Disparities Education Strategies in the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center STEM Focused Youth Enjoy Science Program

The Youth Enjoy Science/Scientific Enrichment and Opportunity (YES/SEO) Program at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine and the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Case CCC) in Cleveland, OH is an intensive Research, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) program targeted at engaging underrepresented minority high school students to better understand and to pursue careers in cancer research and healthcare. The program’s long-range goals are to increase diversity of the cancer professional workforce to contribute to elimination of cancer health inequities. A challenging aspect of this intensive research and STEM education program is how to effectively teach about cancer health disparities and to address the importance of developing strategies for their remediation. We describe herein some innovative approaches utilized to engage students in learning about disparities and thinking about solutions. Overall, feedback from our students indicates the importance of introducing disparities education topics often and using multiple approaches, including small and large meetings as well as lecture and conversational formats. These approaches provide opportunities for frequent student engagement and concept reinforcement. Based on this experience, a series of recommendations are provided for incorporating disparities education into intensive research and STEM programs.