Summer Institute Program to Increase Diversity in Health-Related Research (SIPID)

Program Overview

The Summer Institute Program to Increase Diversity in Health-Related Research (SIPID) is an all-expense-paid research career advancement opportunity sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) through a variety of Summer Institutes. These mentored research programs will address the difficulties experienced by junior investigators in establishing independent research programs and negotiating through the academic ranks. The primary outcome of this program is to increase the number of scientists and research-oriented faculty who are from ethnic groups currently under-represented in science and those with disabilities who successfully compete for external funding for scientific research in the biomedical and behavioral sciences in heart, lung, blood, and sleep (HLBS) disorders.

WHO? Junior faculty and scientists (i) from under-represented ethnic groups and/or (ii) with disabilities. Individuals in training status at the time of matriculation are not eligible.

WHY? Broaden the demographic profile of medical research by training junior scientists from under-represented ethnic backgrounds and/or with disabilities to advance their scientific careers and be more competitive with their peers for external research funding.

HOW? The all-expense-paid program brings participants to the Summer Institute for 1- to 3-week sessions during two consecutive summers, with a short mid-year visit.

SIPID provides mentor-mentee partnerships with matching based on common research interests. The mentors will be experienced in research and grant writing and will offer long-term collaborations. The didactic curricula involve faculty and mentors from multiple disciplines with various levels of hands-on training. Special emphasis is placed on developing grantsmanship skills, with mentors assisting mentees one-on-one to develop specific research projects and improve long-term fundability. NHLBI scientific program staff will provide a grants workshop to assist mentees with project focus and to identify viable funding sources to promote a sustainable independent research program for career advancement.

APPLY EARLY! There are only a limited number of openings for each program.

For the summer of 2008, SIPID mentoring will be available at three dynamic programs in exciting clinical and basic research areas:

Cardiovascular Genetic Epidemiology, Washington University in St. Louis, Program Director, D.C. Rao, Ph.D. For more information contact sipid-ge@wubios.wustl.edu.

Functional Genomics of Blood Disorders, University of Texas at Dallas, Program Director, Betty S. Pace, M.D. For more information contact Renay.Fleming@utdallas.edu.

Cardiovascular Health Disparities, State University of New York, Program Director, Mohamed Boutjdir, Ph.D. For more information contact gjean-louis@downstate.edu.

January 2008