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Health Careers Opportunities Program (HCOP) > FY 2004 Grant Abstracts Alabama State University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Alabama State University (ASU) is a historically black, four-year liberal arts institution. The university is committed to developing a more competitive applicant pool of and preparing disadvantaged students for health and allied health careers. The university has several programs that are specifically targeted to disadvantaged students. It supports the current HCOP program through guaranteed scholarship to all eligible HCOP participants who enroll in ASU’s pre-health curriculum, and reimbursement of MCAT and application fees to medical schools. The proposed comprehensive HCOP will implement a pipeline of disadvantaged students, beginning in the elementary school and ending in graduation from health professions schools. Students participating will be exposed to a variety of activities that are designed to develop their awareness of health careers, increase their motivation through career exploration, and strengthen their readiness and preparedness to pursue a pre-health curriculum in college. The HCOP trained pre-health majors at ASU will be given preference for participation in the Biomedical Enrichment and Recruitment (BEAR) program at the University of South Alabama (USA), and those who successfully complete the BEAR program are offered admission to the medical school at the USA. The ASU, in collaboration with its partners, will implement a comprehensive HCOP program consisting of: a) activities at the elementary through high school level that will include health careers clubs, resource speaker presentations, mentoring, and after-school programs; b) junior high school activities will also include shadowing opportunities and a two-week summer science camp for 6th - 9th grade students; c) high school activities will include shadowing and internship opportunities and an eight-week summer science academy for 10th - 12th grade students; d) undergraduate level activities will include health careers club; health careers seminars; study and test-taking skills workshops; counseling; tutorial assistance; internship opportunities, and field trips; an eight-week summer science institute for freshman and sophomores that will include diagnostic testing, skills development in reading and communications, math, biology, chemistry, and physics; and a facilitating entry program for juniors and seniors that will include workshops on MCAT, AMCAS application preparation, financial aid, and interview techniques, shadowing, and exposure to biomedical research. Miles
College Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Miles College is a historically black, four-year liberal arts institution, which has historically pursued a mission of providing education and training to minority students. These minority students- a vast majority- come from disadvantaged economic and academic backgrounds. The college has several programs that are specifically targeted to disadvantaged students. The college has an enrollment of 1,595 students of which approximately 99 percent are African American and the remaining are white American, Hispanic and Asian. The college is committed to developing a more competitive pool of and preparing minority/disadvantaged students for health and allied health careers. The comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) implements a pipeline of disadvantaged students, beginning in the elementary school and ending in graduation from health professions schools. Participating students are exposed to a variety of activities that are designed to develop their awareness of health careers, increase their motivation through career exploration and strengthen their readiness and preparedness to pursue a pre-health curriculum in college. The HCOP trained pre-health majors at Miles College will participate in various health programs at the University of Alabama (UAB), which will improve the chance of the participating students to get accepted in the health career program. Tuskegee University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The Health Careers Opportunity Grant at Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health (CVMNAH), aims to increase the number of qualified students from disadvantaged backgrounds who enter and graduate from health professions programs, particularly Veterinary Medicine (VM), and Allied Health – Medical technology (MT) and Occupational Therapy (OT). To develop a more competitive applicant pool CVMNAH has developed a pipeline from the middle school through professional school. At the middle school level, CVMNAH will conduct an after school program and a 6-week summer program to help twenty-five seventh grade disadvantaged students begin to develop the skills needed to successfully enter in and graduate as health professionals. The programs will feature hands on activities, problem solving activities, writing and mathematics skills through journal writing and analysis of data, verbal reasoning and reading comprehension of level-appropriate scientific articles. At the college level, recruitment activities and an intensive 8-week summer program for twenty-seven students that focuses on skills and science enrichment are designed to identify, select, and facilitate the entry of such students, particularly disadvantaged males, into the VM, MT and OT programs. A minimum of ten pre-veterinary HCOP trainees who receive an evaluation of “Highly Recommended” from the HCOP program and who meet admissions requirements will be guaranteed admission to the veterinary program. In addition to the above programs the CVMNAH HCOP will provide supportive post-admission activities for all students. Alabama
A&M University Medical Professions Assistance Program This comprehensive Medical Professions Assistance (MPA) Program represents a formal collaboration among Alabama A&M University (AAMU), the Huntsville City School district, three health professions schools, a two-year college, and three community-based entities with the capacity and commitment to: (1) build diversity in the health professions, and (2) develop a health professions workforce to serve the "medically underserved community" in Alabama. To meet these goals, the three-year Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) at AAMU is designed to assist students who are disadvantaged, and who express an interest in pursuing a health degree in medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy enter and graduate from academic programs in these disciplines through partnership linkages with the following health professions schools: University of Alabama
School of Medicine The program will recruit 200 students--100 from four middle schools and two high schools with a large population of students from educationally and/or economically disadvantaged backgrounds - Davis Hills, Ed White, Stone, and Westlawn middle schools, Johnson and Butler high schools; and 100 from Calhoun Community College and Alabama A&M University. The program will provide structured and unstructured program activities that will include summer enrichment programs, professional test preparation classes, after-school programs, pre-medicine training, counseling, mentoring, dissemination of financial aid information, research training, and post-baccalaureate programs through formal agreements. The broad goals of the MPA initiative are to (1) prepare students from disadvantaged backgrounds for health professions careers; (2) develop a larger, diverse, and more competitive applicant pool through partnerships with the local school district, other institutions of higher education, health professions schools, community-based entities, and faith-based organizations; and (3) develop a culturally competent health care workforce to serve the unserved and underserved residents in four Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) located in Lawrence, Limestone, Madison and Morgan counties -- the principal counties served by AAMU, Calhoun Community College, and Huntsville City Schools. University of Alaska
Anchorage Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The University of Alaska, the state’s only public institution of higher education, is composed of three regional university centers: University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), and the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS). The University of Alaska has consistently shown its commitment to recruiting, retaining, and helping disadvantaged students succeed in the education environment. The UAA objectives include: 1) Recruitment: At least 25 students will be recruited into the Alaska Behavioral Health Summer Institute. Promotional materials will be provided to advising staff; 2) Facilitating Entry: 100 percent of Summer Institute students will increase their knowledge of UAA’s behavioral health academic programs and the steps to enroll in the programs; 3) Mentoring: 100 percent of Summer Institute students will receive at least weekly contact with a Peer Mentor. Summer Institute graduates will have at least monthly contact with a Peer Mentor, through the School of Social Work; 4) Preliminary Education: At the conclusion of the Summer Institute, 100 percent graduating students will demonstrate strengthened academic and job-seeking skills; 5) Financial Aid Information Dissemination: At the conclusion of each rural high school recruitment workshop, 100 percent of the students will be able to identify at least one financial aid resource and/or one contact within Alaska where a student could find financial aid information; 6) Primary Care Exposure: All graduating Summer Institute students will spend a minimum of 75 hours at a total of three different field sites observing and participating with professionals in various community-based behavioral health agencies; 7) Development of a More Competitive Applicant Pool: By September 2005, a minimum of 50 percent of ABHCP graduates from the Summer Institutes will apply and be accepted into a behavioral health program within the University of Alaska’s system. The evaluation will consist of formative and summative evaluation of the processes and outcomes of the ABHC Program will be conducted in all three years of the grant. The foundation for the evaluation of the HCOP grant project will be the Utilization Focused Evaluation Model which ensures that a continuous “feedback loop” is in place through all aspects of the evaluation and that the program accomplishes its objectives and improves throughout the grant period. University of Arizona Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program An insufficient supply and distribution of health professionals limits the access of U.S./Mexico border communities to medical care. Personnel shortages are exacerbated by frequently observed cultural and language differences that separate health professionals from border Hispanic populations. The epidemiologic profile of Arizona’s border communities compares poorly with non-border regions in almost every category. The socioeconomic profile in the Arizona-Mexico border region reveals: widespread poverty; high levels of unemployment; low levels of formal education; and low levels of health insurance coverage. Disadvantaged student recruitment is critical to the development of the region’s health care infrastructure. The goals of the SAB-HCOP are to provide students from economically and academically disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to develop skills needed to compete successfully, to enter into and graduate from health professions programs of study. Arizona is very diverse in terms of culture and demography. The SAB-HCOP intervention is directed at four Arizona-Mexico border counties that include a large Hispanic population. Each county includes a designated Health Professions Shortage Area (HPSA) and a socioeconomic profile that reveals widespread poverty, high unemployment, low levels of formal education, and a lack of health insurance. Five educational barriers will be targeted by the SAB-HCOP: (1) Graduates leaving high school with insufficient academic preparation to make them competitive for admission to the University, (2) Families lack the economic resources or sufficient financial aid information to envision health professional career opportunities, (3) Schools not providing consistent and comprehensive career counseling, (4) Significant cultural issues have not been addressed within higher education leading to poor retention and, (5) There is no pipeline connecting local schools and health care facilities with health professions training programs Northern
Arizona University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Northern Arizona University (NAU) has the third highest number of American Indian students of all colleges and universities in the United States. Furthermore, more than 10 percent of NAU’s student body is Hispanic Americans. NAU has exercised leadership in its commitment to diversity through a number of programs that assist in attaining a diverse student body. In Arizona, American Indians and Hispanic Americans remain severely underrepresented in the health professions. The Arizona Statewide Comprehensive HCOP will more effectively prepare a pool of applicants to deliver culturally competent health care in the underserved areas of Arizona. The College of Health Professions (CHP) at NAU offers programs in physical therapy, dental hygiene, speech pathology, audiology, and public health education. Pre-medicine and pre-pharmacy programs are also offered at NAU and will work in partnership with the University of Arizona Colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine. This comprehensive HCOP represents a powerful collaboration among Arizona hospitals, K-12 schools and school districts, community health agencies, community and 4-year colleges, and university health programs. The partners have entered into formal agreements for the purpose of providing educational programs to expand the knowledge, skills, cultural competence, and competitiveness of disadvantaged students to enter and graduate from health professions programs of study. This comprehensive program targets elementary and middle school students for health careers education activities and high school students from throughout the state to participate in three summer academic enrichment programs. The program also proposes to provide ongoing events and educational activities during the academic year to maintain contact with summer program participants, and involve parents and additional students in HCOP activities. Other educational interventions target HCOP students in Arizona community colleges and the three state universities. The goal of the program is to develop a cadre of Arizona students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are well prepared to enter and successfully graduate from Health Professions programs. University of Arkansas
for Medical Sciences The College of Medicine (COM) at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is committed to recruiting, preparing, retaining, and graduating students, particularly the disadvantaged students, to meet the medical needs of the state. Arkansas has a large population of disadvantaged students. The overall poverty rate consists of 16% of persons living below the 100% poverty level. Nationally, Arkansas ranks 49th in the percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher and 47th in the percentage with a high school diploma or higher. To address the educational disparity of disadvantaged Arkansans, the COM has established formal partnerships with other professional educators and community organizations to counsel, nurture, and enhance the training of students at all stages of the educational pipeline. With funding provided by the HCOP grant, the UAMS COM and several partners will collaborate to develop a more competitive applicant pool and build diversity in all health professions. Partners include Greater Friendship, Inc.; a community-based organization; Henderson Health Sciences Magnet Middle School and Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School; Pulaski Technical College, Philander Smith College, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; and the UAMS Office Regional Programs. Each partner will participate in summer programs and special seminars hosted by UAMS. The overall goal is to recruit, prepare, and retain more disadvantaged students in the COM so that the number of minority physicians in Arkansas will more closely reflect the percentage of that population in the state. This will be accomplished by establishing new programs and strengthening existing ones. To achieve its overall goal of establishing diversity in health care, the COM will: (1) develop a more competitive applicant pool; (2) emphasize preliminary education and health research training; (3) establish primary care exposure activities; (4) improve recruitment of disadvantaged students; (5) provide financial aid information to targeted medical students; (6) facilitate entry into medical school; and (7) reduce the attrition rate of targeted medical students. In addition to achieving these objectives, the COM will plan summer program activities to enhance the applicant’s academic profiles and tests scores, problem-solving abilities, study strategies, and management of stress and time. Reduction in the attrition rate of medical students will be accomplished by implementing activities such as a pre-matriculation program, a Student National Medical Association “big brother/big sister” program, individualizing tutoring, academic and personal counseling, and review courses. Objective 2: Improve recruitment efforts directed toward disadvantaged students. Increase the average (over 4 years) of targeted in-state COM applicants from 36 to 50 by 2002. This growth is expected to increase the average number of targeted students matriculating into the COM from 8 students to 15 students by 2002. Objective 3: Facilitating entry into medical school. Raising MCAT scores of targeted COM applicants from an average (over 4 years) of 7.03 to 8.5 by 2002 is expected to increase University of California,
San Diego San Diego HCOP Regional Consortium The University of California, San Diego School of Medicine (UCSD SOM) is committed to maintaining an educational pipeline for health and allied health professions preparation of Disadvantaged students. As a result, UCSD SOM has entered into a partnership with The San Diego State University Pre-College Institute (PCI), The San Diego Border Area Health Education Center (SD/AHEC), nine Community Colleges participating in the UCSD "UniversityLink" Transfer Student Guarantee Program and 14 of their "feeder" middle and high schools in inner city, border, east suburban and rural communities to establish the Health Careers Opportunity Program, San Diego Regional Consortium (HCOP/SDRC). In order to address each step in the educational pipeline, the partners will conduct eight middle and high school academic enrichment programs: Camp Scripps I and II, the Community Outreach Partnership Center, the Talent Search Explorers Program and the PCI High School Summer Residential Programs; the UniversityLink Medical Science Program, a summer residential program for community college students; the Student Support Services Program for first generation freshman and community college transfer students; the MCAT Prep Summer and Academic Year Programs; a Conditional Acceptance Post-baccalaureate Program; and a Pre-matriculation, Course Review and USMLE Prep for medical students. The goal of the partnership is to significantly increase the number of qualified educationally, socially and/or economically disadvantaged students from urban and rural areas that enter the region's health care work force. Objectives include: 1) developing a competitive applicant pool; 2) recruiting talented students for participation in academic enrichment and research training programs; and 3) providing career awareness and exposure to community-based primary health care services. California
State University - Los Angeles Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program California State University, Los Angeles, (Cal State LA) has a strong commitment to serve disadvantaged student populations and has engaged in programs consistent with the mission for decades. A number of highly successful programs are in place to address the educational and economic deficits of the motivated, but disadvantaged students enrolled. Until 2000, a successful Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) supplemented these programs. The Cal State LA HCOP was highly successful at developing a more competitive applicant pool for the health professions degree program. In 2000, 74 percent of the HCOP students applying to health professions programs were accepted vs. 46 percent non-HCOP Cal State LA students. Most notably, the 1999 Cal State LA HCOP medical school acceptance rate was 79 percent. The Cal State LA service area-urban east and south central LA- is a diverse community with several designated health Profession Shortage Areas (HPSA). Promoting student entry into health/allied health careers to yield a culturally competent workforce is challenging because students are economically and educationally disadvantaged. The Cal State LA HCOP addresses the barriers that prevent students from becoming health/allied health professionals, with the placement of a Comprehensive HCOP at Cal State LA. The goals are to create a more competitive pool of student applicants for health/allied health programs and maximize program acceptance and retention. The revised program reflects the institutionalization of key activities, including a Health Careers Advisement Office. University
of California at San Francisco Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The UCSF Dental Careers Program (UCSF-DCP) seeks to establish a comprehensive program that will provide career awareness and academic enrichment activities that will assist disadvantaged students to become competitive applicants for dental school. The UCSF-DCP will be based at the UCSF School of Dentistry and will collaborate with three high schools, four universities, and one community based organization to carry out the objectives of this proposal. Each educational partner has committed resources and staff to assist in the implementation and execution of the UCSF-DCP. The UCSF-DCP will collaborate with each partner to provide: recruitment activities, preliminary education during the academic year and summer, financial aid information dissemination, facilitating entry activities, counseling, mentoring and other services to develop a more competitive applicant pool of students to enter and complete training in the field of dentistry. The UCSF-DCP and its partners will address the HCOP Program Purposes through the following objectives: (1) Stimulate the interest of 60 middle school students in science and health subjects so that their knowledge is increased about the field of dentistry and other health professions. Assist 80 high school students at partnership high schools with career exploration and mentorship experiences. Develop a competitive applicant pool that will generate 100 applications from disadvantaged/minority students each year so that at least 16 will enroll in the School of Dentistry, (2a) Facilitate the entry of 15 minority/disadvantaged students into dental school via a Post-Bac program, (2b) Assist at least 70 disadvantaged students with facilitation services, (3) Provide personal and academic support to entering and enrolled dental students, (4a) Increase the academic potential of 40 disadvantaged high school students, (4b) Increase the entry potential of 40 disadvantaged undergraduates so that 80 percent will be accepted into dental school within three years. Stanford
University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The overall purposes of Stanford’s Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunities Program (CHCOP) are to produce a diverse and culturally competent workforce by assisting disadvantaged students in attaining health careers and to increase the number of disadvantaged students entering and successfully completing medical schools and physician assistant programs. This will be accomplished through the development of the Santa Clara County educational pipeline and other regional and national activities. The CHCOP regional educational pipeline consists of a series of partnerships that span middle school, high school, community college, and four-year colleges and universities in Santa Clara County; the Gardner Health Center; and the Regional Health Educational Training Center in San Jose. The Alum Rock School District, the largest in Northern California, is committed to a partnership with Stanford to sponsor educational and motivational activities of interest to middle school students in health careers. A bilingual and bicultural health educator coordinates the delivery of presentations regarding health careers, anatomy class/demonstrations with emphasis on science and math, and health promotion, tutors and tours to Stanford School of Medicine. Andrew Hill Medical Magnet High School activities and services are organized around five key themes: academic preparation, motivation and self-concept, health career awareness, peer group formation, and family involvement. These activities will be coordinated by the Health Education Training Center. The Stanford-San Jose State partnership will expand current resources and create new activities for disadvantaged students interested in the health professions. SJSU sponsors and links a number of major academic activities with existing programs, Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement (MESA) chapters and the Alliance for Minority Participation Program (AMP). The Gardner Health Center in San Jose will provide clinical and mentorship activities for students in the pipeline. In addition to pipeline activities CHCOP sponsors other activities to expand the medical school/physicians assistants applicant pool, such as the sponsorship of regional and national recruitment conferences at Stanford. Structured HCOP programs: 1) Stanford Medical Youth Science Program (SMYSP) is a five week residential program designed to promote health careers to minority and disadvantaged high school students; 2) Stanford Summer HCOP Program offers preliminary education to 20 minority and disadvantaged college sophomores who are interested in pursuing a career in medicine; 3) Physician Assistant Program Summer HCOP Program (PASHP) is a pre-matriculation program designed to prepare disadvantaged students for successful completion of the Stanford Primary Care Associate Program through an early introduction to the curriculum and testing components of the program; 4) Leadership Development Program supports the development of health career clubs at undergraduate campuses. University of Connecticut
Health Center Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The University of Connecticut Health Center proposes a comprehensive program of activities implemented through a formal educational partnership, the Health Professions Partnership Initiative (HPPI), consisting of the University of Connecticut Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine, Central Connecticut State University, the University of Connecticut at Storm, Wesleyan University, the Hartford School District and the Connecticut Pre-Engineering Program (CPEP). CPEP is a community-based, urban-focused, career oriented educational enrichment program whose goal is to increase minority competitiveness for careers rooted in the sciences and mathematics. Consequently, the HPPI exceeds the minimum requirements for funding under the Health Careers Opportunity Program's comprehensive model. This partnership will develop strategies to increase the number of economically and educationally disadvantaged students in Connecticut who are interested in and prepared for careers in medicine, dental medicine and other health professions. A comprehensive program of educational enrichment and support activities has been designed and implemented by the partnership. Program elements currently focus on high school and college level students. At the high school level, the Initiative focuses on students who are part of the Health Professions Academies at 2 Hartford high schools and provides supplemental summer and Saturday educational experiences for students in the 9`s and 10`h grade level through "Jumpstart" and at the 11`s and 12th grade level through the Health Careers Discovery Program. Program strategies at the college level address two general initiatives: (1) the development of comprehensive summer programs designed to strengthen student interest and motivation for careers in the health professions and to enhance their academic ability to master the pre-medical curriculum and (2) the establishment of programs of academic and career advisement and mentoring within participating colleges assuring academic support throughout a student's college career. Howard University
College of Pharmacy Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Howard University is a private coeducational institution of higher learning, which was founded by and act of Congress on March 2, 1867. It is the nation’s largest comprehensive, predominantly African-American University. About 11,000 students are enrolled in the 12 schools and colleges that offer degree programs in more than 150 specialized subjects. The mission of Howard University is to provide educational opportunities for African-Americans and others who may be deemed disadvantaged and who may not otherwise have the opportunity for a quality education. It is the only HBCU in the nation that provides health professions training in a true academic health science center comprised of the traditional basic health professions-medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and allied health sciences. The College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Allied Health Sciences was established in 1997. To address the problem of under-representation of minorities in the health professions, Howard University Health Careers Opportunity Program will develop and implement a comprehensive program directed towards preparing disadvantaged students for entry, successful performance in, and graduation from a health profession school. The project will involve partnerships among District of Columbia (DC) area high schools, local community colleges, feeder HBCU institutions and School of Pharmacy and Division of Allied Health at Howard University. The proposed objectives of the project include: (1) Recruitment: To increase the number of viable/competitive minority student applicants annually from DC high schools, community college associate degree graduates, and HBCU feeder institution students entering the pre-pharmacy, pre-allied health programs; (2) Facilitating Entry: To improve the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores of targeted pre-health DC public high school students seeking entry into a pre-pharmacy or allied health science program by 15 percent from 814 to 936; increase the average composite Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT) from 17 percentile to over 50 percentile; (3) Counseling and Mentoring: To improve the counseling, mentoring and other related services for DC public high school students and other Howard students in the pre-pharmacy and allied health sciences; (4) Preliminary Education and Health Care Research Training: To improve the academic competence of all targeted summer program participants by increasing their relevant levels in mathematics, science, communication and study skills and level of knowledge in research methods by 25 percent; (5) Financial Aid/Information Dissemination: To increase awareness and provide detailed knowledge regarding financial aid, for high school participants’ parents and college students; (6) Primary Care Exposure Activities: To increase the cultural awareness and sensitivity and awareness of primary care issues of 75 percent of summer program participants entering the professional phase of pharmacy and allied health science programs; (7) Development of a More Competitive Applicant Pool: To increase the number of viable students applying to pharmacy and allied health science pre-professional and professional programs by 25 percent through enhancing and developing a more efficient and effective partnership with our current partners. University
of the District of Columbia Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The UDC HCOP will utilize numerous linked partners to achieve the objectives stated in the proposal. The linked partners will include Coolidge, Easter, N.M. Washington and Wilson high schools, five pre-college programs located at UDC and Trinity College, several community organizations, professional organizations, and several health care facilities. Recruitment: Recruitment strategies will focus on high school seniors (enrolled in the four targeted senior high schools and the five pre-college programs) and UDC freshmen that have not declared a major. The applicant pool will be composed of 500 seniors from the four targeted senior high schools, five pre-college programs and incoming freshmen undeclared majors. Of the 500 students identified, 75 disadvantaged students will be invited to apply to UDC (open admission university) with a declared major in one of the allied health programs. During the three years of the grant, there will be a total of 75 students in HCOP each year. The initial recruitment process will take place during year one; Facilitating Entry: The activities to be implemented to facilitate entry will include a Pre-HCOP Workshop/Reception, the Summer Enrichment Program (SEP), placement testing, the final interview and Recruitment Committee’s final deliberation and selection of students. Counseling, Mentoring and other Sources: After the SEP, students will begin their program of study for the academic year. These programs will consist of college-wide requirements (general college courses) and courses specific to the individual disciplines. The HCOP staff will provide academic reinforcement and retention activities (including academic skills training, advisement, counseling, tutoring, and mentoring). These activities will begin when students enter the degree programs, and continue until they graduate from their specific allied health programs; Financial Aid/Information Dissemination: Prior to submitting an application to SEP/HCOP, students will be given information on financial support such as scholarships, fellowships and encouraged to apply. Also, they will be given assistance in completing financial aid applications. The Office of the Provost, private foundations, and external grants will be sources for funds to provide financial assistance for HCOP students; Primary Care Exposure Activities and Development of a Competitive Applicant Pool: Students will expand their allied health training experiences through shadowing, observations and internships with allied health professionals at several local hospitals and the UDC Speech and Hearing Clinic. HCOP will work with an external professional evaluator, who will be selected by the HCOP co-directors. Bethune-Cookman College Bethune-Cookman College Health Careen Opportunity Program The need for minority health care professionals on the national level is reflected in the low numbers of minority health care professionals (especially African American health care professionals) in the tri-county area immediately surrounding Bethune-Cookman College. The Bethune-Cookman Health Careers Opportunity Program (BCC-HCOP) and its partner institutions, will address this need by providing preliminary education, career counseling, tutoring, and other opportunities for facilitated entry into health profession schools to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The program will seek and encourage students interested in the areas of medicine, dentistry, medical technology, physical therapy, pharmacy, and gerontology. To increase the pool of applicants for health careers, the program will work with high school and college students, making them aware of health careers and encouraging them to begin their preparation earlier. Each summer 30 high school students (grades 10-12) and 30 recent high school graduates will participate in programs to provide academic preparation as well as opportunities to interact with health care professionals. During the school year health clubs will be established at three area high schools for activities which will motivate them to pursue health careers. College students will participate in retention activities, test preparation, field trips and job shadowing. By stimulating their interest in the health professions as early as possible, the program will enable many of these students to become viable candidates for college and health career training. In order to reach these goals, the project will address the following legislative purposes: Recruitment, Facilitated Entry, Counseling/Mentoring, Preliminary Education & Health Research Training, Financial Aid Information Dissemination, Primary Care Exposure Activities, and Development of a More Competitive Applicant Pool. Bethune-Cookman College has formed partnerships with the following organizations to fulfill the need for minority health care professionals: Halifax Community Health System, University of Miami School of Medicine, University of South Florida School of Medicine, Mainland and Atlantic High Schools, Bethune-Cookman College Department of Gerontology and Department of Clinical Laboratory Science/Medical Technology. Florida
International University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The purpose of the Health Sciences Recruitment and Retention Program is to maintain adequate numbers of qualified Hispanics and African Americans applying for admission to the allied health programs in the College of Health, and to admit, retain and graduate greater numbers of these students. The allied health disciplines addressed by the project include dietetics, medical laboratory science, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. The HCOP purposes supported by the grant include recruitment, facilitating-entry and retention. Project activities include general recruitment which emphasizes the identification of high school students through dissemination of brochures by health science faculty, advisory committee members and minority professionals during recruitment visits to schools, career fairs and through mailings to prospective students interested in allied health careers. A focused recruitment activity comprised of a one-day Health Jamboree provides opportunities for high school students to interact with faculty and enrolled students in the College of Health. A six-week summer course is offered to high school seniors and college freshmen that are interested in exploring careers in the allied health professions. This course provides hands-on experience in a laboratory setting and opportunities to observe health professionals in their work settings. This course, also, familiarizes students with college level research, provides and introduction to medical terminology, enhances computer skills and improves mathematics skills. A six-week non-credit summer course is offered to ten Hispanic and African American students who have received acceptances to professional-level allied health programs. The course is designed to improve reading, writing and study skills, as well as, providing an overview of first-year courses in anatomy for occupational therapy and physical therapy students, biochemistry for dietetics students, and clinical microbiology and chemistry for medical laboratory science students. In addition, students will receive orientation to College services, their respective departments and faculty. Retention services include tutorials and counseling and will be offered while students are enrolled in professional-level courses. University
of Miami School of Medicine The Miami Model for Health professions Education was designed to increase the applicant pool so as to build diversity in the health and allied health professions. Its goal is to provide students from disadvantaged backgrounds as opportunity to develop the skills needed to successfully compete for admissions to and graduation from allied and health professions schools, especially medicine. To meet this goal, we have identified some of the major barriers confronting disadvantaged students and through partnership agreements with the local school district, the School of Arts and Sciences and Medicine at the University of Miami and several community-based partners, along with local, regional, and state institutions of higher learning, a sequence of programs are offered that will enable more disadvantaged students to progress from one stage of the pipeline to the next. To tow existent facilitating entry and several preliminary education training programs, we propose the resumption of tow preliminary education and one health research training programs: Summer Science Education Program (SSEP) which transitions to the Saturday Science Academy Program (STIR) for 11th grade students; and the Careers in Medicine Workshop for 12th graders. The comprehensive approach is extended to the professional school level with the inclusion of academic enrichment activities and continuation of standardized test taking strategies for 1st and 2nd year UMSM medical students. Additionally, other HCOP Program Purposes activities in Recruitment; Counseling, Mentoring, and Other Services; Financial Aid Information Dissemination; Primary Care Exposure Activities; Development of a More Competitive Applicant Pool, as well as Cultural Competence Development activities for all levels of participants in pipeline programs are included. Objectives, Methodology, Evaluation measures are presented for each activity, along with a comprehensive Evaluation plan. Florida
A & M University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program A continuation of the previously funded Comprehensive Allied Health Careers Opportunity Program (AHCOP) is proposed for the School of Allied Health Sciences (SOAHS) at Florida A&M University (FAMU). The SOAHS offers five degree programs: Cardiopulmonary Science; Health Sciences; Health Care Management; Health Information Management; Occupational Therapy; and Physical Therapy. AHCOP funding has been provided the SOAHS for the past 18 years, with remarkably successful outcomes. From 1984-1998, AHCOP activities targeted only college level students. Beginning in 1999, a Comprehensive AHCOP was funded, designed to expand the scope of our program to include high school students and college students. This highly successful Comprehensive AHCOP has completed its third year of implementation. By combining federal funds requested in this proposal with in-kind and dollar contributions from FAMU and other public and private sources, the SOAHS will carry out AHCOP activities that address all seven HCOP Program Purposes. The objectives of AHCOP are: (1) to aid in the retention and graduation of 90 percent of college level AHCOP program participants; (2) to facilitate the entry of 30 eligible college students into allied health professions schools; and (3) to provide preliminary education experiences for fifty 9th/10th grade high school students in twelve Saturday Academy Programs and provide intensive preliminary education experiences for 30 of these students during Summer Institutes. These objectives will be achieved primarily through the delivery of two Summer Institute Programs and two year-round programs. Miami-Dade
Community College Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program This project addresses the need to provide economically and educationally disadvantaged students with opportunities to pursue challenging, rewarding careers in the health field. It also aims to meet one of the objectives outlined in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services publication Healthy People 2000, which cites the need “to increase the proportion of all degrees in the health professions and allied and associated health profession fields awarded to members of underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups.” The Miami-Dade Community College HCOP is a five-year initiative designed to motivate and prepare educationally disadvantaged students throughout Miami-Dade County to enter and graduate from an allied health professions program. The project furthers the purposes of the national workforce goals by developing a more competitive applicant pool and ensuring that the composition of the health care workforce is generally representative of the local population. Currently, Miami-Dade County has 14 HRSA-designated Health Professional Shortage Areas for primary medical care. Project Promote will target students throughout the educational pipeline beginning at the middle school level and continuing through completion of the associate degree. The project partners include the School of Allied Health Technologies, Miami-Dade Community College, two county high schools, two county middle schools all within the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and the Dade County Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program, Inc, a community-based entity. Partner members will collaborate on providing recruitment, preliminary education during summer and academic year, facilitating entry activities, counseling, mentoring, financial aid information, and other services to develop a more competitive and representative applicant pool. The School of Allied Health Technologies will provide for primary care exposure, case studies, and training programs that include cultural competence training. Activities at the secondary and undergraduate levels will also include parental involvement seminars, enhancement of reading comprehension skills, critical thinking, and shadowing. The College will implement a comprehensive approach that incorporates a network of formally linked partners working in a coordinated effort over a five-year period. Working together, these linked entities will address the problems and barriers that prevent disadvantaged students from being competitive in meeting admission requirements for allied health programs. University of Miami Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The Miami Model for Health Professions Education was designed to increase the applicant pool so as to build diversity in the health and allied health professions. Its goal is to provide students from disadvantage backgrounds an opportunity to develop the skills needed to successfully compete for admission to and graduation from allied and health professions schools, especially medicine. To meet this goal, we have identified some of the major barriers confronting disadvantaged students and through partnership agreements with the local school district, the schools of Arts and Sciences and Medicine at University of Miami, and several community-based partners, along with local, regional, and state institutions of higher learning, a sequence of programs are offered that will enable more disadvantaged students to progress from one stage of the pipeline to the next. To two existent facilitating entry and several preliminary education programs, we propose the resumption of two preliminary education and one health research training programs: Summer Science Education Program (SSEP) which transitions to the Saturday Science Academy Program (SSAP) the following academic year for 10th graders; the Science Training In Research (STIR) for 11th grade students; and the Careers in Medicine Workshop for 12th graders. The comprehensive approach is extended to the professional school level with the inclusion of academic enrichment activities and continuation of standardized test taking strategies for 1st and 2nd year UMSM medical students. Additionally, other HCOP Program Purpose activities in Recruitment; Counseling, Mentoring and Other Services: Financial Aid Information Dissemination; Primary Care Exposure Activities; Development of a More Competitive Applicant Pool, as well as Cultural Competence Development activities for all levels of participants in pipeline programs are included. Objective, Methodology, Evaluation measures are presented for each activity, along with a comprehensive Evaluation plan. Albany State University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program at Albany State University The proposed Health Careers Opportunity Program at Albany State University will serve a population that is economically and educationally disadvantaged and underrepresented in the health professions. The project involves collaboration between two hospitals, a pharmaceutical company, the four medical schools in Georgia (Emory, Morehouse, Mercer and the Medical College of Georgia), Meharry Medical College, the School of Veterinary Medicine at Tuskegee University, the local school district and two non-profit organizations. The proposal seeks to provide opportunities and resources to help in the development of a more competitive applicant pool that will enter, and graduate from a health profession school. This development will be accomplished through activities aimed at recruitment, preliminary education, facilitation of entry, counseling, mentoring and other services, primary care exposure and financial aid information dissemination. These activities will focus on the establishment of an educational pipeline targeting middle and high school students, entering university freshmen and university students. Activities include two summer residential programs; one for entering freshmen (Summer Enrichment Program) and the other (Junior Enrichment Program) for university junior and senior students who are interested in pursuing a health career. Enrichment activities include health club meetings at the middle and high schools, as well as mentoring, tutoring, test taking skills, critical thinking and cultural competency workshops. Enrichment activities will be conducted throughout the academic year for all participants. To implement the Health Careers Opportunity Program at Albany State University funds are requested to supplement existing programs of pre-professional preparation, aimed at eliminating insurmountable perceived barriers from economically and academically disadvantaged under-represented populations in the pursuit of a health career. The university and its partners will contribute significant in-kind resources to ensure the project is a success. University of Hawaii
at Manoa Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The goal of this project is to recruit and select high school and college students from Hawaii and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands (American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau) who will enter and graduate from health and allied health professions schools and return to serve their home communities as health professionals. By partnering with 16 institutions of higher education, high schools, and community-based organizations the educational pipeline will be utilized to enhance the academic preparedness of disadvantaged individuals going into health and allied health professions. Each year the program will have an 11-month program at four high schools for 40 9th graders. Activities will include health careers clubs, field trips, resource speaker presentations, shadowing and mentoring academic and guidance/support counseling, High School Saturday Health Careers Academy, and a 6-week Summer Health Careers Program. There will also be an 11-month program at UH Manoa for 35 freshmen and community college transfer students. These activities will include a pre-freshmen bridging program (high school to college), seminars, workshops, lectures, tutorials, health professions careers club, field trips, resource speaker presentations, shadowing and mentoring, 6-week summer Health Careers residential program at UH Manoa, and academic and guidance/support counseling. Beginning in Year 02 of the program, a 12-month post-baccalaureate program will be in place at the School of Medicine. Activities for 10 post-baccalaureate students will include, but not limited to, academic assessments, medical ethics cultural competence sessions, research projects, and community medicine with former HCOP physicians. There will also be a retention program for 20 Masters in Social Work students with activities including research methods, research writing, academic advising, tutorials, health and mental health field placements, student support groups, guidance and support counseling and mentoring. Financial aid/information dissemination workshops with high school students and parents, college students and graduate students also will occur each year of the program. The students will also have primary care exposure with activities including shadowing, mentoring and volunteer activities at community-based healthcare facilities. Southern Illinois
University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine was established in 1969 to help meet the health care needs of people in central and southern Illinois, a rural and medically under-served area. The School of medicine encompasses a complete sequence of medical education programs beginning with the post-baccalaureate Medical/Dental Education Preparatory Program (MEDPREP) and progressing through medical school, residency programs, and continuing medical education for practicing physicians. MEDPREP proposes to extend educational activities downward through the educational pipeline to encourage disadvantaged and underrepresented students in high school and middle school to prepare for health professional careers. Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC) has a tradition of strong commitment to both undergraduate and graduate teaching. Enrollment data at SIUC for fall semester 1998 indicate that 18.2 percent of the campus population could be classified as underrepresented students. Additionally, 27 of the 74 entering medical students (36 percent) in 1998 are classified as disadvantaged due to economic or family reasons. This comprehensive project will extend MEDPREP’S partnership with additional high school and middle school students allowing MEDPREP to successfully continue to increase the numbers in the health professional school applicant pool. In developing a more competitive applicant pool, MEDPREP post-baccalaureate students will assist with outreach programs to several partner agencies: 70 percent of partnership test preparation workshop participants will achieve ACT/SAT or MCAT standardized test scores equivalent to the national mean for their ethnic group; 60 percent of middle school Science on Saturday participants will increase their science/math course grades by one letter; and 80 percent of MEDPREP partnership disadvantaged participants, through health career awareness activities such as a summer residential program and an expanded Medical Explorers program, will achieve significantly higher career development inventory pre/post-test scores. Preliminary education and health research training will be provided through a summer research apprenticeship. East St. Louis and Carbondale area high school students will gain exposure to health research by completing a 6-week project in an SIU School of Medicine laboratory. University
of Illinois at Chicago Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health (UIC-SPH), in collaboration with the Chicago State University has implemented a comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program (CHOP). The program increases the pool and the competitiveness of disadvantaged individuals (from Health Professional Shortage Areas of Illinois) that are enrolled, retained and graduated from professional/ graduate degrees in public health. Furthermore, it will increase the percentage of disadvantaged individuals that enter into practice in underserved areas of Illinois by 10 percent annually. Disadvantaged communities have a very small number of credentialed public health professionals and many public health jobs go unfilled. This is due to a lack of visibility of public health and low quality education. In order to address this, the UIC SPH has singed affiliation agreements with over ten entities and have already developed special programs aimed widely increasing the pool and competitiveness of applicants. Annually, UIC-SPH will implement recruitment, preliminary education, research training, mentoring, counseling, entry facilitation and retention strategies that are aimed at middle/high school, college and admitted/public health students. Furthermore, the HCOP will implement cultural competence programs aimed at teachers and counselors and provide information about financial aid to every participant. University
of Illinois at Chicago Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The Comprehensive Urban Health Program brings together under one partnership several institutions, agencies and programs that, in their own right, have made significant strides in improving the access of disadvantaged students to health and biomedical careers. The Comprehensive program is far-reaching, both geographically, and in terms of targeted populations. The major population areas in Illinois are included here; also, the partners reach out to all groups considered financially and/or economically disadvantaged throughout the metropolitan and downstate areas. The ultimate goal is not only to increase enrollment of these students in health professions programs, but also to educate them for service in communities that presently lack adequate access to health care services. To meet the seven HCOP Purposes, this grant program will offer a: HCOP Club; HCOP Summer Academy; Prep for MD Summer Program; MCAT Prep Course; Summer Academic Enrichment Program; Summer Prematriculation Program; Post-Baccalaureate Admissions Program; Academic Assistance Program; Pharm Preview; Review Course for First-Time Takers of the USMLE-Step 1. University of Kansas
Medical Center KUMC Health Careers Pathways Program K-20 Pipeline The ultimate success of the KUMC Health Careers Pathways Program K-20 pipeline must relate to our goal to increase the number of health care professionals from disadvantaged backgrounds in Kansas and the Greater Kansas City area. Successful progression of disadvantaged students through each level of the educational pathway will determine interim achievement. The number who are admitted to, enrolled in and graduate from the School of Medicine will be the ultimate determinant of achievement. Thirteen objectives and activities are designed to achieve this goal. Recruitment activities include: 1) an organic gardening project incorporated in the curriculum at our eight target schools and video technology and environmental extended-day projects for 1,350 4th - 8th grade students; 2) two 20-week Middle and High School Math and Science Saturday Academies at KCKCC for 85 7th -9th grade students; 3) extended day programs for 9th- 12th grade students in biomedical technology, youth leadership development, and clinical skills observation; 4) an eight-week residential Summer Science Academy at KU- Lawrence for 45 10th-12th grade students; 5) Satellite Centers at four undergraduate institutions providing an array of academic year programs; 6) two eight-week preliminary education programs (HSEI I and II) for college freshmen and sophomores; 7) a facilitating entry program for college juniors and seniors; and 8) a post-baccalaureate program for 10 students with guaranteed admission upon successful completion. Retention activities include: 1) an eight-week prematriculation program and 2) a two day post admissions/pre-matriculation workshop, interactive group learning sessions (IGLS), tutorials, two professional development workshops, USMLE I and II Board preparation, academic and personal counseling, a study center and a resource center. The Health Careers Pathways Program has implemented a coordinated, longitudinal curriculum to provide K-20 (elementary -medical school) students, residents and faculty with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes necessary to care for a culturally and ethnically diverse patient population. University of Kentucky University of Kentucky Health Careers Opportunity Program This proposal will establish the University of Kentucky Health Careers Opportunity Program (UKHCOP) with the purpose of increasing the number of disadvantaged and underrepresented students who successfully pursue educational programs and careers in the health professions. In partnership with the University of Kentucky Area Health Education Center Program (AHEC) and its affiliated Health Education Training Center Program (HETC), this will be a comprehensive initiative that includes four colleges at the University of Kentucky (Health Sciences, Dentistry, Medicine and Pharmacy), four regional Centers that form part of the UK AHEC Program, community partnerships and commitment from local school districts. Activities focusing on cultural competence will be integrated at all levels as program objectives are developed. The Program will develop activities to build diversity in the health professions, address identified risk factors for school failure, explore ways to narrow achievement gaps and assure students in the program remain in the educational pipeline. The program and its activities will be developed around the seven core objectives of the federal HCOP initiative. The UKHCOP program will develop support services and activities that provide coordinated and longitudinal experiences to enable students to advance throughout their academic pathway. Activities will occur in 12 of Kentucky's most rural and underserved counties in eastern Kentucky and two urban counties with large Hispanic and African American populations. Activities will be developed through a strong regional AHEC network that includes an urban AHEC that works to address the needs of underserved and disadvantaged populations, specifically African American and Hispanic. The requested funds will enable the University of Kentucky to expand existing programs of pre-professional preparation, broaden services for students with economic and academic disadvantages and implement innovative programs to stimulate and encourage students to enter the health professions. Through strong partnerships with schools and communities that serve large numbers of disadvantaged and underrepresented students, these funds will enable the Program to identify students who have less access to opportunities to advance through the educational pipeline leading to health careers. Eastern
Kentucky University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The purpose of the Health Careers Opportunity Program at Eastern Kentucky University is to respond to the acute health needs in rural, Appalachian counties of eastern Kentucky. The U.S. Bureau of Primary Health Care identifies 48 of these 49 rural counties as Health Profession Shortage Areas and/or Medically Underserved Areas. Students from this area are the target population for EKU/HCOP and are identified as economically and/or educationally disadvantaged. Twenty-six percent of the population in this area live below poverty. Forty-six percent of freshman at EKU are under prepared for college as evidenced by ACT scores. It is proven from previous HCOP experience that students from this area do return to provide health care. Eastern Kentucky University, College of Health Sciences is most interested in developing a culturally sensitive healthcare workforce that will serve the unserved and underserved populations in Appalachia Kentucky. Intervention strategies of EKU/HCOP begin by forming strong partnerships with elementary middle, and high schools as well as area health education centers to develop a large applicant pool of students interested in majoring in a health profession. Further partnerships will be formed with medical facilities and undergraduate colleges that will strengthen the primary health care exposure of graduating EKU/ HCOP participants. Aggressive recruitment strategies will bring students from economically and/or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds to college to major in health sciences. These students will be assisted with a summer enhancement program to help prepare them for the first-year experience, counseling services, supplemental instruction, mock interviews, and medical and graduate entrance exams prep courses. Students are carefully tracked through the entire educational pathway and given further advising and/or mentoring as needed. Students can major in any one of the 21 allied health and pre-professional programs, and through the efforts of EKU/ HCOP receive assistance to graduate and return to their communities to provide health care. Louisiana State University LSU School of Medicine — New Orleans (In Roads) HCOP Program The proposed InRoads program aims to meet the needs of the Louisiana disadvantaged population by increasing the science awareness and preparation of disadvantaged students and by ultimately increasing the pool of minority health professionals to care for a disadvantaged patient population. LSUHSC has a mission and long history of commitment to the indigent and disadvantaged. This commitment continues through the activities of the Office of Community and Minority Health Education (CHME), the prominent position of the Associate Dean of Community and Minority Health Education, [i.e. voting member of Admissions, Promotions, and Disadvantaged Scholarship Committees, as well as Professor of Clinical Surgery], and the inkind contributions and faculty support of the LSUHSC. In summary, CHME goals are to meet all 7 HCOP purposes. LSUMC will totally support the Recruitment and Financial Aid Information and Scholarship objectives of reaching 300 K-12 students and 250 college students. CHME aims to provide Preliminary Education to developing the academic preparedness of 150 high school and 30 middle school students; Facilitate the Entry of 100 college students, including 80 students in MCAT Review, and 25 accepted LSUSOM medical students; and provide personal and academic counseling and retention services to maintain our 95% retention rate and 80% USMLE pass rate for minority and disadvantaged students. We will also enhance cultural competence via cultural competence awareness programs and workshops, community based primary care preceptorships for 90% of the disadvantaged medical students, and a website on minority health and cultural issues. We will meet these needs through structured and unstructured activities; further, CHME has formal educational agreements and partnerships with the New Orleans Public Schools, Dillard University, Southern University, Xavier University, New Orleans Medical Association, all LSUHSC Health Professions Schools, New Orleans Health Department, St. Thomas Clinic, and AHEC. Programmatic activities include: High School Science Clubs, Career and Competition Days for K-12, after-school program for middle school students, Summer Science Research Programs for high school (SSP) and middle school (Jr.SSP) students; applicant counseling, MCAT Reviews for college students; and counseling, academic support, USMLE Review, and Residency Counseling for LSU medical students, Cultural Competency Workshops, Community Based Primary Care Preceptorships, Mentorship Program, and Minority Health and Cultural Sensitivity Website. Evaluative measures using qualitative and formulaic quantitative methods will assess our effectiveness. Louisiana
State University Medical Center - Shreveport Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Louisiana State University Medical Center at Shreveport (LSUMC-S) is one of three medical schools located in the state and the only medical school located in north Louisiana. In 1963, the Shreveport Medical Society appointed an ad hoc committee to study the need for the development of a medical school in Shreveport. The findings of this group demonstrated the need for a new teaching facility in Shreveport. The LSUMC-S was established by an Act of the Louisiana Legislature in June 1965 and became a component of the Louisiana State University System. The LSUMC-S hospital has 650 teaching beds, as well as 16 specialty and subspecialty outpatient clinics where students train. Since its establishment, the medical center continues to be a major health care provider for the African American, Hispanic, and other disadvantaged citizens of Shreveport and surrounding areas. Sixty-four percent of the patients treated at LSUMC-S are African Americans; 2 percent Hispanics; 1 percent Asians; 32 percent Whites and 1 percent others. Louisiana has a total of 9,976 practicing physicians, of which 500, or 5 percent are African Americans. According to a recent census report African Americans and Hispanic American citizens constitute 35 percent of the population of Louisiana (33 percent African American and 2 percent Hispanic American). The LSUMC-S proposes a comprehensive approach through its Partnerships in Science Education Pipeline” program. To demonstrate its commitment to increase the enrollment of minority/disadvantaged students, LSUMC-S has forged partnership linkages in the form of contractual or articulation agreements with the Caddo Parish School System, the Sci-Port Discovery Center, the Biomedical Research Foundation and Louisiana State University Shreveport. This comprehensive strategy encompasses the following strategies: 1) development of a science pipeline for K-16 that provides supplemental summer enrichment programs or research activities to pre-college/college students; thereby, creating a larger applicant pool of well-prepared students for entry into medical school or health care careers; 2) Utilization of an established network of science teachers, pre-medical advisors and biology faculty to assist in the identification and selection of minority/disadvantaged students, grades K-16, who possess an aptitude for science or an interest in medicine as program participants; 3) LSUMC-S faculty, medical students and teachers will be utilized as academic, career, and financial aid counselors who will distribute grade and age appropriate program information; 4) Twenty-five disadvantaged students at the undergraduate level will be selected to participate in the Educational Familiarization Program which offers MCAT prep courses utilizing Cambridge materials; 5) Fifteen incoming minority/disadvantaged students will be selected to participate in a Pre-Matriculation program which offers courses in Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, and Study Skills. The academic progress of these students will be monitored throughout the first and second year to determine the effectiveness of this intervention. Morgan State University Health Careers Opportunity Program Our nation has approximately a total population of 290.8 million as of July 1, 2003, according to estimates released on December 20, 2003 by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau (source: http://www.census.gov) and African Americans comprise 13 percent of the total population. Minority professionals are underrepresented in the nation. Less than 10 percent of the physicians are minorities and 1.9 percent are black. Our nation badly needs a workforce that is both diverse and reflective of our society as a whole. The average scores of the African American students on MCAT, DAT, PCAT, SAT, ACT, and other standardized examinations are lower than the average scores of any other community. To reverse this trend a minority pool of potential students has to be identified and trained in the sciences and mathematics, English, test-taking skills, and other skills in order to increase their average scores to facilitate entry into health and allied health professional schools. There are four objectives of the MSU's Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) project: (i) To develop a more competitive applicant pool by partnering with Baltimore City Public schools and our cooperating organizations to identify, select, and enroll 30 middle school and 30 high school educationally or economically disadvantaged minority students from a potential pool of over 240 students for a 36-week academic year tutoring and a 6-week summer science academy. At least 90% (27) will graduate from high school by year six and enroll in a pre-health curriculum at any undergraduate school over the 6-year period. (ii) To identify, select, and enroll each year 30 educationally or economically disadvantaged minority college freshmen and sophomores (15 in Level I and 15 in Level II) from a potential pool of over 200 students, who have commitments to pursuing careers in health professions, for an 8-week summer science academy (preliminary education) (7-week on-campus program designed to strengthen the academic base in science, mathematics, and English and one-week clinical experience). At least 80% (12) students in level I and 85% (13) students in level II will exhibit successful progression (level I of GPA 2.5 and level II of GPA 2.7 in the next academic year and enroll in pre-health program) to the next level. (iii) To facilitate entry each year identify, select, and enroll 25 educationally and economically disadvantaged minority juniors and seniors at MSU, who have demonstrated interest in and potential for careers in health professions, in the HCOP Saturday academy for 16 weeks to develop their greater proficiencies in standardized test-taking professional school application preparations, interview techniques, and cultural competence. It is expected that 80% (20) of the participants will apply for admission to schools of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy and 72% (18) will be accepted in six years. (iv) To increase the academic progression rate (graduation in four years) from 55% to 85% and the retention rate from 60% to 90% over a six-year period. Counseling and mentoring services will be provided to all students to accomplish this objective. Middlesex Community
College Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Middlesex Community College (MCC) is a publicly funded, two-year college with campuses in Bedford and Lowell, Massachusetts. MCC has a long-standing tradition of commitment to providing educational opportunities for economically and educationally disadvantaged populations. The MCC will develop a more competitive applicant pool by partnering with organizations to identify, recruit, and select each year for five years at least 25 promising high school seniors from educationally or economically disadvantaged backgrounds for participation in HCOP programs that prepare them for entry into post-secondary allied health training programs. Facilitate entry (admission) of HCOP students into college-level training programs in allied health so that in year one, a minimum of 65 percent of cohort students who apply are accepted and enrolled in programs. Provide students with skills and knowledge required to enter into and succeed in post-secondary allied health career programs through preliminary education activities (tutoring, cultural diversity activities and mini-courses) and Summer Enrichment Program (math, science and English courses and cultural diversity activities). Increase student understanding of primary care careers by conducting a minimum of nine primary care exposure activities during the Senior Year Academic Enrichment Program and Summer Enrichment Program (tours of hospital departments, health and science site experiences, health career workshops) with each HCOP student participating in a minimum of seven of the nine activities. Provide counseling and mentoring and facilitate access to academic and other support services for HCOP students enrolling in MCC’s college level training programs in allied health so that for each entering cohort, within a three year period, students will transfer, graduate or continue to be enrolled in classes. HCOP staff will regularly collect and update student data through a Tracking System that includes interviews, written surveys, and statistical information provided by the MCC Office of Enrollment Management. A “Tracking File” will be developed for each student. Tufts
University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program In a city with both world-class medical resources and medically underserved communities our HCOP brings together institutions with the capacity to make a difference. Our HCOP is a unique and groundbreaking partnership between the Boston Public Schools and the pre-collegiate programs at the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston) – which have large numbers of educationally and economically disadvantaged students – the educational opportunities at Tufts University/ School of Medicine (TUSM) and dozens of professional volunteers at Tufts and the Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA- a community organization). Our program will increase the number of disadvantaged students graduating from medical school in primary care and/or public health graduate programs. The partnership includes students, teachers, professors, professionals, administrators, and parents. We will have two structured programs in the summer, one for 25 middle school students and one for 25 high school students. Each will run for seven weeks, five days/week, eight hours/day; 189 instructional hours, 91 other structured, 280 total. We focus on summer academic programs, and intensive tutoring, mentoring, and test preparation at the college and graduate level. We address all seven HCOP program purposes. Tutoring, standardized test preparation, and training on cultural competence will occur at all levels of the pipeline. We will also conduct recruitment, primary care exposure, financial aid dissemination and facilitation of entry at each stage of the pipeline. Our partnership is designed to develop a more competitive applicant pool. Further, we meet all four legislative funding preferences: we have a signed formal agreement (an MOU), coordination within a geographic area (Boston), a focus on formation of a competitive applicant pool, and a focus on cultural competence. It must be emphasized that we meet all six criteria for a comprehensive HCOP. Our objectives address two of the National Workplace Goals: 1) increasing disadvantaged graduates and program completers; and 2) increasing the number of disadvantaged enrollees. Further, we leverage existing infrastructure, including the relationship between UMass and the public schools, the close connections between the Tufts undergraduate campus and its medical school, the many resources at Tufts, and the energies of dozens of volunteers from Tufts and MPHA. Regents of the University
of Michigan Expanding Access to Health Careers: A Multidisciplinary Approach Strengthening the pipeline of disadvantaged students has remained an important objective of The University of Michigan's School of Dentistry and Medical School will partner to recruit, and prepare these students to enter either health profession. Once enrolled, the School of Dentistry will work to maximize the successful matriculation and maturation of our students into culturally competent practitioners. Past success with HCOP and institutional funding has proven that information, support and intervention are vital to maintain a consistent increase in the number of students that are underrepresented in the health professions and/or from disadvantaged backgrounds, into professional school. To that end, efforts such as recruitment, science enrichment, test preparation, matriculation support, counseling, and clinical support will continue to broaden the pipeline, and assist students interested in a career in dentistry or medicine to attain success and reach theft goal. Michigan
State University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program In 1979, the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) addressed the paucity of diversity within the profession and specifically in the CVM student enrollment by implementing a multi-tiered set of programs. These programs contribute to modest increases in representation throughout the college, but despite progress, sustaining representation of disadvantaged students continues to be a challenge. Diversity and difference brings broader perspectives that enrich the teaching, research, and service for all faculty and students specifically, and ultimately the profession. Furthermore, with significant accelerating demographic changes, concurrent with increased demand for veterinary services, it is more critical that the veterinary professional represent all of society. Barriers to increasing the numbers of disadvantaged students in this nontraditional medical profession include rigorous admissions requirements, low visibility of diverse role models, and the lack of general awareness about the center public health needs and the viability and diversity within the profession. The Vetward Bound Program (VWB), through alliance pathway partnerships with the Lansing School District (LSD), undergraduate institutions (MSU Undergraduate University Division and Prairie View A&M University), programs at MWU (the Kind-Chavez-Parks Program [KCP] and the Minority Apprenticeship Program [MAP]), the Ingham County Community Health Department, and two community-based organizations (Humane Society, and the Potter Park Zoo) strengthens an existing educational pipeline that bolsters opportunity for K-20+ students to “do” science and consider/pursue the DVM degree. These are active partners who currently contribute to the recruitment and retention of targeted CVM students and are enthusiastic about the comprehensive approach. Michigan
State University CHM Health Careers Opportunity Program The primary goal of the CHM Health Careers Opportunity Program at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine is to increase the pool of competitive applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds who will pursue careers in medicine and other health professions. To attain this goal the CHM-HCOP proposes a sequence of educational enrichment and enhancement programs targeting students along the educational continuum beginning at the middle school level through graduation from medical school. These programs will focus upon: strengthening and enhancing academic performance; providing counseling, mentoring, and support services; exposing students to primary care; providing cultural competence development; and providing financial aid information. The Health Professions Achievement Pathway Alliance joins the efforts of the College of Human Medicine with other Michigan State University units — Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement, Charles Drew Science Laboratory, Upward Bound Program- and Lansing Community College, Lansing School District, Ingham Intermediate School District, the Greater Lansing African American Health Institute, the Black Child and Family Institute, and the Cristo Rey Community Center. The programs offered target middle school, high school, college, and health professional students. The primary programs offered are: Health Professions Scholar Initiative — Tutorials & Saturday Academy; Health Professions Scholars Summer Academy for middle school and high school students; the Lane Scholars, the Pre-Professional Preparation Institute, and the Premedical Achievement Program for college pre-health professions students; the ABLE Post-baccalaureate Program, and academic retention programs for medical students. All students will participate in cultural competency development training and experiences. This will involve the development of community health development projects, community service at community based agencies, and exposure to disadvantaged populations. University of Mississippi
Medical Center Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program A comprehensive program is designed to accomplish the goals of increased enrollment and retention to assure the academic progression and timely graduation of an increased number of disadvantaged individuals in the fields of medicine, dentistry, and Health Related Professions. The Health Professional Alliance Partnership consists of formal partnerships with: 1) The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) and two undergraduate institutions: Alcorn State University and Jackson State University; 2) Community organizations, University of Mississippi Medical Center AHEC Program; and 3) Secondary school systems in the following regions: Southern region (Claiborne and Jefferson County Public School Systems), Central region (Jackson Public Schools, Hinds County Public Schools, and Madison County Public School Systems) and Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. The University of Mississippi Medical Center and its partner schools, universities, and community organizations has developed a very comprehensive plan to increase the number of disadvantaged students in the state of Mississippi who enter UMC or other professional schools. This plan will be accomplished by developing an elementary school through post-secondary health science education pipeline. Through the linkages with each partner institution, programs and activities were developed to improve educational opportunities for and achievement levels of disadvantaged students who are interested in health careers. The various program elements will serve students beginning with the upper elementary grades through health professions schools. Middle and high school enrichment activities will be offered on a district or geographic wide area. The middle and high school program will be supplemented by enrichment activities during the academic years and summers. Undergraduate students will participate in comprehensive summer programs designed to strengthen their interest and motivation for careers in the health professions and to enhance their academic ability to master the pre-health professions curriculum. Academic and career counseling and mentoring programs will also be provided to the undergraduate students. Disadvantaged students accepted into the medical and dental schools at UMC will participate in a seven-week Pre-Matriculation Summer Enrichment Program, which focuses on the conceptual preparation and skills required in first-year courses. During the academic year support systems offered include: a buddy system, counseling services, study skills sessions, tutorials, minority students’ services and national board preparation activities. Saint Louis University
Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Saint Louis University (SLU) is a co-educational private university with a total enrollment of 6,595 undergraduate students, 2,025 graduate students, and 2,418 students enrolled in the four professional schools: Business, Law, Medicine, and Social Service. The Multicultural Initiative for New Doctors (MIND) Health Careers Opportunity Initiative is an expansion of existing undergraduate recruitment and medical school retention efforts of the Saint Louis University School of Medicine’s (SLU SOM) Office of Multicultural Affairs. It is a comprehensive project designed to motivate, encourage, enhance, and sustain the interest of disadvantaged students in pursuit of a medical career as they progress along the educational pathway. It is designed to track disadvantaged students from the elementary level through graduation from medical school and into residency and practice. The intent of the SLU is to expand existing School of Medicine initiatives down into the secondary level (5th and 6th grades) and, thereby, establish an educational pipeline. Tracking of HCOP MIND participants will begin at their point of entry into the program and will continue until graduation from medical school and into practice. The Student Tracking System (STS) is a computerized networked database which is designed to identify promising disadvantaged students at an early point in the educational pathway, monitor their progres s through SLU’s SOM, and to be a central data collection point relative to support services provided to disadvantaged individuals. This system is particularly important for the MIND project as it facilitates the input and analysis of data and subsequent long-term follow-up as the students begin their professional careers as physicians. There are five screens: demographic, academic performance, financial aid pre-application information, career interest, and major academic areas of interest for college. Disadvantaged students are the focus of the database. The STS provides a valuable base of information from which to determine and implement early intervention strategies. The project will be critically evaluated from both a formative and summative point of view base upon the performance indicators and the other criteria delineated in the proposal. The Research Analyst will be responsible for compiling and reporting data on the project related to the overall effectiveness of the MIND project. He/she will publish Annual Reports based on the outcome measures for the 12 objectives. In addition, an External Evaluator will be identified to critically evaluate the MIND Project and make recommendations for improvement. University
of Missouri-Columbia Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The Pathways to Success in Health Professions is co-sponsored by the College of Veterinary Medicine and School of Public Health Professions at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The program is comprehensive, with an emphasis on developing a “pipeline” of qualified applicants to undergraduate and professional degree programs. It will be implemented through linkage agreements that are currently in place with two school districts, located in regions of the state that have severe shortages in health care professionals and where the population is economically and educationally disadvantaged; five undergraduate education institutions whose mission is to address the needs of disadvantaged students and communities; and two-community-based organizations located in the impoverished areas as the school districts. Additional partnerships are being sought through current partners’ contact persons in Southeast Missouri, the initial focus of this project, and in Northwest Missouri. The objectives address how the five areas will be implemented, to inform, recruit and prepare disadvantaged students for careers in veterinary medicine and allied health professions. These five areas are: Odyssey: 2-week summer program for 25 disadvantaged 10th and 11th grade high school; Gateways: 6-week summer program for 25 disadvantaged freshmen and sophomore college students per year, to introduce them to health professions careers; Thresholds: 6-week summer program for 25 junior and senior level disadvantaged college students, to encourage them to enter graduate level health professions fields; Retention: Of new and currently-enrolled disadvantaged college students, funded through MU; and Career Explorations: Provide information to middle and high school students and parents about veterinary medicine and allied health professions career options, financial assistance, and the special Pathways programs. Extensive data will be gathered using a DATOR system that will enable the Co-PIs, Co-Directors and Advisory Committee to assess where there are needs for program changes and improvements. A professional evaluator will be hired for an annual performance review, and for the end-of-project summative evaluation. The results will also be used to prepare a report on how this program can be implemented at other comparable institutions. Information will be gathered about students for at least five years after they have completed the Pathways Program. University of Montana
Partnering with Tribal Colleges in Montana and a Community College in Wyoming to Establish a Mental Health Career Pipeline This grant is a comprehensive program that formally establishes a consortium consisting of The University of Montana (UM), Central Wyoming Community College, and six of the seven tribal colleges that serve Montana's American Indian reservations. These tribal colleges are: Fort Belknap College, Fort Peck Community College, Stone Child College, Chief Dull Knife College, Salish Kootenai College, and Blackfeet Community College. Little Big Horn College will also be targeted for information dissemination and recruiting purposes. In partnership with the reservation elementary, secondary, and high schools, and other private and public partners, the consortium's general goal is to provide students from Montana's and Wyoming's disadvantaged communities the opportunity to choose mental health careers, and to insure them the opportunity to successfully pursue such careers from grade school and high school, through their local tribal or community college and into UM's undergraduate and graduate programs in psychology, social work, and counseling. This project was funded from 2000-2003, and in its first two years, it attracted over 150 tribal college students to the program. Eight graduate students from the targeted areas are working on their PhD in clinical psychology at UM. Considering that there are fewer than 60 Native American clinical psychologists in the US and Canada combined, this project alone is already having a positive impact on this important health delivery shortage area. The Indian Reservations were targeted for inclusion in this program because the residents are economically, and educationally, disadvantaged (1999, U.S. Census Bureau; 1999, Department of Labor). Poverty levels in the targeted areas range from 20.0% to 32.2%. Similarly, unemployment rates in the targeted areas range from 7.1% to 30% compared with the statewide averages of 4.6% in MT and 3.9% in WY. High School drop-out rates for Native American youth in these areas averaged 16%, compared with Montana's statewide average of 5.5% (Montana Office of Public Instruction). Montana is the fourth largest state in the union and is sparsely populated with 904,433 persons (6.2 per square mile). Wyoming is even more sparsely populated with 494,423 persons (5.1 per square mile). The vast distances involved in our outreach, recruiting and training efforts outside of UM's hometown of Missoula pose many challenges. The nearest Indian reservation (Flathead) is 60 miles away, and the farthest (Fort Peck) is 522 miles away. To overcome these challenges, each tribal and community college has been staffed with an MHCOP Coordinator and Advisor. They are responsible for recruiting, mentoring, advising, and tutoring high school and college students from their respective localities. This design has provided a more personalized and culturally sensitive approach to the task, resulting in an excellent reputation for the program in these communities (over 65 high school students have competed for the 25 slots available in our 2003 Summer Enrichment Program). Creighton University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Creighton University is an urban university located in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1878, Creighton University is nationally recognized for teaching/research and offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, including those in health professions (medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and nursing). Omaha is the nation’s 48th largest city, with a 19 percent minority population. African American and Hispanic physicians represent less than two percent of all Omaha doctors. Creighton borders a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) and is near numerous census tracts designated as Medically Underserved Areas. Starting with financially and/or educationally disadvantaged students in the 7th grade, and proceeding through the high school/ college years. Pipeline to Success at Creighton University will shepherd young people through educational activities so that they will be prepared to handle medical school and other health professions programs. For students who need an extra year of academic preparation following undergraduate education before being accepted to medical school, Creighton will provide a Postbaccalaureate Program, and the Creighton School of Medicine guarantees admission upon its successful completion. Seventh and eight grade students will take part in a Health Careers Exploration Club. High school students will attend a monthly noontime meeting and a 6-week Summer program. College students will attend a 6-week Summer Session for three summers. Postbaccalaureate Students will attend an 8-week Diagnostic Summer Session, Academic Year Program, and 6-week Pre-Matriculation Summer Session. Creighton University’s School of Medicine is partnering on this project with the College of Arts and Sciences and community partners such as the Omaha Public Schools, Boys and Girls Club, and Charles Drew and Indian Chicano Health Centers. Bergen Community College Bergen/Passaic Health Career Pathways The Health Career Partnership creates a supportive pathway that helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds develop the skills needed to successfully transition from high school to college and to a career in the health sciences. The pathway provides a wide range of supportive services to help students begin early to explore career opportunities and prepare for a full range of allied health professions. It also helps students make connections between their academic work and their future careers and provides them with a head start on college. Fourteen partner institutions are investing in this effort to strengthen health care education opportunities for all students. Camden
County College Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Camden County College proposes to develop and implement a comprehensive HCOP project in Camden County, New Jersey. In collaboration with HCOP partnership linkages and the Math, Sciences, and Health Career Division’s long-standing affiliations with local hospitals, medical centers, and clinical (practicum) sites, the College’s HCOP Project will extend and enhance health and allied health career awareness and preparation activities to individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. Initially, this HCOP project will create and develop a health professions education pipeline in four high schools (Camden HS, Woodrow Wils on HS and Brimm Medical Arts HS) in Camden City, New Jersey, the second poorest city in the nation and with Gloucester City High School, also in Camden County. Through HCOP, educationally and economically disadvantaged students will gain the skills and motivation needed to enter, compete, and graduate from a health or allied health professions program. The comprehensive approach for the Project draws upon the commitment and resources of the College, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, two urban school districts, and community-based entity partners. The Project plan includes signed formal partnership agreements and activities focusing on developing a culturally competent healthcare workforce. To develop a more competitive applicant pool, the design plan for the HCOP project includes promotion and awareness of health professions, recruitment, financial aid information dissemination, a summer bridge program, job shadowing, socio-cultural experiences, and retention activities such as counseling, academic advisement, tutoring, and mentoring. University
of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) has a 26-year history of successfully implementing HCOP grants that increase the number of disadvantaged graduates from Health Professional Schools. Current activities include a Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) for high school students, a Biomedical Careers Program (BCP) for college students, and a Pre-Matriculation Summer Program (PSP) for medical students. RWJMS also provides academic year programs including, tutorials, mentoring, counseling, and cultural competency seminars for disadvantaged medical, college, and high school students. The proposed project will enhance the existing system by: 1) expanding and improving the "pipeline" of disadvantaged students prepared to enter the health professions, 2) strengthening current relationships with other institutions through comprehensive partnerships with formal affiliation agreements, 3) increasing the number. of partner agencies involved in student recruitment and training, and 4) coordinating partnership activities through a Community Advisory Board. Comprehensive partnerships include a medical school, a school of health related professions, two universities, four secondary school systems, two health service providers, and three community agencies, which are designed to create and maintain a pipeline for students' entry into and successful completion of health professional schools. To accommodate the increasing number of students in the "pipeline", RWJMS will increase the capacity of its summer enrichment and academic year programs. The medical school will continue to provide opportunities for students who are interested in health careers other than medicine by providing information about a range of health professions and develop linkages with other health-related educational programs. In addition, cultural competency and diversity awareness training will be provided to students at all educational levels. With its community partners, RWJMS offers multicultural programming, volunteer and training opportunities in health care settings serving diverse populations, and the opportunity to interact with health service providers and students from various ethnic, cultural and economic backgrounds. New Mexico State University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The Southern New Mexico Health Careers Initiative Health Careers Opportunity Program will target disadvantaged high school students across five counties in southern New Mexico. Through this initiative, the students enrolled in HCOP will increase their level of interest in pursuing careers in a health profession, and by working collaboratively with our partners, a core group of a minimum 30 students per year will remain with the program and ultimately apply to, enroll, and complete a four-year (baccalaureate) college-level program in a health profession. The Southern Area Health Education Center (SoAHEC)/Border Health Education Training Center (BHETC) will take the lead role on this initiative, but in order to fulfill the proposed objectives, SoAHEC/BHETC will partner with two undergraduate health programs at New Mexico State University, one Associate Degree program at Dona Ana Branch Community College, eight public school systems, three community and migrant health centers, one private hospital, the State Public Health Division and seven of its satellite offices, three community coalitions, and a network of health and social service organization partners. The objectives consist of the following: 1) Recruitment-SoAHEC will identify a minimum of 60 disadvantaged students and enroll a minimum of 30 grades 9-10 into HCOP by Summer 2003; 2) Facilitating Entry-SoAHEC will provide ongoing health career activities throughout the entire academic year. The focus will be on math, English, computer skills, medical terminology, cultural competency/proficiency, effective studying habits, and other areas of need as determined by our school partners and participating NMSU Departments; 3) Counseling, Mentoring, and other services-Activities will be integrated throughout the school year. A minimum of 60 students will be exposed to career exploration, a minimum of 30 will attend study skills workshops and a minimum of 30 will receive extracurricular coursework; 4) Preliminary Education-Activities that will result in 75 percent of students (23) improving post-test scores by the end of the first year of the program by at least 10 percent; 5) Financial Aid/Information Dissemination-30 of the HCOP students will be required to attend a financial aid workshop during the summer enrichment program, and will all complete a sample financial aid application for review by the financial aid office as part of their requirements; 6) Primary Care Exposure-By partnering with the three community health centers, one hospital, and the various Public Health Division offices, 25 of HCOP students will complete a shadowing experience a minimum of twice by December 2003. Quarterly collection of academic performance data by project staff will provide specific direction for the accompanying formative evaluation, which will follow a participant-oriented approach for continuous program involvement. Albert Einstein College
of Medicine Bronx Science and Health Opportunities Partnership (BxSHOP) The Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AECOM) proposes to create a comprehensive health careers pathway, called the Bronx Science and Health Opportunities Partnership (BxSHOP), by formally linking AECOM and its high school level Einstein Enrichment Program (EEP) with Fordham University's Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program C-STEP) and its 7th-12th Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP), the Macy Honors Program of DeWitt Clinton High School, and a feeder middle school for both Fordham STEP and DeWitt Clinton, the Thomas C. Giordano School (Middle School 45). Community-based partners include ASPIRA of New York; Associated Medical Schools of New York (AMSNY); and the Medical Group, School Health Program, and Residency Program in Social Medicin e of Montefiore Medical Center. The overall goal is to develop a Bronx-based collaboration between free-standing middle, high school, college, and post-baccalaureate minority enrichment programs to promote academic success and student interest in careers in the health science professions. By expanding existing programs and developing closer ties, collaborations, articulations, and conjoint programs, we believe that more disadvantaged and minority Bronx students will successfully pursue the rigorous educational pathways that are required to enter the health professions and then actually apply and matriculate to health professional schools, medicine, in particular. Thus, we propose a comprehensive health careers educational pathway and partnership. Recruitment programs will expand EEP, Fordham STEP and C-STEP and include a Diversity and Health Week summer program; facilitating entry programs will expand the AMSNY post-baccalaureate and AECOM's pre-entrance course; ASPIRA will conduct academic, career, and financial aid counseling; BxSHOP will conduct workshops on study skills, high school and college selection, financial aid, and cultural competency; the Summer Undergraduate Mentorship and Shadowing Programs will be offered in primary care; and research training will include Junior Fellows (8' grade) at M.S. 45 and undergraduates in AECOM laboratories. Erie
Community College City Campus Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The Allied Health Careers Opportunity Pipeline Program (AHCOPP) is an ambitious project with very realistic, attainable outcomes to be achieved in the stated time frame. Both unstructured and structured activities are planned to achieve these outcomes. The program design includes: health career assemblies for 200 middle and 500 high school students; Saturday Academies for 100 9th-12th grade high school students; Summer Institutes for 50 high school graduates and 50 ECC general studies students; and a learning community for 25 students currently matriculated in Allied Health programs. The ACHOPP project is committed to meeting the following objectives: increasing the number of economically and educationally disadvantaged enrollees, graduates, transfer students from targeted- Allied Health programs and students entering employment from targeted- Allied Health programs over the 2002 baseline. Increases in student enrollees by 20 percent (from 447 to 537); graduates by 15 percent (from 116 to 133); transfer students from two-year targeted Allied Health programs into four-year health career programs by 50 percent (from 12 to 20); under-served area health professional career placements by 15 percent (from 81 to 93). Collaborations with the Buffalo Public Schools, Erie County Tech Prep Consortium Schools, State University of New York at Buffalo, Erie County Medical Center Healthcare Network, Western New York Healthcare Association, Youth Opportunities Program, and the Buffalo Urban League provide resources vital to the success of a comprehensive diversified program. Mount
Sinai School of Medicine Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program This is a Competing Continuation application by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs (CMCA) for a Comprehensive HCOP Program to serve 230 students within a network of five public schools, two undergraduate schools, and three community health agencies working hand-in-hand with the Mount Sinai school of Medicine (MSSM) in a concerted effort to increase the number of highly competent individuals from Disadvantaged backgrounds by facilitating entry into and graduating them from medical and/or allied health schools. Disadvantaged students are defined as those from diverse backgrounds who as a result of their socio-economic status or other adverse circumstances face barriers to educational opportunity – which restricts their access to teachers, role model mentors, and meaningful experiences with adults and professionals. This comprehensive project is the beneficiary of nearly three decades of effective educational outreach to NYC public schools and public and private colleges and builds on our current Comprehensive HCOP platform. These like-minded partners provide the context for a dynamic program that is framed by four overarching goals: to bolster academic knowledge and skills; to ignite interest in health careers; to facilitate entry into each stage along the high school/ collegiate/ medical school continuum; and to track student career progress. In the overall plan, the pre-college Grade 7-12 groups take part in science, mathematics, and language arts enrichment, SAT Prep and health career exploration, to augment the competitive applicant pool. The collegiate programs focus on science enrichment, MCAT Prep, medical school application preparation, and biomedical research, in order to bolster medical school readiness and facilitate entry into medical school. The medical school component focuses on retention – with a pre-matriculation Prep Course focusing on first and second-year curriculum readiness, and preparation for USMLE I at the end of the second year. Each partner has committed personnel, space, and time, to accommodate this wide array of year-round activities. Internships are conducted at MSSM and at our community health agencies to expose students to patient care, research (clinical and bench), and exploration of cultural issues. Intensive standardized test preparation in the SAT (pre-college), the MCAT (collegiate), and the USMLE (medical school), are all aimed at strengthening test readiness, improving test-taking ability, and better overall scores. Specialized enrichment courses in sciences, mathematics, and language arts reinforce knowledge and understanding. Caring faculty embrace and support the students to the fullest through counseling and tutoring. The partners in this novel project are: The City College of New York; York College; The High School for Environmental Studies; Manhattan Center for Math and Sciences High School; Central Park East Secondary School; Life Sciences Secondary School; Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School; Boriken Health Center, North General Hospital, and the Children’s Aid Society. SUNY-Downstate
Medical Center Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn (SUNY-HSCB) Early Medical Education Program (EME) assists twelve individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to enter and graduate from the Health Science Center at Brooklyn in order to meet the expanding health care needs of underserved populations. The program is designed to recruit twelve talented students from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds into an early selection program. Each year these students will be added to the EME Program until 36 students, twelve on each level, participate in the program. Recruitment will take place at two undergraduate schools, Queens College and York College, located in the New York City metropolitan area. Students will apply to the program after completing 45 credits and will enter the EME Program upon completion of 60 semester credits. Applicants will be interviewed by members of an admissions committee consisting of representatives from the medical school and the two colleges. Criteria for selection are evidence of academic potential and motivation to be a physician. The preliminary education component consists of developing an early selection educational program, which expands the academic ability and prepares students from disadvantaged backgrounds, during their pre-professional years so that they can enter SUNY College of Medicine and complete the regular course of their medical education. The facilitate entry component guarantees admission into the College of Medicine at SUNY-HSCB for those students who maintain the academic standards established by the EME Program (3.0 GPA in science and 3.0 GPA in non-science courses) through a rigorous course load designed to enhance the competitiveness of program participants. This multifaceted program consists of three six-week summer sessions, one of which will be the Summer Pre-enrollment Program (Operation Success). During the academic year, EME staff will conduct workshops on the college campuses to meet the needs of the students and to work with the pre-med advisors. During the summer immediately preceding entrance into medical school, students will participate in SUNY-HSCB's Operation Success with other minority matriculants. Saint Augustine's
College Saint Augustine's College Students Transitioning into Today's Careers in Health (STITCH) Program Plagued with statistics well above State and national averages for morbidity and mortality, North Carolina's Edgecombe, Halifax and Nash Counties are counties with, not surprisingly, low numbers of primary care providers. Additionally, these counties have large populations of minorities who are educationally and socially disadvantaged. Saint Augustine's College is a Historically Black College in Raleigh, with a long history in educating such populations. It offers many programs for poorly prepared youth and it has a significant history in assisting students from such backgrounds enter graduate health programs, particularly medical and dental schools. The College proposes the Students Transitioning into Today's Careers in Health (STITCH) program, a comprehensive Pre-Medical HCOP, in partnership with 8 of the counties' high schools; the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine; Nash Health Care Systems; Edgecombe County Community College; the Wake and Area L Health Education Centers; and Opportunities Industrialization Centers. The partnership will lead disadvantaged high school students from these counties to careers as primary care physicians, dentists and mental health professionals with the goal of repopulating these areas with much needed health care professionals. The program will: recruit 50 high school students with the potential for and interest in such careers; and provide them with high quality, individually prescribed educational activities, including counseling, mentoring, and clinical exposures in a Saturday academic year program and 6-week pre-college residential summer experience on Saint Augustine's campus. As program students approach college graduation as Saint Augustine's College science majors, their entry into professional schools will be facilitated by the provision of admissions and financial aid information and entrance examination preparation classes. Dr. Renata H. Dusenbury, Head of Saint Augustine's Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, will serve as Principal Investigator and Ms. Barbara Smith, Assistant Director of the College's pre-college outreach programs in Edgecombe, Nash and Halifax Counties, will serve as Program Director. East
Carolina University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program East Carolina University (ECU) as well as the School of Allied Health Sciences (SAHS) has both set enhanced diversity of students, faculty and staff as one of the top 5 strategic goals. The Preparation for Allied Health Careers (PACH) program is designed to take high school rising juniors through a process of career exploration and progressive narrowing of their serious interest over their junior and senior years of high school, to a point that they identify a specific allied health career that they wish to pursue by the time the enter their freshman year of undergraduate college. The PACH program consists of two 6-week summer programs which incorporate career exposure to 9 different allied health professions, multiple lecture series in several areas of basic science and health science, workshops on cultural diversity, an extensive SAT/ACT preparation workshop, reading comprehension and writing instruction and practice exercises, interpersonal relations seminars, allied health professional speakers, shadowing of allied health faculty, and seminars on selecting a college, applying to a college, and securing financial aid. During the academic year, students will pursue clinical observation experiences in selected allied health professions through health care facilities in their home communities along with allied health professions through health care facilities in their home communities along with allied health faculty mentoring and visits to allied health academic programs once each semester. This will enable the students to synthesize their experiences in their clinical observations by discussion with allied health faculty and progressively narrow their professions of serious interest. Students from the HBCU will pursue the same experiences over the course of their sophomore through senior years of baccalaureate education. The outcome objectives will serve as the focus of evaluating the impact of the PAHC program. Comparisons of enrollment and graduation data by disadvantaged status and racial/ethnic background will be made annually during the course of the project. A comprehensive student tracking system will be implemented to track all students from entry into the PAHC program to their graduation with a baccalaureate or higher degree and their first professional practice site, or to document their alternative pursuits. Numerous other program performance objectives are also included which relate to specific components and activities of the program. University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The Office of Educational Development of UNC-CH School of Medicine, through a collaborative partnership with UNC-CH School of Dentistry, six undergraduate campuses of the UNC System, an inter-international health careers program of the UNC System, a medical student organization, three public school systems and nine regional AHECs, will conduct activities to increase the number of disadvantaged students entering the health professions with the ultimate aim of improving access to and quality of health care for disadvantaged North Carolinians. The overall goal of this proposal is to increase the number of disadvantaged students entering the health professions, with the ultimate aim of improving both access to health care for North Carolina’s disadvantaged citizens. Reaching that goal will require the combined efforts of institutions and groups on campuses and in the community. Therefore, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill medical school’s Office of Educational Development is partnering with UNC-CH’s undergraduate campus, School of Dentistry and Student National Medical Association chapter; five campuses of the UNC system with large enrollments of disadvantaged and minority students; North Carolina Health Careers Access Program, an inter-institutional program of the UNC system; three public school systems; and nine regional AHECs that serve the state’s 100 counties. Together, these groups have experience and expertise in working with disadvantaged students at all levels of their education, thus facilitating students’ movement through the pipeline that UNC-CH HCOP will establish. The objectives of the UNC-CH HCOP will include: (1) identify, recruit and select 48 pre-high school, 112 high school and 245 college and post-college students each year; (2) facilitate the entry of disadvantaged college and post-college students into health profession school for 95 participants each year in HCOP Science Enrichment Preparation Program and Medical Education Development Program, with preparation on admission testing, interview preparation, counseling and admission processing assistance; (3) provide academic reinforcement and retention services, including academic skills training and related counseling, life skills training, monitoring and tutoring; (4) provide intensive summer programs for 95 college and post-college students each year, in preparation for the rigors of health profession school and for culturally competent practice; (5) provide financial aid information to a pool of 5000 disadvantaged students; (6)increase the number of HCOP participants engaged in primary care exposure activities; and (7) increase the competitiveness of disadvantaged students in the HCOP partnerships. University
of North Carolina at Pembroke Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The Pathway to Health Professions Careers (PTHPC) program is designed to address HCOP purposes of recruitment, facilitating entry, counseling, mentoring, preliminary education & health research training, financial aid information dissemination, primary care exposure activities, and development of a more competitive applicant pool. Faculty members and advanced students from appropriate departments, including appropriately trained teachers from the partner school system will teach and participate in the project. Most of these will be representative of the target population, and have extensive backgrounds in teaching and working with disadvantaged students. The educational pathway begins with activities at the middle school level and continues through health professions school. Activities involve parents and nonprofit community organizations and agencies, including school systems, undergraduate and health professions schools, and faith-based organizations. Students at different levels along the educational pathway will be exposed to academic and nonacademic enrichment activities during the summer and academic year. This exposure will develop their awareness of health professions, increase their motivation through exploration, and strengthen their readiness and preparedness to pursue a prehealth and health professions curriculum. Students in the middle of the pathway will be ready to enter a prehealth curriculum at the undergraduate level, and those toward the end will be competitive candidates for admission to health professions schools who are members of the partnership, including others. The partnership involves the applicant institution in collaboration with an American Indian Tribal organization, faith-based association (62 church membership), public school system--23, 000 students from rural communities, family life center, American Indian Mothers,. Inc, School System (Indian Education), center, community college, and two schools of medicine, school of public health, two schools of pharmacy, and one school of dentistry. All entities are within a 12-mile radius except the professional schools, which are no more than 100 miles from the University. These partners are committed to a range of strategies to create a highly qualified health professions applicant pool, and facilitate students into health professions Winston
Salem State University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The purpose of the Health Careers Opportunity Program is to increase the number and enhance the academic qualifications of minority students who enroll in and graduate from allied health professions programs. The specific focus of this program is on students entering the medical technology, physical therapy and therapeutic recreation programs. The goal of the program will be accomplished through recruitment, preliminary education, facilitate entry, and retention activities. The preliminary education activities for undergraduate freshmen and sophomores are conducted throughout the academic year. These activities are designed to strengthen the overall academic performance of the students in prerequisite courses, specifically mathematics, chemistry, and biology. In addition to the academic enrichment sessions, students attend communication enrichment sessions, learning skills workshops, professional school seminars, and go on field trips. The facilitate entry component includes an eight week summer program designed to enhance the potential of the students who participated in the preliminary education activities. Summer program activities for undergraduate junior and seniors include review sessions in chemistry, math, microbiology, biology and human physiology, workshops, seminars, field trips to medical facilities and research project presentations. The retention component extends throughout the academic year for targeted students enrolled in the medical technology, physical therapy and therapeutic recreation programs. Tutorial assistance is provided to seniors on an individual basis. Activities include self instructional units, audio visual materials, and computer-assisted instruction, and listen, look and learn presentations for each major discipline. Turtle Mountain Community
College American Indian students living on reservations potential for success are based on opportunities that are provided during critical periods in academic preparation and personal growth. Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC), has established partnership linkages with K-12 feeder schools, Universities, Medical Schools, Healthcare Facilities and the Tribal Administration of The Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, to create Academic Enrichment Programs which emphasize courses in math and the sciences to assist pre-college and college students prepare for healthcare careers. The programs are designed to help students who are members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians complete associate degrees at TMCC, in pre-health programs in preparation for transfer to four year colleges/universities. It is expected that those receiving baccalaureate degrees will pursue terminal degrees in medicine or healthcare specialties. The proposal addresses seven HCOP objectives, and will offers comprehensive programs to develop a competitive applicant pool among Native American students to meet the healthcare needs rural American Indian populations. The Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation is located in a documented designated Health Professionals Shortage Area. Cankdeska
Cikana Community College Cankdeska Cikana Community College is a tribally chartered two-year institution on the Spirit Lake Reservation in North Dakota. The college was granted full NCA accreditation in 1989. Students are drawn almost exclusively from the population of the Reservation with over 95 percent being enrolled members of the Tribe. Only 3 percent of the reservation adult population has college degrees, compared to 18.6 percent of North Dakota non-Indians. The high school dropout rate is 44 percent, seven times the 6 percent rate for white North Dakotans. Healthy People 2000 and 2010 (HP 2000/2010) issues of critical community concern are relative risk rates of diabetic deaths at 376 percent, infant mortality at 298 percent, and tobacco use at 189 percent, and adolescent binge drinkers at 650 percent. Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC) is developing a model program, which will increase the pool of Native American health professionals to address these specific issues and general health care access in a culturally sensitive manner for Native Americans. CCCC will use a three-step program in which both academic requirement and support progressively increase. Step one; grades seven through ten, students receive tutoring, enrichment seminars and academic advising. Step two; high school junior and seniors will participate in step one activities as well as a six-week enrichment program, internships and job shadowing. In step three, community college students receive counseling, tutoring, enrichment seminars, campus orientations to health professions schools, and a summer academic skills and admissions test preparation program. While incorporating the essential elements of training and orienting students to the skills needed to manage advanced schooling, the summer courses and labs are focused directly on the HP2000/2010 issues outlines above. For example, the Abnormal Psychology class examines substance abuse disorders. An Internet search class has a session on Obesity touching on the issue of diabetes. A biology class discusses cell growth and cancer, while a field observation reviews medicinal plants on the reservation. University
of North Dakota Under the Health Careers and Opportunities Program (HCOP), The Indians into Medicine (INMED) program at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences (UNDSMHS) assists American Indian and Alaska Native students who are preparing for careers in medicine and sets aside 7 slots per year in the freshman class. Other health professions in the school such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, and clinical psychology (doctoral program) each set aside two slots per year for Native American students. As part of a comprehensive educational approach to student development, a targeted partnership has been established with the Oglala Sioux Tribe at South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation. This partnership will support and further develop an Indian Health Service (IHS) sponsored Summer Institute which is a reservation based, summer enrichment science and math program for 50 students in the 7-10 grade. This also supports efforts to train, and then later recruit qualified 11 and 12th graders to the INMED HCOP (pre-college) Summer Institute. It is anticipated this rural program will develop into a successful model for increased Native American health professions student development and retention from grade 7 to college in such educationally austere and remote environments. As part of the cultural sensitivity maintenance among the many regional tribes, the university maintains an all-Indian Advisory Board includes representatives from 24 Northern Plains reservations. This Board advises the university in planning culturally competent activities. HCOP-funded activities include two summer programs, a Summer Institute of preliminary education for approximately 30 high school students before college entry. An INMED summer Med-Prep medical school preview program trains 10 undergraduate students before they start medical school. The advanced summer program includes classroom and lab work, field trips, assistance in study skills development, counseling sessions, pre-test Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) preparation, and assistance to tribal undergraduates' who apply for enrollment into medical school at UND and other medical colleges. At the medical school level, INMED provides a learning resource center, computer-assisted instruction, counseling and other academic assistance to maintain Native American enrollment and graduation rates. The Office of Student Affairs and Admissions may arrange for flexible curricula for tribal INMED students, and participants can choose clinical clerkships at Indian Health Service facilities, or transfer to the University of South Dakota School of Medicine for 3d- and 4th-year clinical as part of the INMED Satellite Office Agreement. Cleveland State University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Cleveland State University (CSU) is a state-supported community-based university centrally located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland has a total population of approximately 550,000 with about 58 percent of the residents being minority. The student body composition at Cleveland State University as of academic year 1997-98 was: 72.8 percent Caucasian, 21.5 percent African American, 2.6 percent Hispanic, 2.6 percent Asian, and .4 percent American Indian. Forty-six percent (46 percent) of the student body are males and 54 percent are females. Enrollment in the Allied Health areas of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology totaled 210 students of which 93 (44 percent) were disadvantaged. Cleveland State University’s project is designed specifically to facilitate undergraduate student entry into the Cleveland State University Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Master of Arts Degree Program. All activities are centered on the admissions requirements of the Graduate College and the Department of Speech and Hearing. It is expected that, over a three-year period, this project will increase by at least fifteen the number of disadvantaged students completing the master’s level program in speech-language pathology and audiology. In addition to assisting student’s entry into the graduate programs, this comprehensive project has established linkages with Cuyahoga Community College, Northeastern Ohio Neighborhood Health Services, Inc. and six area high schools. Students will be provided information about the allied health areas of speech-language pathology, audiology, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. Facilitating entry will be achieved by assisting ten disadvantaged high school seniors with the admission processes for college/university admission to pursue undergraduate studies in a health sciences area. CSU will also assist ten disadvantaged students (five in speech-language pathology or audiology and five in occupational therapy or physical therapy) with the admissions process for the speech-language pathology or audiology graduate program and to the occupational therapy and physical therapy professional program. Academic and non-academic support will be provided during two eight-week summer retention programs, which CSU will provide. One program will assist five disadvantaged students who have been admitted to the master level speech-language pathology or audiology program and the other will be offered to five disadvantaged students who have been admitted to the bachelor level occupational therapy or physical therapy professional program. Cincinnatti
State Technical & Community College Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The comprehensive program proposed by Cincinnati State brings together community based partners, a major urban school district, a community-based health center directly serving medically underserved areas and a major hospital network to provide services, support and enrichment activities to educationally and economically disadvantaged students and their parents in the city of Cincinnati. The program’s success will be judged by the number of participants assisted by the project who apply, enroll, and graduate from degree programs in the Allied Health professions. The objective to meet a 20 percent increase over the year 01 baseline in the number of disadvantaged enrollees in the Health and Allied Health Professions Programs at Cincinnati State will be accomplished through a variety of strategies. These include, but are not limited to: open house events, health professions fairs, individualized planning and counseling of potential students and their parents, building relationships with middle schools, high schools and teachers within those schools. The success of these enrollment strategies will be monitored closely with surveys of students, parents and a variety of other stakeholders. The project commits to increasing the number of graduates of our health and allied health programs by 15 percent over the year 01 baseline. This objective will be met with diligent efforts put forth by faculty, administration, and staff members to mentor the enrollees. Tutoring and enrichment courses will be offered to aid in retention. Schedules and course offerings will be arranged so as to accommodate the needs of the students who come to us with many legitimate demands on their time. Special attention will also be paid to students who may qualify for advanced standing in our programs; thereby decreasing the time the student must spend in school prior to securing a job in the health field. The 15 percent increase in the number of disadvantaged students who will graduate from our health programs as a result of the HCOP grant, will be monitored and evaluated by comparing the participating students to the non-participating students. Surveys of student graduates as well as grade comparisons will allow us to discern the value of the strategies used to meet this objective. The final objective of an increase of 15 percent of the HCOP graduates who enter into practice in underserved areas, as compared to non-HCOP participants is easily evaluated. Surveys of the student graduates, comparisons of scores and enrollment rates between participants and non-participants as well as employer surveys will be used to measure the success of the program. Ohio
University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine has developed a comprehensive program including the College of Health and Human Services, Hocking College, Grandview Hospital, and NorthEast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services, Incorporated. Community programs such as Black Diamond Girl Scout Council, Tri-County Community Action Agency, and Athens County Children’s Services have also agreed to be supportive through linkages to formal programs in the network. The Ohio University Health Careers Network (OUHCAN), proposed in this application, has as its’ major emphasis, informing students, at as early a level as possible, of their possibilities to succeed in higher education in general and in health professions in particular. It also provides structure and support for high school and undergraduate level students to make informed decisions about course and major selections, and to know how to become successful candidates for admissions to health professions programs. Valuable financial aid information will also be provided to students and parents at all levels of the educational pipeline, to help make the dreams of acquiring a health professional degree reality for many students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Three student programs offered as part of this HCOP comprehensive project are: 1) Summer Enrichment which annually provides 25 minority and disadvantaged students the opportunity to participate in an 8-week program to improve knowledge/skills and academic enrichment in preparation for their first year in undergraduate pre-health education, 2) Program ExCEL which is a comprehensive enrichment and support program for target group pre-medical/pre-health students at Ohio University and 3) Summer Scholars which annually provides 25 students from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to participate in an 8-week pre-medical program designed to enhance their preparation for admission to medical school. OUCOM also has an institutionalized Post-Baccalaureate Program to assist minority students, whose ability to succeed in the medical school curriculum could be enhanced with the post-bac experience. Association of American
Indian Physicians Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP) is a non-profit, educational, scientific, and charitable organization corporation based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Founded in 1971 by 14 American Indian physicians, AAIP was established to enhance the health of Indian people and to increase Indian representation in the health professions. The AAIP membership consists of 300 licensed physicians of Native American ancestry who have experience in a variety of health care delivery settings enabling AAIP to have a broad expertise in Indian Health issues. This project seeks to reverse the disproportionate number of American Indian health professionals by providing activities that alleviate some common educational barriers for disadvantaged American Indian students and provide a more competent applicant pool by developing an early age health career pipeline. The AAIP will perform the following: 1) Recruitment: AAIP will maintain and increase by 200 the identification and recruitment and enter these students into the AAIP student database for referral to health professions schools and for tracking during their educational process. Evaluation will be contracted externally for both process and outcome evaluation results; 2) Facilitating Entry and Identifying Financial Aid Information: AAIP will conduct two Pre-Admissions Workshops (PAW) each year and identify financial aid available to students and publicize it and by establishing an additional 10 work relationships through Educational Assistance Agreements (EAA) with colleges; 3) Counseling, Mentoring and Retention Activities & Primary Care Exposure: AAIP will establish these programs for students who have an interest in a health career or are enrolled in a program; 4) Preliminary Education & Health Research Training and Primary Care Exposure: AAIP will establish a Health Career Summer Academy for 30 disadvantaged high school students to improve scholastic performance and to gain exposure in a filed of shadowing, and health research experience; 5) Financial Aid Information Dissemination: AAIP will publicize and disperse financial aid information to all of the students that are identified and entered into the AAIP student database; 6) Development of a More Competitive Applicant Pool: AAIP will begin the monthly operation of the Native American Health Careers Initiative Coalition, a local coalition of public schools, local school districts, community-based Native American organizations and tribal entities and establish a Kids Into Health Career Initiative. Oklahoma
State University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Oklahoma State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine (OSU-COM) has a long-standing mission of training family physicians to help meet the health care needs of rural Oklahoma. In concert with Oklahoma having a larger American Indian population than any other state, OSU-COM has graduated 39 percent of all American Indian physicians, has incorporated an Indian health care curriculum into it’s family medicine residency program, and is active in research addressing health issues relative to American Indians. The objectives of this program address recruitment, financial aid information dissemination, preliminary education and facilitating entry to promote the potential of disadvantaged, predominantly American Indian, students to complete their undergraduate studies, leading to admission in a health care training program. Recruitment/Financial Aid Information: Four colleges/universities selected for 2-day seminars are located in rural Oklahoma and have many disadvantaged students, of whom 200 are projected to participate. Seminar content includes preparation and choices in health careers, financial aid resource information, and opportunity for individual financial aid counseling. HCOP staff, community health care professionals, armed forces representatives and health professions students conduct the seminars. Each participant is entered in a database for future tracking. Facilitating Entry/Financial Aid Information: Six institutions are targeted because of the number of American Indian students they serve. The 3-day admissions workshop is held annually on the OSU-COM campus for 20 students. Content includes application/admissions process, MCAT discussion and review of strategies, financial aid dissemination/counseling. Preliminary Education: Thirty pre-college freshmen will participate in a 6-week summer program at the OSU-COM campus. Enrichment courses will be taught and students will pre- and post-test in writing, reading, mathematics, science, study skills, and college aptitude. In addition to specially designed course instruction, ten tutors will work with participants during the six-week summer program. Oregon Health &
Science University OHSU Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The objective of the Oregon Health & Science University Health Careers Opportunity Program is to provide in-depth experiences throughout the educational pipeline to enable disadvantaged students to progress into health care careers successfully. We offer a novel HCOP model in that our comprehensive program provides the disadvantaged population direct access to OHSU pharmacy, physician assistant and medical schools through traditional, guaranteed admission, and early acceptance pathways. The program offers curricula at the high school, undergraduate, and post-baccalaureate levels in partnership with three Portland high schools, Portland Community College, three undergraduate universities and the Area Health Education Centers. Early identification, focused academics, preparation for health professions school entrance exams (GRE/MCAT) and application strategies are keystones for the programs. Our program offers two pre-matriculation programs, bridging the high school-college and college-health professions transitions. Our programs also provide access to role models, health care certification classes, job shadowing and research opportunities, as well as interactions with college and health professions student mentors. Discussions and clinical experiences related to cultural competency are integral to all programs. We anticipate that by enabling our students to negotiate socioeconomic, educational and cultural barriers, we will make them better prepared to enter and complete training in the health professions. With this comprehensive approach, we expect to improve both the quantity of providers as well as the quality of care to our underserved population. Oregon
Health Career Center Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Columbia Willamette Area Health Education Center (AHEC) is an independent 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to bringing disadvantaged young people to healthcare careers. Through dynamic partnerships with healthcare providers, schools, and community organizations, Columbia Willamette AHEC offers a broad range of programs designed to introduce and prepare K-12 students to healthcare occupations, address critical healthcare manpower shortages, and strengthen services to underserved populations. This project will include 125 students at five high schools in or adjacent to the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon. There are three overarching programmatic objectives to be met through multiple activities as summarized below: 1) Conduct an after-school, academic yearlong Multicultural Youth for Health program for 125 disadvantaged 9th-12th graders annually. High school students will learn about health careers through lecturers and presentations by community providers and health professions students, by visiting hospitals, clinics, and community centers, and through job shadowing and internship experiences. Students will learn about college testing, applications, admissions and financial aid. Study skills, emphasizing personal responsibility and time management, will be included in the after-school program curriculum; 2) Conduct a six-week commuter summer academy for 40 to 50 juniors and seniors at Portland Community College. Following on the academic year after-school program, 40-50 students will be selected through a competition to participate in an intensive, six-week summer academy. The summer academy will provide college preparatory coursework in biology, chemistry, and math for juniors, and human biology and medical terminology (college credit courses) for seniors. All students will also complete coursework in reading, writing, study skills and cultural competency in health professions. Students will have a minimum of three field experiences and three on-site symposia, focused on exposure to health professions, leadership, cultural competence, team building, health policy, and the college experience. Students will also receive tutoring and mentoring during a daily study lab. Pennsylvania College
of Optometry Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The PCO-HCOP Project is a comprehensive project bringing together the Pennsylvania College of Optometry with four additional institutions with long standing records of supporting efforts to assist disadvantaged students in the Philadelphia, PA area. Joining PCO will be Health Related Technology Program of John Bartram High School, the Gateway to Success/ACT 101 Program of Arcadia University, the Health Sciences Department of North Carolina A&T University, and the Mt. Zion United Methodist Church – Lawnside Mentoring Program of Lawnside, NJ. The overall mission of the Project is to increase the number of disadvantaged students aware of the opportunities associated with health professions and as a result, increase the number of competent individuals in the health professions pipeline. To this end, the project includes the collaborative effort of five organizations/institutions partners representing the continuum of contact with students from high school through graduation from health professions programs. Gwyneed-Mercy
College Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Gwynedd-Mercy College has a long history of commitment to the education of under-represented minorities/disadvantaged students. Since 1989, GMC has targeted its own funds in the form of College grants of $5,000 for each HCOP student each year he/she is enrolled, for a total of $825,150. By September 1999, the HCOP program at GMC had served 171 students in three cycles, 77.7 percent of whom have graduated from the College or are currently enrolled, or were enrolled at least one semester, and 8.5 percent who have continued their education elsewhere. As of May 1999, 73 students had graduated; 43 had earned an Associates Degree only, 15 had earned both Associate's and Bachelor's degrees, 5 had earned Bachelors only, and 10 completed 13-month programs in radiation therapy. 100 percent of HCOP graduates are employed in their field within six months of graduation. The GMC/HCOP Comprehensive Pursuing Educational Pathways (PEP) project includes six phases from junior high to pre-matriculation, which will serve 425 students over three years. In Phase I, 25 7th and 8th grade students in year one and 50 students in years two and three, will participate in monthly Health Clubs, visit a college campus, and tour a hospital; in Phase II, 25 9th graders each project year will participate in three health-related field trips and take the LASSI Inventory, supplemented by workshops to develop student learning and study strategies. In Phase III, 25 10th graders each project year will focus on PSAT introduction and building research skills. In Phase IV, 25 11th graders each project year will attend 14 six-hour Saturday Academies for SAT Review, workshops, and course enrichment. In Phase V, 25 12th graders each project year will also attend the Saturday Academies, including participation in SAT review (year 1) and math, science and English course enrichment (years 1, 2, & 3), hospital workshops, shadow days at local hospitals, and health-related volunteer experiences. Finally, in Phase VI, 25 pre-matriculating students each year will take part in a six-week residential Summer Bridge program which will include classes in Anatomy and Physiology, Chemistry, Physics, Math, Biology, Medical Terminology, Communications and Computer. Academic retention services will be provided throughout students' degree training. Temple
University School of Medicine Comprehensive Health
Careers Opportunity Program The comprehensive approach will include the development of career awareness, health career exploration and science and mathematics readiness for 125 disadvantaged students in grades K-12. For the three professional schools academic year and summer program, recruitment, facilitation of entry, and retention will be conducted. Recruitment activities will include visits to Regional colleges and universities to meet with prospective applicants in small groups as introductions to subsequent pre medical/pre dental guidance and informational services at the medical and dental schools. The school of Pharmacy will continue its extensive regional recruitment activities and expand its pre-professional counseling activities. The Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Schools will identify, actively assist and seek to enroll students whose lower admissions test scores and science GPAs render them as reasonable-risk applicants. Summer enrichment programs (Future Dentists and Physicians of America) at various competitiveness and increase test scores and grades in science courses as well as facilitate the entry of students by helping applicants through staff assistance with application preparation and follow-up requirements, preparation for admissions interviews, and utilizing admissions counseling. All three professions schools will conduct retention activities including six and seven week summer programs for pre-matriculates. Dentistry will enroll 25 trainees, Medicine will enroll 30 trainees, and Pharmacy will enroll 20 trainees as part of the Early Arrival Program. All schools will provide year-round on-site academic and personal counseling services, and will provide licensing exam preparation activities. During the project period, the program directors and other school representatives will share and exchange methodologies, selectively share personnel resources, and where feasible, consolidate activities. Inter American University
of Puerto Rico Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The HCOP Program is located at the San Germán Campus of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. The goal of this comprehensive program is to train and assist individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to enter health professions and allied health schools. It has seven main components to achieve the stated goal. Recruitment: The program
recruit 25 college students to participate in a Summer Enrichment Program,
25 high school students for the Saturday Academy and 25 more pre-college
students to participate in a six-week Summer Health Care Careers Academy. Counseling, Mentoring and Other Services: Provide services to assist all 75 HCOP college and pre-college students to successfully enter the educational pipeline leading to a career in the health care professions and assist them to complete their pre or professional education and meet academic requirements to enter a health or allied health professions school. Preliminary Education
& Health Research Activities: Assist 25 HCOP college students by providing
training in reading and writing comprehension, math, basic sciences, computer
skills, health research, and delivering other services prior to their
entry into a health professions school. Development of a More Competitive Applicant Pool: Develop and increase linkages with community and educational preparation programs, establishment of Kids into Health Careers Clubs at elementary schools, Professional Health Career Clubs in middle and high schools, a Saturday Academy and a Health Care Careers Academy for high school students. All 75 HCOP students will be provided with counseling, orientation, field trips, seminars and academic activities to strengthen English literacy, communications skills and knowledge in the basic sciences of chemistry, biology, and physics during the year to increase their interest, preparation and competitiveness to enter a health or allied health profession. East Tennessee State
University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine (QCOM) will establish the Pathway to Health Careers Program (Pathway) as a comprehensive outreach program linking public schools, community agencies, and undergraduate institutions across the region for the purpose of positively impacting the number of disadvantaged students from the southern Appalachian Region who are entering and graduating from health and allied health programs. Pathway will accomplish this by identifying, recruiting, selecting and serving 95 high school and 60 college disadvantaged students each year. The services and activities are designed to facilitate entry into health and allied health programs; supply counseling, mentoring, and academic support services; provide a pre-matriculation experience to ease the transition into college and post baccalaureate health programs; provide information relative to financing higher education; provide exposure to primary health care including insight into issues related to cultural competency; and enhance the overall size and competitiveness of the pool of disadvantaged students pursuing health careers. Ultimately, having more health professional from disadvantaged backgrounds will lead to improved access and quality of care for the region’s population. The QCOM is a comprehensive medical education and health facility that serves residents of the southern Appalachian region including northeast Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, and western North Carolina. In view of this responsibility, the college emphasizes rural primary care as the focus of its medical practice and training programs. Realizing that primary medical care is a function rather than a discipline, we believe it is important to introduce disadvantaged and minority students from rural and underserved areas to health career opportunities, and to facilitate their successful pursuit of the same. Outreach programs such as proposed herein are vital to this effort because they help redress the academic, economic, social and psychological factors that typically become barriers for disadvantaged students and prevent them from entering health and allied health professions. University
of Tennessee Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The University of Tennessee Memphis (UT) is comprised of the colleges of Allied Health, Dentistry, Medicine, Graduate Health Sciences, Nursing and Pharmacy and serves the people of the city, state, and region through programs in health professions education; biomedical research; patient care and other public service initiatives. With a commitment to students, the University has established admission and retention policies and practices, which contribute to their advancement. The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UT Memphis) Health Careers Opportunity Program will address the underrepresentation of individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds in the health professions. Project objectives are proposed in response to the HCOP purposes of recruitment; preliminary education; facilitating entry; and counseling, mentoring, and retention. The other three purposes will be addressed through programmatic activities utilizing multiple partnerships to develop a more competitive applicant pool, financial aid information/dissemination, and primary care exposure activities. The program will feature a network of formally linked partners collaborating to address the problems/barriers, which limit disadvantaged students from competing effectively in health professions educational pipeline. This will be accomplished through structured activities, 3 month Saturday Academy modules, 8-week summer Health Careers Academy for college freshmen and sophomores, 8-week summer Test Preparation programs for college juniors at East Tennessee State University demonstrating increased scores on mock professional school exams (MCAT, DAT and PCAT), 8-week pre-matriculation (conditional admission) program for college graduates of whom are expected to complete the program with a grade of “C” or better and be admitted to a State professional school immediately following the program, and monitoring of academic progress of HCOP eligible at-risk students enrolled in the Colleges of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Allied Health Sciences. The HCOP evaluation plan will be a process of collecting data that will be used to make decisions regarding: acquisition of knowledge and skills by HCOP participants; project design; and project impact. Data will be collected in various forms to document whether and how the project achieves its objectives and to conduct interim assessments on the quality of instruction, as well as on programmatic activities. University
of Tennessee at Chattanooga Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is a public, four-year institution that serves a regional constituency, which includes a heavily disadvantaged, urban population in Hamilton County, Tennessee. In this region, health care professional shortages are significant. The proposed program, Allied Health CAREERS (Careers, Awareness, Recruitment, Education, Enrollment, and Retention for Students) will serve 150 students (70 middle school students, 50 high school students, 25 undergraduate students and 5 professional school students). The goal of the project is to extend the educational pipeline into allied health careers to students who traditionally may not consider such careers due to educational or economic disadvantages. The project will achieve this goal through meeting the following objectives: 1) Disseminate recruitment materials in conjunction with normal school activities including student organizations, regular counseling sessions, career planning activities, and math and science classes; 2) Provide a variety of activities to promote college readiness and enrollment among middle and high school students; 3) Provide UTC students to serve as tutors for 3 hours/week during the academic year after school at the target schools. A plan will be included in each participant’s College Readiness plan to maintain a GPA of 3.0 or better and we will monitor progress quarterly and provide interventions as necessary; 4) Conduct 9 workshops during the academic year to focus on special topics (e.g., career opportunities in allied health, research skills, financial planning for college, UTC/Chattanooga State student shadowing, etc.) Workshops will be held on weekends, evenings, or school in-service days. Summer Institutes will be held for middle school, high school, and college-level students where students will participate in academic enrichment and applied health experiences; 5) Inform all participants and their parents about all the forms of financial aid available to them, provide financial aid information on the program website, assist all 11th and 12th grade students with completing and submitting financial aid forms; 6) During the Summer Institutes, participants will engage in field trips, service projects, tours, and observations in clinical facilities to provide them with first-hand knowledge of the activities of different allied health professionals. Students will complete a portfolio documenting their clinical experiences. The Project Evaluator will have primary responsibility for the evaluation and will work with the Project Director and the target schools to secure and analyze data. We will utilize a central project database to maintain and analyze project information, participant files to measure the progress and participation of individual students, and a variety of pre- and post-measures, participant questionnaires, and an annual project survey. Prairie View A&M
University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The program seeks to identify potential medical doctors, dentists and other health professionals from disadvantaged backgrounds while they are in high school and to provide them with academic enrichment activities to improve their potential of being accepted to health professions schools. Through partnerships with health professions schools, school districts and community-based entities, the University conducts an eight-week summer academic enrichment institute for 40 pre-matriculants from disadvantaged backgrounds, a two-week pre-college summer science camp for at least 25 high school students, a freshman year academic enhancement component for the 40 summer matriculants in addition to 40 other HCOP eligible freshmen and about 275 school district students, a facilitation of entry program for upper class HCOP students to obtain the goal of having these students become qualified competitive applicants for schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, podiatry, chiropractic, veterinary medicine, optometry, public health or allied health by having competitive admissions test scores, grades and experiences. Programs of recruitment to the health professions pathway, dissemination of health careers information and financial aid, counseling, mentoring and preliminary education are conducted in secondary schools, in HCOP conferences held on campus for at least 200 high school students, in the pre-matriculant programs and the university HCOP student programs. Promising secondary students from disadvantaged backgrounds are provided guidance on the proper curriculum preparation coupled with motivational health careers experiences. These students research and prepare presentations on health professions topics and role models for the HCOP conferences. As they becomes rising high school seniors they are recruited into the two-week summer academic enhancement camp that offers tutoring in mathematics, biology, chemistry and English combined with a field trip to health professions schools. The entry of these students into the eight-week summer academic enrichment institute the following summer for 40 pre-matriculants from disadvantaged backgrounds. They will be able to improve their preparation for college science major’s biology, chemistry and mathematics (pre-calculus and calculus). They will also participate in health careers seminars and field trips. Pre-matriculants will become adjusted to the University and finalize their financial aid awards for college. These students matriculate and join at least 40 other HCOP eligible freshmen in the fall/spring that provides two structured health careers seminars per week, conducted by their specific health professions advisor, counseling, advisement, enhancement of study skills, health careers field trips and facilitation of entry into health careers summer programs at partnership health professions schools. A facilitation of entry program is conducted for upper class HCOP participants that include preparation for the MCAT and DAT and support in the preparation of applications for health profession schools to obtain the goal of having the participants become qualified, competitive applicants to health profession schools. Texas
A&M Research Foundation Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The purpose of this Health Career Opportunity Program project is to increase the number of dentists serving disadvantaged populations in Texas by admitting more disadvantaged students into dental school and retaining and graduating these students. The program includes activities, which address career awareness, attraction, preliminary education, facilitated entry, and retention of students. The program targets students in grades K-12 in two local school districts (the majority of whose students are disadvantaged or underrepresented minorities) and students in ten Texas colleges and universities of which four have significant enrollments of disadvantaged and underrepresented minority students). Baylor College of Dentistry faculty and staff annually visit elementary schools to offer career awareness activities to more than 7000 students. Each year five hundred middle and high school students visit the College and dental offices and clinics for career awareness activities. Twenty-five disadvantaged 11th grade students and twenty-five disadvantaged 12th grade students who are interested in the health professions students are selected to participate in the program to increase their awareness of all aspects of dental school and their interest in the pursuit of dentistry as a career. All 50 students attend six monthly sessions at Baylor College of Dentistry. Each session consists of a presentation on dentistry and the dental specialties, a workshop in study skills or college application, a hands-on dental activity, and roundtable discussions with dental practitioners from the community. The 25 rising seniors will participate in an intensive, seven-week Summer Academic Enrichment Program. Program activities focus on instruction to increase students' skills in math, science, reading, writing, and studying. A major component of the enrichment program is SAT preparation. Pre-dental college student participate in an eight-week Summer Pre-Dental Enrichment Program to strengthen their academic proficiency in the basic sciences, develop their manual dexterity skills, enhance their computer skills, and prepare them to successfully take the official DAT by the completion of the program. The curriculum consists of six core courses, Introduction to the Human Body; Introduction to Dental Sciences; Pre-clinical Dentistry; Learning Strategies; Applied Computer Technology for the Health Professional; and DAT Preparation. The curriculum and activities facilitate each student's understanding and knowledge of the interrelationships of the sciences important to dentistry. Also, this program prepares students in the level of effort, which is necessary to be successful in dental school. The students receive pre-application academic counseling as well as post-application advocacy before the College's Admissions Committee. Facilitated-entry activities promote students' self-reliance, and increase their competitiveness for admission to dental school. The activities are designed to help students develop entry skills required to apply for admissions, take the DAT, locate financial resources, and complete the pre-admissions interview. The participants of the SPEP program are tracked from participation in the program through application to, interviews at, acceptance to, matriculation into, and graduation from dental school. University
of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The UTMB HCOP involves five disciplines (occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, clinical laboratory sciences, and respiratory care) in the school of Allied Health Sciences. The goal of the comprehensive project is to improve the identification, recruitment, retention and graduation of individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. The comprehensive Strategies and Techniques Applied to Recruit and Retain Students (STARRS) Project will involve the five disciplines identified above and support resources form the partner institutions and agencies. The STARRS Project will address all five HCOP priorities: recruitment, facilitating entry, counseling and mentoring, primary education & health research training, financial information dissemination, primary care exposure activities, and develop a more comprehensive applicant pool. The project design will build on and expand existing recruitment and outreach activities to identify, recruit, retain and graduate disadvantaged students in professional programs sponsored by the School of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Activities will be administered by the Office of Admissions and Students Affairs and the HCOP (STARRS Project) Coordinator and staff, with support from the Office of the Dean. The comprehensive STARRS Project will utilize the links and close ties established with health advisors at key feeder schools developed during earlier HCOP efforts. The STARRS project will also include the resources available through the partner institutions and agencies. University
of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The goal of this project at the University of Texas Medical Branch @ Galveston (UTMBG) is to prepare and increase the acceptance rate of disadvantaged students primarily Hispanic and African Americans. To achieve this goal UTMBG will be implementing a Recruitment, Retention, Preliminary Education and Facilitating Entry programs. The Recruitment program will target an average of 15 to 20 African American and 33-40 Hispanic students over a three-year period. This program has three components involving: the Medical School Familiarization Program (MSFP) activities that include motivational activities which encourage students to their goal achievement, clinical experiences which include attending rounds, observing hospital procedures, and assisting the emergency room and academic support activities comprised of learning skills, workshops, etc. The Prematriculation Program, which is a 6-week summer program, that serves to buffer the transition from undergraduate school to medical school and give disadvantaged students an enriching educational experience. The Early Medical School Acceptance Program (EMSAP), is geared for disadvantaged students in South Texas with strong academic performance, above average standardized test scores to complete preprofessional education and enter medical school. The Retention program emphasizes a 95 percent completion rate assuring graduation within four to five years. The Preliminary Education program will identify, select, enroll, maintain and graduate 20 disadvantaged premedical students, 5 each from the University of Texas El Paso, Pan American, Brownsville and Texas A&M Laredo into the Early Medical School Acceptance Program. The program will identify, select, and enroll 25-targeted disadvantaged students into the Medical School Familiarization Program. It is expected that 95 percent of participants will sit for the fall administration of the MCAT, 80 percent will score at or above the National mean in each section. The Facilitating Entry program is to familiarize disadvantaged students and their premedical advisors with the format, content, and grading of the MCAT examination and present a method of preparation of this examination to over 500 students. This will be accomplished by enrolling them in Medical School Familiarization Program that will assist these students prepare for the MCAT and the methods of applying and interviewing for medical school. The major goal for UTMB is to matriculate and increase the number of Hispanics from 33 to 44 and African American. Additionally, specific academic and personal counseling support systems will be put into place at each of the partnership universities to help assure students’ completion of the Baccalaureate and M.D. degrees. Salt Lake Community
College Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Utah, with the fourth fastest growth rate in the nation, is experiencing an increasing demand for not only health care professions, but for a more diversified pool of health care workers that reflects the states increasing diversity of residents. The purpose of this application grows out of the need in the urban areas of Salt Lake City for increasing access to health care educational experiences for disadvantaged students, increasing the quality of the applicant pools for post-secondary health professions programs, and improving access to health care through expanded diversity and distribution of the health care workforce. Crossroads AHEC proposes to implement an educational pipeline from 7th grade to 12th grade, through college, and into health professions programs and employment. This pipeline will address all of the principle goals of the “Kids Into Health Careers Initiative,” with linkages established within disadvantaged schools with the highest percentages of underrepresented minorities in the state. The stated key purposes of this proposal will be to recruit and assist disadvantaged students, beginning from the Junior High School level through the college level, to “learn and achieve success” within a health care career. It is the intention of the HCOP partners to assist as many students as possible to achieve a foundation of success and stability with a college degree program and realize their potential to excel even further. Special emphasis will be given to the completion of in-demand associates degree programs in Radiological Technology, Biotechnology Technician, Medical Laboratory Technician, Physical Therapy Assistant, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Fitness Technician, Dental Hygiene, or Health Science. These programs will not only provide disadvantaged students a strong health related foundation, experience, and valuable job skills, but a platform for continued educational and career success. An HCOP pipeline has been developed to build awareness of health career opportunities and assist students and their parents/guardians to overcome educational, economic, cultural and social barriers they face in reaching career success. The HCOP Pipeline will encompass four primary objectives: Student Recruitment Phase, to assure a more competitive applicant pool by identifying and recruiting a minimum of 175 disadvantaged students into the Preparatory Phase of the HCOP pipeline. Student Preparation for Post-Secondary Health Professions Phase, to facilitate the entry of a minimum of 75 disadvantaged students into post-secondary health professions programs. Student Retention Phase, to assist a minimum of 25 HCOP students per year with obtaining the personal and financial resources necessary to complete an associates degree in a health professions area. Cultural Competence Development Phase, which will include activities that have been developed to assist HCOP students and their parent/guardians, health professions students and current health professionals develop a greater ability to provide quality health care services to diverse patients. University of the
Virgin Islands Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) is a Historically Black University and a Land Grant Institution. It is the only institution of higher learning in the Virgin Islands and serves not only the U. S. Virgin Islands but also other Caribbean islands including Anguilla, Antigua, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Martin, and Trinidad. UVI is a small liberal arts, public, coed institution with a total enrollment of 2898 students. Of the total in the fall 1997, approximately 80 percent were black. The student body is predominantly Black and predominately female (75 percent). The UVI is cognizant of its role in the Virgin Islands community, which is overwhelmingly Black with a significant Hispanic component on St, Croix. Many of our students are economically and academically disadvantaged. The University provides strong programs with a low tuition rate, thus allowing many members of the Virgin Islands community to take advantage of higher education. UVI has had a successful HCOP program since academic year 1990-1991. The greatest emphasis of the past programs has been on the Summer Science Enrichment Program (SSEP). In support of this program, the University has provided summer housing for the pre-freshmen students. UVI will continue this commitment, and will accommodate the expansion of the program to include 25 students. Preliminary Education will be aimed at 25 high school graduates and rising seniors who have expressed an interest in health-related careers, selected on the basis of economic need and academic promise. They will attend a seven-week SSEP program, with courses in mathematics, chemistry, biology, physics, and workshops or seminars in learning strategies, SAT test taking, career opportunities and current biomedical issues. During subsequent matriculation at UVI, the trainees will be tracked for their performance in science and mathematics courses. Their performance will be compared to other freshmen that were not participants in the HCOP SSEP, as well as to freshmen from previous years. These students will be continually tracked through their undergraduate years, and urged to take advantage of the offerings of the Facilitating Entry Programs. Through the Facilitating Entry Programs, UVI-HCOP will offer GRE and MCAT preparation courses. Through a partnership with the Boston University Medical School, UVI students will be eligible for early matriculation into BU Medical School, completing their senior year at Boston University before entering the Medical School. UVI will partner with UVI-Upward Bound, the Roy L. Schneider Hospital, the VI Dental Association, the VI Veterinarians, the East End Family Health Center, the Addelita Cancryn Junior High School, and the Charlotte Amalie High School. This partnership is broad in its scope, and aims to address the goals of the UVI-HCOP program. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the partnership, as well as to discuss programmatic features, an advisory board with membership from each entity will be formed. Northern Virginia
Community College Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Northern VA Community College (NVCC), located in the metropolitan Washington DC area, consisting of five campuses and soon to be six campuses with the development of a Medical Education campus. NVCC is the second largest multi-campus community college in the Nation serving a rich, diverse student population numbering over 60,000. The Annandale campus is home to the College’s Division of Health Technologies that includes nursing and allied health programs. The seven Associate Science degree programs affiliated with the HCOP include Dental Hygiene, Emergency Medical Services Technology, Health Information Technology, Medical Laboratory Technology, Physical Therapist Assistant, Radiography and Respiratory Therapy. The HCOP Program Purposes of Recruitment, Facilitating entry and Financial Aid Information Dissemination are effectively institutionalized for Health Technologies students as a result of the current HCOP program at NVCC. The purpose of this grant is to transform the current NVCC HCOP to a comprehensive model in support of the National Workforce Goals, Outcomes and Indicators by conducting the seven HCOP Program Purposes. Virginia
Commonwealth University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Virginia Commonwealth University is a comprehensive state-supported doctoral institution of higher education located in Richmond, VA. VCU has successfully provided academic services to traditionally under-served populations especially students from historically black institutions. The MCV Campus has been successful in developing, implementing and managing enrichment programs for disadvantaged students in careers in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, health administration, physical therapy, occupational therapy and other al lied health professions. The Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) has developed a partnership with the Greater Richmond AHEC to create a more competitive applicant pool. To generate a competitive applicant pool (primarily African Americans) interested in the health sciences, the HCOP will recruit students at the base of the educational pipeline by identifying minority and disadvantaged middle and high school students in the Richmond Public Schools. These students will be attend health awareness presentations and workshops, science seminars, laboratory facilities at the MCV Campus, health fairs and classes in learning strategies (test-taking, note-taking, mnemonic devices, time management, medical terminology, and computer research skills). For recruitment purposes, the program intends to increase the applicant pool of disadvantaged Virginia students (primarily African Americans) who are interested in seeking careers in Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Health Administration, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and other Allied Health programs from the current 300 applicants each year to 400. The HCOP will assist VCU, Virginia Union University, Virginia State University, Hampton University, Norfolk State University, and Saint Paul’s College in providing preliminary education, which is intended to strengthen and enrich the basic education of disadvantaged undergraduate students who seek health careers. Students will develop effective academic skills early in their college careers. To facilitate the entry of disadvantaged students who are interested in Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Health Administration, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and other Allied Health professions at the MCV Campus of VCU, the program will have a pre-admission workshop for students. This concentrated, intensive 8-week summer workshop (dual pre-entry and pre-matriculation program) is a residential enrichment program, emphasizing techniques, which specifically help students become qualified for admission, as well as enhances their ability to succeed academically. The retention component includes a tutorial (peer and individual) program, a buddy system, as well as financial academic, career and personal counseling. These activities will ensure the retention and graduation of at least 96-100 percent of students enrolled in HCOP targeted health science programs each year. University of Washington Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The goal of the Health Careers Opportunity Program at the University of Washington School of Medicine Office of Multicultural Affairs is to assist individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in activities that facilitate their matriculation and graduation from health professions schools, especially medical school. Proposed HCOP activities include the development of a comprehensive partnership within the states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho (also known as the WWAMI states) of five undergraduate institutions — University of Alaska Anchorage, Washington State University, University of Idaho, Montana State University, and University of Wyoming — five Area Health Education Centers, and local school districts within the WWAMI region. The lead agency is the University of Washington School of Medicine. In addition to funding recruitment and outreach activities, this HCOP grant proposes continued funding for the UDOC High School Summer Program and the Summer Prematriculation Program. These two programs have served to increase the matriculation and graduation of disadvantaged students into and from medical school and other health professions. This HCOP, which consolidates the outreach efforts of a land mass that constitutes about 23% of the entire United States, is built on a 33 year foundation of a highly successful model of decentralized medical education, a medical school without walls. This proposed HCOP complements an already existing pipeline of K-12, college, community college, medical school, and faculty development activities under the umbrella of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Yakima
Valley Farmworkers Clinic Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic (YVFWC) has provided educational and training initiatives for disadvantaged high school, undergraduate, and health professions program for students through grant programs, partnerships with health professions programs and by participation in community projects. The YVFWC has also provided specific academic enrichment activities to high school students resulting in high levels of post-secondary enrollment. Affiliation agreements have been established with ten health professions programs for residency rotations and clinical placements at its clinics. The YVFWC has formed a strategic Alliance with school districts, undergraduate colleges/universities, health professions programs, and community-based organizations to provide the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) to 100 educationally and economically disadvantaged students in the Yakima Valley of Washington State each year. YVFWC will build upon its community leadership, educational and training experience to provide a comprehensive strategy delivering academic enrichment and support activities that increase the number of disadvantaged students applying to health professions programs. The YVFWC HCOP will target 30 middle school, 30 high school, 25 undergraduate, and 15 health professions program students each year for five years. A strategy formulation process was used to develop the comprehensive strategy and project objectives. Activities include a strong recruitment effort in the middle and high schools; clinical placements at YVFWC sites; a six-week Summer Vocation Program that focuses on academic enrichment, cultural sensitivity/cultural competency trainings regarding underserved populations, and exposure to primary care settings. Advanced HCOP students will mentor entering students throughout the year, providing them with emotional support, while the HCOP provides them with information about financial aid and assistant services, including Summer Vocation Program stipends. The evaluation of the HCOP Alliance Program will be conducted by the University of Washington, Center for the Study and Teaching of At-Risk Students. The Center has extensive experience in evaluating school-based projects serving special populations in the state. West Virginia University
Research Corporation Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The Central Appalachian Health Careers Opportunity Network is a comprehensive program that formally links the West Virginia University Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center (WVU), Western Maryland Area Health Education Center (WMAHEC), West Virginia's state-wide 9 -12th grade Health Sciences Technology Academy (HSTA) and Allegany County, Washington County and Garrett County, Maryland Boards of Education. The partnership goal is to address all seven HCOP program purposes. CAHCON is part of an educational pipeline from middle schools through health professional schools for central Appalachia's disadvantaged students. The objectives of CAHCON are as follows:
Marquette University Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program Marquette University's HCOP is a comprehensive model based on 23 yrs of continuous HCOP funding, having graduated over 509 practitioners from disadvantaged backgrounds in dentistry, physical therapy, and physician assistant studies. Marquette health professions programs, its undergraduate majors, the Milwaukee Public School System (MPS), and Milwaukee Community-Based-Organizations are four major components of this partnership. The geographic focus is: 1) urban Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which has four dental and five medical HPSA's, and 2) an expanded Midwest regional focus to include urban Chicago. Our HCOP has impact in three areas including: 1) development of the pipeline through expanded MPS partnerships with 3 new Science/Biotech Academies, 2) new HCOP expansion into Marquette Speech-Language Pathology (SLP), Clinical Laboratory Science, and Biomedical Sciences, and 3) implementation of three sequential high school summer programs, and two collegiate programs to plug pipeline weaknesses locally in Milwaukee. The Marquette HCOP will Develop a More Competitive Pool from linkages with new MPS partners. Field trips, health career clubs, presentations, and pre-college programs are featured at middle and high school levels. Linkages with the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (UWM) and the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) provide two-way referral pathway for the HCOP pipeline. Recruitment strategies include a Saturday Bridge program, pre-college programs and matriculation agreements. Preliminary Education and Facilitating Entry are offered in five summer programs - three high school and two undergraduate programs, including a Summer Science Enrichment Programs (SSEP I-III) for rising high school sophomores, juniors and seniors, respectively. A college science enrichment program (CESP) and a pre-enrollment support program (PESP) are provided to college students interested in, or accepted into, Marquette health professions. Primary Care Exposure with clinical partners, is a key element of HCOP programs. Counseling, Mentorship and Retention are provided to pre-professional and professional phase students including tutorials and comprehensive advising. Financial Aid Advising is provided during recruitment strategies, summer programs, and advising sessions. Cultural Competence is addressed in summer programs, pre-college programs, undergraduate majors, and professional curricula. University
of Wisconsin System Comprehensive Health Careers Opportunity Program The purpose of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, College of Health Sciences' HCOP is to recruit an applicant pool of economically and educationally disadvantaged students in order to build diversity in the health professions. HCOP provides students an opportunity to develop the skills needed to successfully enter and graduate from health and allied health professions. The "Health Educational Pathway" begins in the fourth grade and continues through acceptance to and graduation from health and allied health programs. Students receive enrichment and support services to facilitate entry and persistence in Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Communication and Sciences Disorders, Health Care Administration, Occupational Therapy, Human Movement Sciences, Pre-allopathic Medicine, Pre-physical Therapy and Pre-pharmacy. HCOP implements both summer and academic year preliminary education programs designed to enhance students' performance: These pro grams include the: Saturday Academy and Pre-college Health Sciences Institute for rising high school juniors and seniors, Summer Enrichment Programs that prepare pre-freshmen undergraduates and continuing undergraduates for study in the health sciences and pre-medicine and the MCAT Intensive Review that strengthens undergraduates' test taking skills. The HCOP also provides counseling, mentoring and other services that ease students' adjustment to college. Financial aid information is disseminated to help students and parents learn how to finance an education in such programs. The Mentoring Program provides undergraduates with primary care experience and interaction with health providers. These comprehensive activities, implemented through linkages with formal partners representing educational institutions, health providers and community-based organizations, contribute to developing a more competitive applicant pool. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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