Research Insights

The University of Georgia (UGA) proposes a renewal of PREP@UGA that builds on the program’s successes to date and continues to advance diversity of the biomedical research workforce. Diversity of the biomedical research workforce is critical to the success of the NIH mission and necessary for research innovation, translation, and justice. However, ongoing, difficult work is needed to advance diversity within and beyond UGA. PREP@UGA has a successful record of recruiting, supporting, and preparing postbaccalaureate students in pursuing further education and careers in biomedical research. To date, PREP@UGA has trained 53 Scholars with 87% matriculating into biomedical research PhD programs at research-intensive universities. Seven PREP@UGA alumni successfully completed doctoral training and are now in Postdoctoral Fellowships in academia and government or working in industry or academia. Thirty-three PREP@UGA alumni are in good standing in their PhD programs. The program is well-positioned to continue this important work because of its close alignment with UGA’s Diversity and Inclusive Excellence and 2025 strategic plans, which have catalyzed changes in institutional policies and practices to address systemic issues that have limited diversity. In this renewal, PREP@UGA will (1) continue to use a multi-pronged approach to recruit diverse cohorts of six postbaccalaureate Scholars who identify as underrepresented and/or as having a disability; (2) continue to engage Scholars in intensive research training with quality mentorship; (3) enhance the collective and individualized professional development for Scholars; and (4) enhance Scholars’ networking in ways that enable them to bring their whole selves to their research, educational, and career pursuits. We propose three programmatic enhancements in response to results from evaluation and findings from education research. First, we will strategically expand the pool of faculty mentors so that Scholars can participate in research that more fully represents the disciplinary breadth of biomedical research on campus. This change has the added value of increasing the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity of PREP@UGA’s pool of quality research mentors. Second, we will establish a cadre of career mentors who are diverse in terms of their biomedical research discipline, career path, and personal characteristics (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, ability status) for additional support and advice for navigating academic research and career pursuits. Finally, we will add value to the current, effective professional development activities by adding two modules. The first will support Scholars in building their knowledge and skills to understand and evaluate statistical analyses in published research. The second will introduce Scholars to notions of community cultural wealth and funds of knowledge to affirm the strengths they bring to the biomedical research endeavor and support them in using science for social justice.

Funder: National Institutes of Health 

Amount: $1,689,870 

PI: Kimberly Klonowski, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Cellular Biology