diverse backgrounds, the REPID program aims to provide a research training and enrichment experience through team mentoring to inspire students/learners to pursue research careers in biomedical and health-related fields. METHODS: Students/learners are recruited from the University campus from a diverse population of undergraduates, graduates, health professionals, and lifelong learners. Our recruits first enroll into an innovative on-line introductory course in Basics and Methods in Biomedical Research that uses a laboratory Tool-Kit (a lab in a box called the My Dr. ET Lab Tool-Kit) to receive the standard basics of research education, e.g., research skills, and lab techniques. The students/learners will also learn about the responsible conduct of research, research concept/design, data recording/analysis, and scientific writing/presentation. The course is followed by a 12-week hands-on research experience during the summer. The students/learners also attend workshops and seminars/conferences. The students/learners receive scholarship to cover stipends, research related expenses, and to attend a scientific conference. RESULTS: The scholarship allows the students/learners to gain knowledge and seize opportunities in biomedical and health-related careers. This is an ongoing program, and during the first three years of the program, fifty-one (51) students/learners have been recruited. Thirty-six (36) have completed their research training, and eighty percent (80%) of them have continued their research experiences beyond the program. The combination of carefully providing standard basics of research education and mentorship has been successful and instrumental for training these students/learners and their success in finding biomedical/health-related jobs and/or pursuing graduate/medical studies. All experiences have been positive and highly promoted. CONCLUSIONS: This approach has the potential to train a highly qualified workforce, change lives, enhance biomedical research, and by extension, improve national health-care. BioMed Central 2014-09-24 /pmc/articles/PMC4197236/ /pubmed/25248498 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-14-202 Text en © Crockett; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014 This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Crockett, Elahé T A research education program model to prepare a highly qualified workforce in biomedical and health-related research and increase diversity |
title | A research education program model to prepare a highly qualified workforce in biomedical and health-related research and increase diversity |
title_full | A research education program model to prepare a highly qualified workforce in biomedical and health-related research and increase diversity |
title_fullStr | A research education program model to prepare a highly qualified workforce in biomedical and health-related research and increase diversity |
title_full_unstemmed | A research education program model to prepare a highly qualified workforce in biomedical and health-related research and increase diversity |
title_short | A research education program model to prepare a highly qualified workforce in biomedical and health-related research and increase diversity |
title_sort | research education program model to prepare a highly qualified workforce in biomedical and health-related research and increase diversity |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4197236/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25248498 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-14-202 |
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