1.1.1 Establish an endowed summer research program to support three preclinical medical students per year in an eight-week COPC public health research assistantship during summer following their first year of medical school to increase the students’ knowledge of and expose them to health disparities issues.
1.2.1 Establish an endowed community research elective to support two fourth-year medical students per year in a longitudinal COPC public health research experience to increase the students’ knowledge of and expose them to health disparities issues.
2.1.1 Formalize the existing Common Grounds program and establish it as an integrated student/ faculty forum for discussing health disparities research in a “shared inquiry” format to increase the students’ knowledge of and expose them to health disparities issues and to increase students’ cultural proficiency skills.
2.2.1. Establish an endowed program for training medical student tutors to increase the academic success rate of medical students.
Summer Research Training Progarm May- August
We hold a one hour seminar each week in which faculty mentors present their research in a manner that can be appreciated by a student audience. The seminars emphasize, through examples, the specific experimental approaches that are used to address seminars emphasize, through examples, the specific experimental approaches that are used to address fundamental problems in health and disease. Faculty are asked to speak candidly with students about their “passion” – the spirit of academic, professional, social, and personal inquiry that drives their professional research and service following the initial faculty presentation, the research topic is discussed through a shared inquiry approach, allowing students to express how they feel about the topic and how that view may differ from those expressed in the materials presented. The Summer Research seminar series has proven to be effective mentoring and educational tool, in which students and faculty engage in lively discussions about the processes and goals of biomedical research.