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. 2024 Sep 16;8(1):e124.
doi: 10.1017/cts.2024.590. eCollection 2024.

Supporting students from underrepresented minority backgrounds in graduate school: A mixed-methods formative study to inform post-baccalaureate design

Jessica B Sperling  1   2 , Noelle E Wyman Roth  1 , Whitney E Welsh  1 , Allison T McElvaine  3 , Sallie R Permar  4 , Rasheed A Gbadegesin  3
Affiliations

Supporting students from underrepresented minority backgrounds in graduate school: A mixed-methods formative study to inform post-baccalaureate design

Jessica B Sperling et al. J Clin Transl Sci. .

Abstract

The US biomedical research workforce suffers from systemic barriers causing insufficient diversity and perpetuating inequity. To inform programming enhancing graduate program access, we implemented a formative mixed-method study to identify needed supports for program applications and graduate program success. Overall, results indicate value in added supports for understanding application needs, network development, critical thinking, time management, and reading academic/scientific literature. We find selected differences for underrepresented minority (URM) students compared to others, including in the value of psychosocial supports. This work can inform broader efforts to enhance graduate school access and provides foundation for further understanding of URM students' experiences.

Keywords: Pipeline development programs; diversity; evaluation; recruitment and retention; underrepresented minorities.

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Conflict of interest statement

ATM is a current employee of GSK. SRP serves as a consultant to Moderna, Merck, GSK, Pfizer, Dynavax, and Hoopika on their CMV vaccine programs and has held sponsored programs with Moderna and Merck on CMV vaccine development.

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