Brown University’s Leadership Alliance consortium has received a $2.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support students and junior researchers from historically underrepresented groups who are interested in biomedical science.
The consortium that constitutes 35 leading research and teaching institutions received the grant to fund five years of expanded programming at the annual Leadership Alliance National Symposium and expand the Academic Year Workshop Program to create diverse research workforce.
The grant will help first-year undergraduates and junior faculty from diverse backgrounds to pursue careers in research through workshops on key research skills.
“Diversity is essential to ensuring the competitiveness of our country and the wellbeing of our society,” said Medeva Ghee, executive director of the Leadership Alliance and an assistant professor of the practice at Brown.
“If we want to be able to address health disparities in different communities, then we need people from those communities who are able understand the situation and come up with innovative ideas to address the issues.”
Brown will conduct Academic Year Workshops in collaboration with Morehouse College, Spelman College, Vanderbilt University and the University of Chicago, whose sessions will be accessible to universities across the nation.
Meanwhile, the annual symposium will see an expanded programming to increase the competitiveness and career readiness of students and junior faculty from historically underrepresented groups.
Nearly 500 undergraduates who will present their summer research at the event will receive mentoring on applying to graduate programs and research careers, while graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will receive one-on-one mentoring on their resumes and research careers.
“The resources invested in this project will pay dividends over the next five years through increased support for underrepresented scholars at each stage of the academic pathway, who are poised to diversify the biomedical research workforce,” Ghee added.
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