ICRE News

June 11, 2019

Dr. Doris Rubio Receives NIH Funding to Conduct a Multi-Institutional Trial of a Career Development Program for Underrepresented Minorities

Doris Rubio, PhD, Director of the Institute for Clinical Research Education, has received funding from the NIH to conduct a multi-institutional trial that will test the effectiveness of a career enhancement intervention for underrepresented minorities.

This new project, “BUILding Up a Diverse Pipeline for the Biomedical Research Workforce (BUILDinguP),” has gained the support of 26 institutions across the United States varying in size and current levels of diversity, who have signed on to participate in the trial. The Career Education and Enhancement for Research Diversity (CEED) Program, which has been run successfully by the ICRE for over 10 years, will be operationalized and disseminated to half of the institutions in order to test the effectiveness of the CEED program in building the psychological capital of underrepresented trainees and diversifying the biomedical workforce. The other institutions will serve as controls during the course of the trial, and will have the CEED intervention disseminated to them once the trial is over.

The trainees participating in the program will take part in specific course work and collaborative sessions, receive mentoring in a supportive environment, and be given opportunities to network with senior investigators and their peers. The site leaders will also receive training from a certified career coach.