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Centers of Excellence > FY 2002 GranteesAlabama | California | Colorado | District of Columbia | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Illinois | Kansas | Louisiana | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Montana | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | Oklahoma | Pennsylvania | Puerto Rico | Tennessee | Texas | Washington Tuskegee University Alfonza
Atkinson, Ph.D. Historically
Black College & University Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine (TUSVM) is a major educator of historically underrepresented minorities. It has graduated more than 72% of all U.S. trained Black veterinarians since its founding in 1944. Four-year trends in minority veterinary medical education are striking with TUSVM having educated 8.4% of all Hispanic American veterinarians and more than 53.3% of all African American veterinary students who graduated in the past four years. The Center of Excellence (COE) program at TUSVM represents a comprehensive plan of action to increase the number of underrepresented minorities who enter the workforce in the United States as well prepared veterinarians. Through innovations in teaching that stress cultural competence, mastery of information technology, and an appreciation of the human-animal interdependent relationship, this population of new veterinarians will be uniquely qualified to provide for the health needs of underserved and unserved populations. The objectives proposed for the TUSVM COE include: 1) maintaining a health professions competitive applicant pool that tracks African American and other underrepresented minority students and increases the number of URMs applying for admission to TUSVM; 2) improve academic performance of TUSVM’s students in their core courses and to improve TUSVM’s first time pass rate on the national veterinary medical licensing examination; 3) strengthen the infrastructure of the Teaching/Learning Center by creating a Computer Laboratory/Training Center and TLC Library and by increasing the School’s teaching and learning resources; 4) recruitment of URM faculty in molecular biology, clinical pharmacology, and small animal surgery; and 5) clinical experience in underserved areas for veterinary medicine students. The evaluation of the TUSVM COE provides a mechanism for collecting quantitative and qualitative data. The data will continuously be monitored and modified in addition to its impact on the COE programs and activities so that the School can most efficiently reach its goal of excellence. University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine Michael
V. Drake, M.D. Hispanic - Center of Excellence The University of California San Francisco (UCSF), School of Medicine began a concerted effort to increase the diversity of its medical school classes in the late 1960s. A wide variety of recruitment and retention programs were established; These efforts most extremely successful through the early 1990s, with the School of Medicine in San Francisco annually ranking between first and fifth nationally in the percentage of underrepresented minority students admitted and quarter of the twentieth century. The UCSF proposes to develop an expanded MCAT academic year program to complement the intense summer program funded by the university’s Comprehensive HCOP grant. Students will be provided a research methodology course for undergraduate pre-health students to aid them in their pursuit of health research; The UCSF objective is to maintain the institution’s level of student retention and performance, which has been less than one percent academic attrition of all underrepresented (URM) students; The UCSF will provide one full-time Latino research fellowship annually on the main campus to work with faculty on a project related to Latino health care; structured diversity training for all faculty in all departments; one Latino Fresno-based resident or junior faculty member and provide a 2-year fellowship opportunity for research and faculty development focused on Latino health issues; two research fellows will be selected from the UCSF-Fresno Latino junior faculty to strengthen their academic development on a 25 percent time basis for 2 years. The UCSF will establish a procedure by which every SOM course is evaluated on its ability to address issues relating to minorities and women. These courses will be monitored by the Committee on Curricular and Educational Policy. Three Latino medical students will be sponsored to complete a research project focusing on Latino health issues each of whom will be assigned a Latino faculty mentor. The UCSF will continue to develop a community-based research program in Fresno, which focuses on Latino health issues and incorporates five teams of students and faculty as a research team. Additionally, the UCSF will develop a unique opportunity for medical students to work in a student run clinic focusing on migrant farm workers and homeless persons in Fresno County. The evaluation of this program will be designed to determine whether or not the program objectives are achieved and the degree to which the program is a success. The evaluation will focus on two streams of information which will be collected at appropriate and specific time points throughout the project. With several of the program objectives, baseline data will be used to measure progress among the program participants. UCLA School of Medicine Gerald
S. Levey, M.D. Other - Center of Excellence The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine has been a national leader in the enrollment and training of underrepresented minority (URM) medical students for over 25 years. The UCLA initiated programs to advance the role of minorities in health professions in the early 1970s, establishing an admissions subcommittee for disadvantaged applicants, recruiting minority faculty members into leadership positions and establishing a minority affairs office (Office of Student Support Services). The proposed objectives and activities build on the success of the current COE grant: 1) Student Performance: Add new components to four institutionally-funded programs an enriched pre-matriculation program for Drew, expansion of the Master Study Program, the use of NBME subject exams for USMLE Step1 review, and preventive individual counseling; 2) Faculty Development: Improve strategies for the recruitment of new URM faculty with regular status reporting to departmental chairs and “growing our own” through recruitment of our URM residents; increasing exposure of URM medical students to academic career options and opportunities to teach and do research; a combination of career mentoring and enhanced access to research training opportunities at UCLA and Drew for the advancement of careers of junior URM faculty; 3) Information Resources, Curriculum and Clinical Education: investment to support both the research and educational programs in health care diversity and development of small group exercises and lectures for insertion into multiple courses to further reinforce cultural competency; 4) Faculty and Student Research: summer program including research experience and a seminar series will be funded for 12 URM medical students with funding to present their results at national and regional meetings; research conducted by URM faculty and students will be highlighted on the COE website with links from the library and medical school homepages; 5) Student Training in Providing Health Care Services: all UCLA/Drew students will currently spend 2 months or more in one of the three county medical centers and clinics affiliated with UCLA and Drew, several of which are Health Professional Shortage Areas; 6) Competitive Applicant Pool: expansion of the current COE activities with a partnership with the Allied Health program at Drew University for the purpose of sharing resources to enlarge outreach activities. In addition to those measures of outcomes associated with each grant objective, the COE plans to continue the following studies of program effectiveness: Is there any evidence that participation in COE activities influenced academic advancement for URM junior faculty members; 2) What are the factors that influence URM medical students and alumni to express an interest in or choose an academic career? 3) How are the minority health care resources from UCLA and Drew medical libraries used? 4) Do a larger number of fourth-year medical students report an adequate amount of minority health and cultural competency material in their curriculum in the final year of the grant than in the first year of the grant? Do ratings differ between URM and non-URM students? 5) Is participation in COE retention programs correlated with higher USMLE Step 1 and 2 scores? 6) Will the high school students targeted in the COE programs report an increased interest in health-related careers than before participating? 7) What percentage of college students who participated in COE programs matriculate in medical or allied health schools? Stanford University School of Medicine Fernando
Mendoza, M.D., M.P.H. Hispanic - Center of Excellence The Stanford School of Medicine (SSM) Centers of Excellence purposes are to change the School of Medicine’s capacity to recruit and retain underrepresented minority faculty and students, and to change the fundamental curriculum in ways that promote information, training, and research related to minority health care issues and the elimination of health disparities. Activities to accomplish each objective are listed below: 1) Student Performance: Minority student performance will be improved by participation in the Early Matriculation Program, nonacademic and academic advising, mentorship program, tutorial assistance, and a leadership program. A two-quarter USMLE Step 1 board review course will be offered; 2) Faculty Development: A URM faculty pipeline program is proposed to increase the pool of URM medical students, residents, and fellows interested in academic careers; centralize recruitment of residents, fellows, and faculty; develop individual academic development plans for junior faculty with department chair and dean’s office collaborations, faculty fellowship program and a postdoctoral fellowship; 3) Information, Curriculum, Cultural Competence: The school’s capacity to offer information related to minority health will be enhanced by numerous activities, courses, and programs such as the expansion of a minority medical information center, minority health care disparities conference, courses on cross-cultural medicine, the PriSMS Program, linguistic competence training (Spanish language and working with interpreters), development of case-based problems for clinical teaching, development of standardized-patient models for teaching and evaluation of cultural competence curriculum, and resident and faculty development course related to teaching cross-cultural medicine. 4) Faculty and Student Research: Minority students will have increased opportunities to participate in minority health care research projects through individual assistance from COE methodologist, seminars and courses, the Early Matriculation Program, research stipends, travel funds, partnerships with research centers, and the PriSMS Program; 5) Clinical Services Away from Institution: URM students will have increased opportunities to participate in clinical experiences away from Stanford; 6) Competitive Applicant Pool: The competitive applicant pool will be increased through the Stanford Comprehensive Health Careers Pipeline. This includes partnerships with middle schools, high schools, community colleges, and undergraduate institutions in the area. At each of these institutions, minority students will be offered information, preparation, role models, mentorship, academic preparation, and clinical exposure for premedical students. In addition, partnerships with the Stanford Medical Youth Science Program and linkages with the Stanford Office of Admissions will expand the applicant pool. Activities for each objective will be evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. Data related to name gender, and race/ethnicity will be maintained in a central tracking system for participants in each objective. The evaluation strategy is designed to provide information in a timely manner as to the success or failure of an activity. The COE’s advisory committee will meet on an annual basis to review the overall performance of the program.
University
of California-San Diego Sandra
P. Daley, M.D. Hispanic - Center of Excellence The University of California, San Diego School of Medicine (UCSD SOM) began a Hispanic Center of Excellence (HCOE) program serving the California’s San Diego and Imperial Counties border region in 1993. The purpose of the HCOE is to support the development of scientific knowledge and research skills of Hispanic students so that they may successfully complete their course of study and become exemplary healthcare providers who are capable of achieving senior rank on the academic faculty of health professions schools. The legislative purposes and objectives include: 1) Student Performance: Hispanic students who complete the first year in good academic standing may become a HCOE Scholar at any point in their training. Summer Pre-Entry; year-long Tutorial, USMLE Prep and Review course; Review for Re-examinations; and Standardized Test Preparation and Desensitization Programs. 2) Faculty Development: HCOE assists Departments in recruiting 3 Hispanic faculty; Each junior faculty member is assigned an Academic Career Coordinator; three Hispanic junior faculty attend one of the following faculty development programs: the Center of Leadership in Academic Medicine; the Family Medicine Community Medicine/Care for the Underserved; the Cross-Border Healthcare Network’s training programs. 3) Information Resources, Clinical Education, Curricula, and Cultural Competence: Complete and implement Computer Assisted Instruction for basic science courses. Medical students enroll in required courses on Hispanic/other URM health issues, and in the Pediatric Border Health Cross Cultural core clerkship. 4) Faculty/Student Research: Conduct a course in research methodology and experimental design; Encourage Faculty, Scholars, and other URM students to engage in research on Hispanic and other URM health issues. 5) Student Health Services Training: Every student spends at least one-half day/week in health facilities remote from the school providing health services to URM populations. Conduct research, health education, or health promotion activities in URM community sites. 6) Competitive Applicant Pool: Conduct year-long in school, after school, and summer academic enrichment programs for 5th Grade to college age students as a partner with GEAR UP, Harvey Mudd College, six Community Colleges, San Diego Unified and Sweetwater School Districts. Conduct a Conditional Acceptance Post-baccalaureate program. The evaluation consists of the collection of quantitative and qualitative data that results in an annual appraisal and analysis of the accomplishments. They include: 1) Number of Hispanics enrolled; HCOE Scholars, advisors and mentors; students enrolled in community based training sites and cultural sensitivity courses; tracking retention, graduation, and performance in courses, clerkships and USMLE; 2) Number of papers, posters, fellowships; 3) Establishment of courses in Computer Assisted Instruction, Cognitive Strategies and Cross Cultural Pediatric clerkship in Border Health. 4) Number of K-12 and community college students; performance on research projects. The outcome evaluation will determine to what extent we achieved our objectives. University of Colorado School of Pharmacy Ralph
J. Altiere, Ph.D. Other - Center of Excellence Over the past decade, the University of Colorado, School of Pharmacy (UC SOP) has place an extremely high priority on developing a diverse staff and student body. As a result of this effort, the school now enjoys the benefits of having a notably diverse staff and the most highly diverse student body of any school or college in the University of Colorado four campus system. The staff routinely consists of 20 to 40 percent underrepresented minorities (URM). The entire student body of the School of Pharmacy consists of 37 percent URMs. The Office of Student Services (OSS) Director and culturally competent staff will deliver academic support, parent/spouse meetings, student/family counseling, study skills, time/stress management, tutoring, supplemental instruction, mentoring, and NAPLEX prep. Recruitment efforts will focus on incentive programs and creating a pipeline for URM graduates. In addition, a faculty development oversight committee and a formal mentoring program will support faculty retention, along with workshops that help faculty build new credentials and skills, funds for scholarly activities, and long-term faculty planning/goal setting. The SOP staff will incorporate major URM health issues related to disease states, access, and delivery of health care and economic factors. Additionally, will establish new web pages on URM health care resources and cultural issues, establishing links to diversity resources online and library collections on URM health issues. A printed web-based bibliography will promote minority health care resources. Library collections of URM-related materials will be consolidated. The campus will sponsor an annual Diversity Week in the spring and the regularly scheduled “Open and Continuous Seminar on Diversity and Culture”. Funds will support pilot research projects on minority health issues including disease mechanisms, therapeutic interventions and access, delivery and economics of health care in URM populations. Each grant year, COE-funded program staff will establish linkages with community health centers, establishing agreements for placing students at these sites. The pre-matriculation Summer Enrichment Institute (SEI) program will provide didactic and experiential courses, supplemental instruction, mentoring and tutoring. The evaluation will measure meeting outcome objectives and several other indicators. The Assistant Dean will track URM enrollment, retention, and graduation rates. Students’ satisfaction surveys will assess the quality of support groups, workshops, mentoring, academic support activities, ESL programs, clerkship placements, and other related student services. The Office of Student Services Director and ESL instructor will track student English proficiency gains. In addition to faculty outcome objectives identified above, the Faculty Development Committee and Program Administrator will document faculty development outcomes and faculty involvement in the process. The Fellowship Program Director will monitor the number of students successfully completing the fellowship program and are offered faculty positions. Howard University College of Pharmacy, Nursing & Allied Health Science Pedro
J. Lecca, Ph.D. Other - Center of Excellence Howard University (HU) College of Pharmacy was Past and current efforts are reflected in the School of Pharmacy’s effectiveness in assisting underrepresented minority (URM) students into the professional program, through extensive recruitment efforts and academic enhancement programs; providing financial aid to students (scholarships and loans); and assisting students (academic reinforcement programs, tutoring, counseling) in completing their program of study and graduating (97% completion rate). Objectives to be achieved during the grant period include: 1) Competitive Applicant pool-increasing the number of African American male students enrolled in the College’s pharmacy program; 2) Student Performance-increasing the number of competitive Howard pre-pharmacy students applying to the professional program from the current 25 to 45 and enrolled from about 18 to 25 annually. The COE will also increase the on-time graduate rate in the Pharm.D. program; improve the first time pass rate of students on the national pharmacy licensure examination; 3) Faculty Development-implementation of a formal (assigned mentor, research involvement, teaching preparation, grant writing and publication development) faculty development program; develop two fellows in research and training competencies which focus on delivery of health care to URMs in community clinical settings; and increase the number of African American faculty in the School of Pharmacy; 4) Information Resources, Clinical Education, Curricula, and Cultural Competence-development of two-hour credit course on cultural issues and sensitivity considerations relevant to URM populations; 5) Faculty/Student Research-increase the number of pharmacy students actively engaged, with a faculty/researcher mentor; 6) Student Health Services Training-increase the number of institutional-community-based clerkship sites for pharmacy students that provide services at locations that have predominantly minority populations. Relying on formative and summative evaluation methodology, activities will be evaluated on the basis of the specified outcomes of the program’s objectives, each which is measurable, time framed and outcome oriented. The academic and experiential quality of the program, and participant (students, faculty, and fellows) progress in the program, will be evaluated. The summative phase will focus on outcomes. Both quantitative and qualitative measures will be used. Florida A&M University School of Pharmacy Henry
Lewis III, Pharm.D. Other - Center of Excellence The Florida A&M University College Of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FAMU) Center Of Excellence (COE) aggressively recruits African American students in high schools and junior colleges nationwide who are interested in pharmacy as a career. The presence of COE at FAMU will help us build on existing strengths in recruitment and retention of both URM students and URM junior faculty. A six-week, daily summer enrichment program (called Project JUMPSTART!) will give year 01 and 02 students a JUMPSTART in general chemistry and organic chemistry prior to taking those courses. “Project PASS”, a COE-coordinated service is a “pharmacy” curriculum-based learning and skills development center, which offers to professional students a variety of academic support and enrichment services. Services include computerized access to lecture notes and practice problems/exams, faculty-led problem-solving sessions as well as group tutorials. FAMU COPPS produces competent pharmacy graduates as evident by our first-time pass rate of 95% on the Florida Licensure Board Examination for the past three years. To maintain this level of performance, students are provided ample opportunity to take multiple forms of a computerized “mock” comprehensive examination formatted identical to the pharmacy licensure examination. Formal faculty development and retention programs focus on skill development in grant writing and “effective teaching” for junior URM faculty. Pairing interested URM students with FAMU pharmacy faculty research mentors enriches students’ overall education and exposes them to research training and methods in a wide variety of minority health-related issues. Minority health-related research areas include lead neurotoxicity, stroke, hypertension, Parkinson disease, and cancer. A cultural competency lecture series with eight-invited lecture speakers annually has been incorporated into an existing pharmacy student forum held bi-weekly. Lecture topics will enhance students’ professional readiness and cultivate an awareness of longstanding disparities in health status that affect racial and ethnic minority groups. Moreover, preceptors who provide clinical experiences in sites remote from FAMU campus will infuse cultural competence into the clerkship training experience as it relates to providing pharmaceutical care to diverse racial and ethnic populations. Information resources will be improved by providing students at off-campus training sites dial-up access to computer resources at the Drug Information Center (DIEC) on the main campus in Tallahassee. Moreover, URM pharmacy students receive training in the DIEC on researching and writing articles, which address health issues affecting minority populations. These articles will be published in a local community newsletter and distributed to URM patient populations. GEORGIAMorehouse
School of Medicine Other - Center of Excellence Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) is a historically Black institution established to recruit and train minority and other students as physicians and biomedical scientists committed to the primary health-care needs of the underserved in this country. The MSM Center of Excellence program will address the following legislative purposes-Student Performance: MSM will establish a Student Mastery Program designed to train students to adapt to systematic critical and analytic thinking strategies, as well as an Integrated Review Course for “at risk” students to reduce the number of basic science students needing to repeat/remediate coursework from the 2000 number of 5/year to 1/year by 2005. Faculty Development: MSM will focus its efforts on improving the skills and productivity of its faculty through a structured Faculty Development program. MSM will conduct faculty development workshops throughout the year in 6 week sessions for MSM faculty, provide a longitudinal faculty development program to a select group of MSM and community physicians, and expand the existing faculty development program to provide specific opportunities for basic science faculty. Information Resources, Curricula, Cultural Competence, and Clinical Education: MSM provides access to information and resource support such as library references, journals, and publications through its Multi-Media Center. MSM will expand the current cultural curriculum to include the Spanish-Speaking Prospectus. MSM will also integrate culturally competent interviewing skills into the 1st and 2nd year curriculum to improve communication skills. Faculty and Student Research: MSM will development a student information tracking system for gathering data and information on graduating medical students that have been involved in research; assist in developing minority scientists via seminars/symposiums, technical workshops, grantsmanship and scientific writing sessions to increase the percentage of faculty. Student Training in Providing Health Care Services: MSM will carry out a program to train students in providing health services to a significant number of URMs through training provided in community based health facilities by providing a required rural health rotation for senior medical students. Competitive Applicant Pool: Through the efforts of the Premedical Scholars Program (PMSP) as well as other HCOP supported activities , the MSM expects to increase the number students participating in the PMSP gaining acceptance to health professions schools from the 2000 total of 4/year to 7/year by 2005. Each student enrolled in various courses will be assigned a biweekly review time with the Director of Counseling Services. Students will be required to complete a reporting form that tracks their progress in the course and the completion of each intended behavioral objective identified in the individualized plan. The MSM staff will use a printout from each student’s diagnostic exam, online database questions, and final simulated exam to monitor progress and ensure completion. Each student will be provided a copy of the printout to use as feedback in preparation for the Boards. UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII at MANOA John
A. Burns School of Medicine Native Hawaiian - Center of Excellence With the health status of Native Hawaiians in such a dismal state and showing no apparent signs of improvement (and in some instances getting worse) it is the mission of the Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence (NHCOE) to improve the health of indigenous Hawaiians which will be accomplished through research, education, service, and training of Native Hawaiians in various health professions. The NHCOE consists of the five following components: Recruitment: The emphasis of this component is to develop a competitive applicant pool of Native Hawaiian Students for careers in the health professions. The John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) faced a formidable task in the early years because there was no viable or competitive pool of applicants among Native Hawaiians. A systematic effort was put together under the NHCOE and projected for anticipated high yields in the 1990s. The increase in the numbers of applicants to health professional schools is due in no small part to the steady and dogged labors of the recruitment team. Retention: The thrust of this component is to enhance the academic performance of Native Hawaiian students and insure their success through medical school. Since its inception, the NHCOE retention staff has improved Native Hawaiian medical student test performance and graduation rates. Faculty Development: The NHCOE has focused on the expansion of Native Hawaiians in the JABSOM faculty. This has not been easily accomplished because of serious financial set backs which have faced the entire State of Hawaii. JABSOM faced cut backs in funding which was reflected in a significant decrease in faculty positions. Nonetheless, the NHCOE sought out individuals who would still be interested in pursuing academic careers and has been successful in attracting several Native Hawaiians to become NHCOE fellows. Under the faculty development component, the NHCOE also seeks to develop the skills and Native Hawaiian cultural competence/awareness of Native Hawaiian physicians, residents, fellows, and senior level medical students. Curriculum Development: This component of the NHCOE strives to incorporate and introduce Native Hawaiian health issues into the JABSOM curriculum. This will be done through a review of the current JABSOM curriculum, a revision of health care problems to focus on major health risks among Native Hawaiians, an improvement in Native Hawaiian information materials, and the development of Native Hawaiian simulated patients for use in tutorials. Research: The goal of this component is to encourage Native Hawaiians to develop research skills and conduct research on Native Hawaiian health issues. The research component accomplishes this by facilitating medical student and junior faculty research on Native Hawaiian health issues through placement in ongoing Native Hawaiian research projects and/or through technical assistance on original projects pertaining to Native Hawaiian health. University of Illinois at Chicago - College of Medicine Jorge
A. Girotti, Ph.D. Hispanic – Center of Excellence The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Medicine traces its origins to 1881. However it was in the late 1960s that the College took a more proactive stance on the admission and education of a diverse student body. In 1969, the College initiated the Medical Opportunities Program (MOP). The goal of the MOP was to increase the number of applicants and matriculants from minority groups underrepresented in the medical profession. It was a tangible commitment by the College to increase the admission, retention, and graduation of Hispanics, African Americans, and Native Americans from its M.D. program. The COE proposes to address the six legislative purposes for the Centers of Excellence: 1) Student Performance – increase the percentage of Hispanic students who pass the USMLE on their first attempt from 81% to 90%; Evaluation: Review Course for First-Time Takers of the USMLE-Step 1: increase first-time pass rate to 95% or greater; 2) Faculty Development – increase the number of new, tenure-track Hispanic junior faculty members in the College by a total of three; Evaluation: Hispanic Faculty Fellowships: effective transition of each fellow into a tenure-track position within the department or a department at another institution; 3) Information Resources, Clinical Education, Curricula, and Cultural Competence – develop informational resources that address Hispanic health issues and that are available to all College faculty, residents and students; Evaluation: Develop a Library on Hispanic Health Issues and Develop Section on Informational Resources in the HCOE Web site and the use of these resources by faculty and students; 4) Faculty/Student Research – To increase number of Hispanic students engaged in research projects relevant to Hispanic and other minority health issues from the current average of 8 per year to at least 15 per year; Evaluation: Summer Research Fellowships: increase the number of Hispanic students participating in the Medical Student Research Forum; 5) Student Training in Providing Health Care Services – increase the percentage of Hispanic preceptors in the Longitudinal Primary Care component of Essentials of Clinical Medicine from the current 10% to 15% by the third year of the grant period; Evaluation: LPC Hispanic Preceptor Recruitment and Development Campaign: Achieve a goal of 15% Hispanic preceptors; 6) Competitive Applicant Pool – increase the number of eligible Hispanic applicants from Illinois from the current average of 45 to 60; Evaluation: The ultimate outcome of these methods is increasing the competitive applicant pool to 60 students. University of Kansas Medical Center Iral
D. Porter, M.A., M.B.A. Other – Center of Excellence The University of Kansas Medical Center has a long history of serving not only the residents of the state of Kansas, but also those who reside in the bi-state Greater Kansas City area. Statistics document the paucity of Black, Hispanic, American Indian, and Vietnamese physicians in the state of Kansas. To address the under representation in the workforce one must look at the barriers to minorities and other disadvantaged students entering the profession. The KUMC proposes to expand on the extraordinary efforts and successes of its past two years. Since its inception in 1998, the University of Kansas Center of Excellence for Minority Medical Education has: 1) combined with the Health Careers Pathways Program to develop a K-20 Pipeline to ensure a competitive applicant pool; 2) retained and graduated 94.3% of its underrepresented (URM) students; 3) increased its URM faculty from 24 to 33; a) recruited seven and developed 10 tenure-track faculty, with 100% (2) receiving tenure in a timely fashion, and b) retained 89.2% of its URM hired since 1995; 4) incorporated twenty-five new modules addressing issues of culture and ethnicity in all four years of the curriculum and implemented a Cultural Competence elective; 5) increased by 434 the number of publications on health care issues relating to underserved populations; 6) assist the School of Medicine in providing opportunities for 175 of its students each year to be trained in off-site health care settings, serving large numbers of minority patients in surrounding urban and in rural areas (HPSAs) throughout the state of Kansas; and 7) provide opportunities for 17 URM students and their faculty mentors to participate in research on health care issues affecting minority populations. To utilize the existing HCPP K-20 Pipeline, the UK will seek to increase the number of URM students in the first year class, specifically targeting Kansas residents over the three year period; increase the academic progression rate and retention rate of URMs; increase the number of junior level URM faculty hired in tenure track positions; provide structured faculty development plan tailored to meet the needs of newly recruited; retain URM faculty hired and assure that the faculty receive tenure in a timely fashion; expand Minority Information Resource Center serving as a regional repository of the most current and comprehensive information available on Minority Health Care issues; increase the number of curriculum components that will educate all students and the medical school community about minority health issues; increase the number of URM students participating in research experiences with faculty mentors on minority health issues; and establish a Center on Diversity and Disparity in Health. Xavier University College of Pharmacy Wayne
T. Harris, Ph.D. Historically
Black College & University Xavier University (XU) of Louisiana is a historically Black, Catholic institution dedicated to the promotion of social justice by providing both liberal and professional education. The XU Centers of Excellence Program (COE) goal is to increase the number African American students entering the health professions and to ensure that they prepared to assume leadership roles in health care practice, academia, and research. Fulfillment of this goal mandates that the College of Pharmacy offer a nationally competitive academic program to its students, a majority of whom are African Americans. It is through the collective contributions of the University, the COE Program, the College’s research program, grants, and contracts, that the institution has made tremendous improvements in the academic program of the College during the past 15 years. The XU not only offers the B.S. in Pharmacy as the only degree, they now offer both an entry-level Pharmacy Doctorate and a post-baccalaureate Pharmacy Doctorate. While XU continues to lead the country in graduating African American pharmacists, there remains a severe shortage of minority pharmacists assuming academic and/or leadership positions in the profession. The COE program proposed for the next three years has been targeted to achieve the following: 1) creating a more competitive applicant pool of URM students through cooperative programs with high schools, and college math/science programs; 2) establishing an academic support and leadership development programs for URM pharmacy students; 3) maintaining the adequate quality and quantity of faculty by having a highly competitive reward system and a faculty development program; 4) maintaining and upgrading all information resources including technological resources; 5) increasing the opportunities for faculty and student research through the COE Scholars Program, the Clinical Research Center, and the Environmental Toxicology Program; and 6) creating a formalized program for training students in health services for minority patients. The COE program will be evaluated each semester in the following areas of academic performance, professionalism leadership and active participation in all COE Scholar’s activities; successful completion of remedial courses, passing of diagnostic exams with a score of 70% or better, completion of the course curriculum in four years; evaluation of faculty development activity plans; evaluation of on-line references services available to faculty and students. Harvard Medical School Joan
Y. Reede, M.D. Other – Center of Excellence Harvard Medical School has a long-standing commitment to diversity and community outreach as exemplified in student, curriculum, faculty development and pipeline programs and initiatives. Recognizing our individual and collective responsibility to society, our patients, and community, we are committed to the recruitment, retention, and promotion of a diverse, culturally competent workforce that is prepared to assure that excellent clinical care is provided and appropriate research conducted within our institutions. The COE’s six programmatic areas of focus are: 1) Student Performance: To build upon the student’s academic successes, the COE will provide learning skills counseling and USMLE preparation. Working in conjunction with Harvard Medical School (HMS) residency training directors, the COE will review effective strategies to enhance URM recruitment; 2) Faculty Development: The COE will enhance communication to URM faculty by providing a web-based listing of available faculty positions, a web-based calendar of cross-Harvard career development seminars, and a database of sponsored research/funding opportunities related to minority health/health disparities. The COE will also provide learning counseling to assist URM residents, fellows and junior faculty in passing the Step III and Board exams, and will offer a career development series that targets URM residents, fellows and junior faculty; 3) Information Resources and Cultural Competence: The COE will develop and implement a pilot formal training program in corss-cultural competency for HMS students and residents. In addition, there will be cross-cultural competency workshops held for residency training program directors and core clinical clerkship directors; 4) Faculty and Student Research: A database, directory and bibliography will be created of all Harvard-affiliated investigators with workforce issues; 5) Student Training in Providing Health Care Services: The COE seeks to enhance the students’ knowledge of community-based minority health facilities and opportunities through the creation of a directory of community-based health care facilities and community health-related organizations; and 6) Pipeline Programs: To increase HMSs outreach to the competitive applicant pool, the COE will build on one of HMS current pipeline programs that hosts Boston Public Schools middle school students for a day of presentations, panel discussions about educational paths, and partnering of individual students with researchers. The evaluation of the COE will be measured based on an annual summary report of COE activities, highlighting successes, obstacles, and points of collaboration, will be presented to the Dean’s Executive Council on Diversity. Student graduation rates, attrition, Step I and Step II first, second and third time passage rate and Step I and Step II mean scores will continue to be collected and monitored. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY Wanda
D. Lipscomb, Ph.D. Other – Center of Excellence The College of Human Medicine (CHM) is one of five health professions schools at Michigan State University (MSU). CHM is committed to prepare physicians who value the doctor-patient relationship, respect and value diversity, and seek to provide quality health care for the underserved. CHM has a national reputation as a medical school that promotes minority medical education with a current underrepresented minority (URM) student enrollment of 23%. CHM has steadily graduated URM physicians to address the issues of inequity. The following objectives will be implemented at the CHM: Student Performance-Implementation of tutorials, Supplemental Instruction, Individual Assessments, Q-Bal Groups, Question Groups, Cooperative Learning Study Groups, Skills Instruction, USMLE Preparation – system reviews, computerized question bank, seminars on success strategy, and mentors to assist students in academic performance areas. Faculty Development-Implementation of faculty recruitment plan and delivery of a varied faculty development plan that includes mentors, academic advisory committee, faculty fellowship opportunities in areas of teaching, service, leadership, and research, support for participation in professional organizations, development in health disparities research. Information Resources, Clinical Education, Curricula, and Cultural Competence-Expansion of electronic information resources, informatics and technology training, development of web sites and list serves, training on the use of resources and search engines, addition of new curricular components targeting six pre-clinical courses, formalization of clinical preceptorships in underserved areas, implementation of medical Spanish course, implementation of course in health care disparities research. Faculty and Student Research-Seminars and training in research methods and design, participation by visiting scholars in health disparities research, works in progress round table, writing groups, research mentors, collaborative research projects, cultural diversity research experience for students. Student Training in Providing Health Services-Preclinical student preceptorship at community clinic and ambulatory care training sites in five Michigan communities. Development of a More Competitive Applicant-HPAP Alliance, tutorial program, SAT-ACT preparation program, summer science academy. The Evaluation Team will develop a coordinated evaluation plan that includes project-specific evaluation. Reporting will focus on successes and problems encountered as part of the logistics of project implementation, assessment of the effectiveness of the design principles and outcomes related to Centers of Excellence objectives. The evaluation plan also includes an evaluation of the overall program, which focuses on the effective coordination and integration of the multiple projects collaborating as part of Centers of Excellence. An important aspect of the evaluation is monitoring evaluation activities across specific projects to promote integration with on-going activities within the College of Human Medicine. University of Minnesota School of Medicine Joycelyn
Dorscher, M.D. Native American – Center of Excellence The University of Minnesota-Duluth Native American Center of Excellence (UMD COE) is proposed as a continuation consortium of four health science schools at the University of Minnesota. The UMD COE proposes the following activities: 1) Student Performance: a) Provide a four-week prematriculation program for a minimum of five incoming Native American University of Minnesota medical students in the last two project years; b) Provide paid tutors for the Minneapolis and Duluth Native American medical students; approximately 100 hours for Minneapolis students per year for each of the three project years; c) Provide subject-based review sessions for second year Native American medical students in preparation for USMLE I; 2) Faculty Development: a) Develop individualized faculty fellowships in cooperation with the consortium partner, the UM School of Public Health for 2 Native American physicians in years 01 and 02 and one in year 03, to prepare fellows for tenure track faculty positions in Schools of Medicine or Public Health; b) Provide each COE Fellow with a research mentor to assist the fellow in identifying the appropriate research design, grant writing and publication to assure success in the COE fellowship program. 3) Information resources, Clinical Education, Curricula, and Cultural Competence: a) Continue current clerkships and rotations in Native American communities for third and fourth medical students. 4) Faculty/Student Research: a) Provide a minimum of five Native American medical students with experience in research on Native American Health care issues each year of the grant cycle. 5) Student training in Providing Health Care Services: a) Explore the possibility of developing additional medical student clerkship sites at Indian Health Services/tribal clinical research facilities. 6) Competitive Applicant Pool: a) Strengthen current linkage agreements with surrounding tribal and community colleges by identifying and providing pre-health careers counseling to at least 100 pre-health careers college level Native American students, b) identify and recruit at least 30 pre-health careers students to make application to the appropriate enrichment program sponsored by the Center, c) provide health career workshops and d) increase the number of Native American students applying from community college linkage schools to upper division college linkage schools to 10 by 03. Most of the objectives have evaluation markers built in through measurable baseline goals and time-limited activity to assess progress. Additionally, an external evaluator will be hired to assist in a formal program evaluation. This individual will develop appropriate evaluation tools to organize and analyze existing program data from past years of activity, as well as those evaluative tools that will be used to gather data on current and future activity. The evaluator will report findings to the Principal Investigator who, in turn, will report them to the funding agency. UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA SCHOOL OF PHARMACY AND ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES Rustem
Medora, Ph.D. Native American – Center of Excellence The University of Montana (UM) School of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences (SPAHS) is the only such school in Montana, a rural state with a large population of American Indians who are educationally and medically underserved. All of the following objectives will be accomplished by the end of the grant cycle: Student Performance-With the help of computer sample tests, students will improve and maintain higher scores on the NAPLEX and MPJE exams, maintaining a current 95% pass rate. Free tutoring will be available to AI/AN students to increase the graduation rate within 5 years from 86% to 88%. Faculty Development-19 former UM pharmacy graduates will be approached with incentives developed by the SPAHS Diversity Programs office and the NSF-EPSCoR to accept faculty appointments. Once recruited they will be provided with opportunities to pursue residencies, fellowships and graduate studies. They will be matched with a mentor who will train and guide them to become accomplished faculty members. Clinical faculty will be recruited from two Indian Health Services sites. Information Resources, Clinical Education, Curricula and Cultural Competence-A curriculum will be planned that coordinates the growing culturally relevant educational resources such that each pharmacy student will become culturally sensitive and proficient in AI/AN healthcare issues. Elective courses in AI/AN issues and clerkships will be planned and implemented. A student Diversity Club will be established to foster cultural and community ties. Faculty/Student Research-With the assistance of the Clinical Liaison/Curriculum Advisor, pharmacy faculty will develop research projects relevant to AI/AN health issues. The SPAHS Diversity Programs and the NSF-EPSCoR have developed incentives to instigate research on diseases afflicting AI/ANs. Student research will be encouraged by inclusion of research requirement for AI/AN clerkship option. Student Training in Providing Health Care Services-Two new IHS-based training sites expose students to AI/AN healthcare experiences. Community-based urban sites will also be expanded to provide students with wider AI/AN healthcare experiences. Competitive Applicant Pool-The applicant pool will be improved through the network of partnerships established with the University of Washington School of Medicine Centers of Excellence programs. Recruiting on-site and through an interactive CD-ROM will also occur. Summer enrichment programs will continue to increase qualified applicants’ interest in pre-and professional pharmacy studies. Consistent tracking will ensure that the student remains in the pipeline once contact has been established. Evaluation of each objective will be formative and summative. Formative data will be the number of students attending activities, changes in academic and study skills and the number of students contacted by the NACOE. Summative data will be the number of faculty and students recruited, total number of research projects completed, and the increase in the projected pharmacy graduates. University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey Maria
Soto-Greene, M.D. Hispanic – Center of Excellence The New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) is one of eight schools that comprises the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and is located in Newark, which has a large minority population. The objectives of the UMDNJ Center of Excellence include: Objective 1: Address the academic performance and the retention rate of NJMS Hispanic students. This will be accomplished by: 1a) Sustaining the Hispanic student graduation at 94% over the next three years. This goal is chosen because it would approach parity with the non-minority graduation rate and is based on our average Hispanic enrollment; and 1b) increase USMLE , Step 1 pass rate on the first attempt from 83% to 94% over the next 3 years. 100% will pass on their second attempt. Objective 2: Address the recruitment, training, and retention of Hispanic faculty. 2a) Increase Hispanic faculty from 23 to 29 over the next three years. The addition of 2 faculty members in 2002, 3 in 2003, and 1 in 2004, will lead us to our goal. Objective 3): Address information resources, curricula, and clinical experiences for New Jersey Medical School students and faculty. 3a) Maintain and update at 3-month intervals, the HCOE webliography linkages to Hispanic health, socioeconomic and cultural sites relevant to the practice of medicine over the next 3 years. 3b) To implement a culturally and linguistically competent core curriculum for 170 first year, 170 second year, 170 third year and 170 fourth year students over the next three years beginning in 2002. This will culminate in a Graduation Objective Structure Clinical Examination that assesses all graduating students’ cultural and linguistic competency skills in the fall of each year beginning in 2002. Objective 4) Addresses faculty and student research on health issues affecting the Hispanic community. 4a) 6 Hispanic first year medical students will participate in research training each year throughout the three-year grant period; 4b) 3 of the 6 proposed faculty trainees recruited during this three year cycle will attain independent grant funding by the end of the grant period; and 4c) 100% of newly hired Hispanic faculty trainees will be paired with senior investigators over the grant cycle. Objective 5) Provide at least 37 or 50% of all Hispanic medical students health services training in ambulatory preceptorships located in predominantly Hispanic communities over the next three years. Objective 6) Address the number and competitiveness of the Hispanic applicant pool in order to increase the enrollment of Hispanic students at NJMS. 6a) 7 or 50% of Summer Undergraduate MCAT participants will achieve a composite score of 23 or greater each year over the next three years; All programs will include both summative (outcome) and formative (process) evaluation components. For each of these program objectives, we have defined specific long-range target figures to increase the recruitment, retention, and training of Hispanics students and faculty. In addition, we will evaluate each individual component of the project to determine effective implementation. Mechanisms, both qualitative and quantitative, will serve to identify program strengths and weaknesses, providing a basis for program refinement and modifications. University of New Mexico - Health Science Center Steven
R. Padilla, M.D. Other – Center of Excellence The University of New Mexico (UNM) was established in 1889 to serve the educational needs of the State of New Mexico. The mission of the UNM School of Medicine is to provide excellent, innovative education for medical students, house officers, physicians, scientists and other health professionals; the highest quality patient care for New Mexicans; and outstanding multidisciplinary research that helps solve important health problems. UNM ranks 5th in the country for numbers of Hispanic faculty with 8.5 Hispanics and American Indians are New Mexico’s largest minority populations and are well represented in the School of Medicine (SOM). The UNM Centers of Excellence is submitted under the “Other” category to address the educational and health needs of both of the state’s largest minority populations. The social and health-related problems that arise from economic disadvantage manifest in high levels of depression, divorce, domestic violence, chronic disease, and substance abuse. UNM continues to recognize the importance of increasing minority enrollment, retention, and graduation rates. This especially vital given the rural nature of New Mexico and unique population dynamics. Through the COE, the UNM SOM will address efforts to increase the USMLE Step 1 scores for URM students, establishing mentor partnerships between all first year URM (underrepresented minority) students and a mentor physician; efforts to address recruiting of URMs. The method for doing this concentrates on early development of interest in academic careers on the part of students and residents; efforts to address information resources, clinical education, curricula, and cultural competence; efforts to address student and faculty research on URM related healthcare topics; efforts to address student training in providing health care services through first year student rotations in predominantly URM and/or rural facilities; and efforts to increase the competitive applicant pool by increasing the numbers of New Mexican URM students entering medical school and development of new linkages with URM serving four-year colleges. The evaluation of UNM SOM COE will consist of tracking students’ academic progress; tracking and reporting on the increased number of URM junior faculty; number of hits and comments made via the UNM COE web site; faculty assessment visits to sites and student evaluations of training in providing health care services; collaborative student rotations, lectures, and general exchanges of personnel and information; tracking increased matriculation of URMs from medical school; student satisfaction with medical school experience, academic progress, and postgraduate destinations; and increased applicants and admissions for students through the competitive applicant pool. ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE Alvin
H. Strelnick, M.D. Hispanic – Center of Excellence The mission of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Hispanic Center of Excellence shall be to catalyze and operationalize the College’s institutional commitment to underrepresented minorities in the Bronx, specifically Hispanics, and to provide leadership in research and education on Hispanic health issues and disparities in health care. The Hispanic Center of Excellence will sponsor the following initiatives: 1) Expansion of AECOM’s qualified applicant pool through expanded linkages with Fordham, Lehman, and Mercy Colleges; 2) Expansion of current counseling and mentoring programs to enhance academic performance and success of underrepresented minority students at AECOM through an office based mentoring program with community-based Hispanic physicians; 3) Strengthening AECOM’s curriculum in cultural competency and minority health issues by introducing cultural competency problem-based learning (PBL) seminar for each year of the grant during the required third year clinical clerkship in family medicine; 4) Strengthening AECOM medical students’ clinical experiences with underrepresented minority populations at community-based health centers by conducting annual workshops for faculty preceptors in family medicine to reinforce the cultural competency seminars in family medicine and student supervision during their required clerkship; 5) Creation of a Faculty Development Fellowship program for underrepresented minority junior faculty to assure their retention, promotion, and success in academic medicine on the AECOM faculty by recruiting, selecting and retaining two Hispanic junior faculty who qualify for the Clinical Research Training Program in each year of the grant for a two year Faculty Development Fellowship; 6) Promotion of faculty and student research in minority health by developing a database of faculty investigators studying Hispanic health issues, health disparities among Hispanics, and specific research questions about Hispanic sub-groups to be circulated to students for first year summer research experiences in order to recruit 8 Hispanic students per summer. For each objective and related activity, formative evaluation and process measures will be designed. Activities will be assessed according to their timeliness, organization, and attendance and evaluation participation. Summative evaluation and outcome measures will be assessed annually regarding progress against measurable objectives, with corrective measures taken in any area where the progress falls short of anticipated results. Qualitative assessment of the impact of AECHOE on AECOM and its partner institutions will be assessed annually through the Advisory Board of the Institute of Community and Collaborative Health. MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Gary
C. Butts, M.D. Other – Center of Excellence Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM) was incorporated in 1963, on the campus of the Mount Sinai Hospital. The MSSM proposes to establish a Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs (CMCA) to conduct a comprehensive Faculty Recruitment and Development Program which targets 6 specific objectives aimed to further increase diversity at MSSM. The MSSM proposes the following objectives to meet the legislative agenda as outlined by the Centers of Excellence grant program: 1) Development of “academic profiles” for students beginning with URM participants in the SEP pre-matriculation program and entering MSSM and support these students with enhance curricular and academic supports to maximize their academic potential, increasing success rates with medical school exams and courses, USMLE, and timely graduation from medical school; 2) CMCA will implement a variety of targeted activities, supported by a Faculty Advisory Council (FAC) and Office of Recruitment and Retention (ORR), aimed at local, regional and national recruits as well as motivated, rising stars from our resident and medical school “pipelines.” 3) CMCA will facilitate access to academic, public health, and minority health data to contribute to knowledge of healthcare access, service delivery, and health outcomes disparities through development and implementation of a website. 4) CMCA will partner with the MSSM Office of Medical Student Research Opportunities and develop specific academic relationships with medical school departments to support increased participation of URM medical students in research. All newly recruited URM faculty and 8 existing URM faculty will develop a mentored research project and participate in a structured program, which draws a partnership with the MSSM Clinical Research Training Program to develop research, presentation, and publication skills and develop a NIH proposal; 5) CMCA will work with the Department of Community Medicine to develop early exposure to effectively recruit URM students to the MSSM-MSCM program; 6) CMCA will draw on its comprehensive HCOP initiative which includes a comprehensive year round high school enrichment program, a collegiate Summer Research Fellowship Program, and a focused MCAT review course. The MED-BOUND program is created to select the highest achieving students from this pool for early submission to MSSM. Coordination between COE and HCOP activities will be provided through CMCA, where both programs will be administered. In addition, we will implement aggressive outreach strategies and establish 5 new merit and need-based URM scholarships. These activities will be supplemented with aggressive outreach to perspective medical school applicants. Multiple methods will be used to evaluate each of the 6 legislative agendas, careful benchmarks will be used to both track and assess progress toward achievement of particular component goals. At the programmatic level, evaluation activities will focus on the ability of COE to do what is proposed, the soundness of the tracking system created, the quality of networks created both within and among the MSSM and Mount Sinai Hospital communities and the perceived success of mentoring efforts among the wider MSSM faculty as well as current URM faculty. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA-CHAPEL HILL - SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Larry
Keith, M.S. Other – Hispanic Center of Excellence The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) as a publicly funded institution is obligated to serve the citizens of the State, who constitute a large and diverse population. The mission of the medical school is to render service to the people and institutions of the state. To accomplish this mission the goals of the UNC Center of Excellence (COE) are to enhances the academic performance of underrepresented minority (URM) students, strengthen the cultural competence of medical school graduates, recruit additional URM faculty, and support student and faculty research on minority health issues. The UNC COE specific objectives are as follows: 1) Student performance-Provide additional services to improve URM student performance in coursework and on licensing and other required exams. 2) Faculty development-Provide additional salary support to enable recruitment of additional URM faculty; provide faculty development programs; and identify and recruit URM residents with promise to become academic physicians at UNC. 3) Information resources, clinical education, curricula, and cultural competence-Build print and web-based information resources related to minority health issues to improve the ability of faculty, students, and practitioners to address these issues; provide URM students with clinical education in underserved areas; and help faculty develop skills in teaching students to provide culturally competent care. 4) Faculty and student research-Promote URM student interest in research related to minority health issues and health disparities and provide mentoring by faculty to develop research skills; promote faculty research related to minority health issues. 5) Student training in providing health care services-Increase URM student exposure to patients in underserved/minority communities; develop the clinical knowledge and skills of URM physician role models/teachers in community settings. 6) Competitive applicant pool-Continue existing programs funded by HCOP to consistently increase the competitive URM applicant pool and integrate these programs under the COE umbrella. Evaluation will be accomplished through the use of the COE Comprehensive Information Management System (CPMS), a comprehensive database of participants and programs, with data collected, entered, and analyzed regularly. University
of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Philip
A. McHale, Ph.D. Native American – Center of Excellence The Native American Center of Excellence Consortium (COE) was established at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City in 1993 and has operated successfully to the present. The COE is a joint activity of the Colleges of Medicine and Dentistry, with formal linkages to the undergraduate campuses of the University of Oklahoma and Northeastern State University; and contracts for support services with the Association of American Indian Physicians and the Society of American Indian Dentists. The performance of matriculated students is carefully monitored by program staff and faculty mentors, and students with academic difficulty are provided with tutors and/or counseling. Faculty development efforts include stimulation of students to consider careers in academia, as well as support for developing faculty. There are presently 16 Native American medical and dental faculty. The COE supports information resources in the Indian Health Collection at the OUHSC Library. Enhanced educational efforts include required didactic courses, the use of Native American simulated patients, and clinical externships in Indian country. These curricular components are designed to engender cultural competence in all medical and dental students, both Native and non-Native. Students and faculty are engaged in exciting research on Native American health care issues and are working with experienced investigators. Student health services training is accomplished by assigning students to Indian Health Service and tribal clinics as part of their total educational experience. Efforts to develop a competitive applicant pool included recruitment and academic skills enhancement programs at the linkage institutions and preparation for the required admissions tests. Evaluation will be based on the quantitative objectives. Data for evaluation will come from a variety of reliable sources such as: databases maintained at the Colleges of Medicine and Dentistry, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Association of American Dental Schools, United States Medical Licensing Examinations, National Dental Board examinations, reports from the HSC Research Administration Office, and HSC personnel records. The success of the COE will be documented in yearly progress reports as required. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIAJerry
C. Johnson, M.D. Other – Center of Excellence Since the inception of this Center, the School of Medicine has increased the number of URM faculty from 27-65 (138%) with an increase since 1999 from 37 to 65 (73%), has implemented curricular changes related to minority health and cultural competence involving the entire medical student class, has facilitated campus-wide minority health research programs including a recently funded Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, and has implemented an array of programs aimed at increasing the applicant pool of minority health professionals. The Center will respond to all legislative requirements of this grant program as follows-Student Performance: To sustain the level of clinical performance of underrepresented (URM) students so that at least 20% (baseline 20%) of the grades of the URM students in the mandatory clinical rotations are honors and at least 50% (baseline 50%) of the students attain at least one honors grade. Faculty Development: To provide an array of recruitment-support activities that will increase the total number of URM faculty (now 65) including tenure, clinician educator, and clinical tracks by 9 by 2005. The 9 faculty will include at least 3 tenure tracks and at least 3 CE track faculty. Information, Clinical Education, and Curricula: To increase the regional dissemination of clinical information and research related to minority health issues to health professionals and to the minority public using electronic communications, mailings of the COE newsletter, and direct interface with the minority lay public. Faculty and Student Research: To increase the interest and capacity of Penn (and regional) URM students and faculty will conduct clinical and health care services research relevant to understanding and reducing health disparities by facilitating and coordinating minority health research projects (epidemiologic, clinical, health services, health care policy). Student Training in Health Services to URMs: To sustain 100% involvement of the student body in community based clinical experiences in family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics, and increase the number of hours of exposure by at least 40 hours for half the student body by 2005. Competitive Applicant Pool: To increase the national pool of qualified URM applicants by providing an annual premed enrichment program (10-15 students per year) that will result in acceptance rates to medical school above 90% and increase the skills of pre-medicine advisors that serve large numbers of URMs. This is an established 10 week summer program consisting of research, introductory med school courses, MCAT preparation, and clinical observations. The percentage of URM receiving honors in each required clerkship will be calculated and compared to the targeted goal (20%). Each year, of the students who complete all of the required clerkships, the distribution of honors per person will be obtained and the percentage who received at least one honors will be compared to our targeted goal of 50%. Stratified ethnic group analyses will also be conducted annually to internally monitor each URM group’s performance and trends over time for each clerkship. University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine America
Facundo, Ph.D. Hispanic – Center of Excellence The University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine (UPR-SOM) is the only state medical school in Puerto Rico. The UPR-SOM objectives include: 1) Student Performance: To increase the 1st year pass-rate from the current average of 95% to 99% within a three-year period, and to increase the USMLE Step 1 first time pass-rate from the current average of 88% to 95% during the three-year grant period. Activities to accomplish these objectives are to conduct a summer enrichment program for 40 incoming first year students from disadvantaged backgrounds. 2) Faculty Development: To assist 20 junior faculty members in developing skills as teachers through self-directed learning activities with a mentor’s support; To design four online courses for junior faculty in developing teaching skills in order to serve a great number of faculty through online delivery; To establish an Advisory Committee on Faculty Development composed of faculty, students and administrators. 3) Information Resources, Clinical Education, Curricula and Cultural Competence: To increase the number of trained community-based preceptors by 20 over a three-year period by means of developing and distributing educational/training materials using easy access multi-system technology; To train 15 faculty members on the skills associated with the interview process of candidates for medical studies using trained standardized simulated candidates (SSC) over a three-year period. 4) Faculty/Student Research: To support the participation of at least three faculty members in a health services research project conducted by a senior faculty member of the Graduate School of Public Health by the end of the three-year period. To provide a structured and supervised research experience on health issues that affect Hispanics on the Island and in the U.S., as well as on issues related to the delivery of health care to 45 medical students per year. 5) Student Training in Providing Health Care Services: To integrate the Community-Based Managed Care course, developed as part of this Objective during the 1999-2002 HCOE funding cycle, into the Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, and Family Medicine rotations, to benefit 125 third and fourth year medical students. 6) Competitive Applicant Pool: To enhance the “Student Recruitment Program,” by supporting the existing seventeen HCOE-funded “Medicine and Other Health Professions Clubs” located in the selected public intermediate and high schools across the island of Puerto Rico; and to fine-tune the tracking system of the Clubs to monitor and follow-up the growing number of participants in these Clubs. The evaluation plan will consist of the number of faculty paired to a mentor; participation of faculty in workshops; individualized learning activities; preparation of 3-year professional growth plan; training needs assessments; annual assessments of mentors and mentees; number of meetings between the mentor and mentee; evaluation of educational activities; data collection and analysis following the evaluation plan delineated using process and product evaluation measures. Meharry
Medical College William
B. Butler, D.D.S. Historically
Black College & University Throughout its history Meharry School of Dentistry has remained a nationally recognized resource for providing a strong curriculum in clinical dentistry and basic principles of research. As a major resource for educating health care professionals, the School of Dentistry at Meharry has graduated over 15% of all African American Dentists practicing in the United States. The partnership between Tennessee State University, College of Education, the Coca-Cola Foundation, Metropolitan Nashville School System, the Metropolitan Health Department, and First Baptist Church South Inglewood will further strengthen the Multicultural Educational Enrichment program of grade school students (9-12). Students will be provided with tutorial sessions during the week and on Saturdays. School teachers and college students will provide academic assistance on an individual and small group bases in understanding reading comprehension, mathematics, science and communication skills. Enrollment of undergraduate students in the summer Early Dental Admission Program which identifies and selects disadvantaged undergraduate students during their sophomore year and gives students a “conditional acceptance” to the School of Dentistry. The objective of the program is to provide preliminary education by providing enrichment courses, counseling, and assistance in curriculum planning. Preparation for the Dental Admission Examination is also a part of this program to help facilitate entry into the freshman dental class. Student performance on the National Board Dental Examination will be directly impacted by strategies that improve the entrance credentials of matriculants to improve their analytical reasoning and critical thinking; 6 week Board review programs for first and second year students, pre-diagnostic testing, personal analysis, and self-study materials; Faculty Recruitment, Development and Retention will focus on increasing the number of full-time faculty with post-graduate training. The Plan is multifaceted and versatile in providing systematic attention to faculty needs and the timely progression of academic rank. Research experience will be provided to students in the area of oral health care delivery to underrepresented minority elderly patients at nursing homes and/or recruitment facilities. Students will receive exposure to culturally diverse community-based clinical training in student health services training. Training sites will be identified and partnerships with clinical training sites remote to the dental school will be established. These sites will be community base dental health facilities with have a culturally diverse URM patient base. Collection methods will include tabulations of dental and faculty applicant information. Analytical procedures involve assessment of matriculant characteristics and student performance. Evaluative methods also include assessment of implementation schedule compliances. Meharry
Medical College PonJola
Coney, M.D. Historically
Black College & University For more than 123 years, Meharry Medical College has held fast to its original goals of educating minority health professionals (primarily African Americans) who would return to their communities, heal the sick, and help prevent disease. The leaders at Meharry Medical College have articulated a vision and strategic plan that assures the institution’s academic and operational programs fully support the mission. Each of the seven legislative purposes for the Centers of Excellence are addressed. Particular attention has been given to: 1) Professional development of junior faculty to improve their level of scholarship and qualifications for promotion. Objectives toward this end address annual evaluation of individual professional development plans, incentives to encourage participation in faculty development and provide opportunities for up to 8 junior faculty to attend professional meetings, and focused effort on promoting 10% of the junior faculty. Objectives to improve junior faculty members’ research and publication productivity by supporting 10% release time and mentoring relationships for 20 junior faculty are addressed. 2) Increasing the level of electronic connectivity for and among students and faculty, both on campus and at remote sites. Preparation of our students to sit for computerized licensure examinations is a top priority. As of fall semester 1999, all medical students are required to have a computer and faculty are required to introduce more computer aided instruction into their courses. Consequently, our objectives under Legislative Purpose 4 entail increasing computer aided instruction through the curriculum; creating a telecommunications network to connect five remote student training sites with campus resources; providing training for faculty who will produce clinical courses on video; installing 125 computer connections to facilitate computerized testing in a lecture hall; and acquisition of electronic library materials. 3) Improving student competencies in professional practice, research, and clinical training. Activities designed to recruit increasingly competitive applicants will continue. The MMC proposes to enhance professional practice by introducing a vertically integrated curriculum on medical ethics, pallative and end of life care, and cultural competency. Clinical training will be enhanced by incorporating the use of standardized patients into the entire academic program (new to freshman and sophomore years) and increasing the number of remote sites and students assigned to those sites. Evaluation outcomes will be both quantitative and qualitative. Numbers and percentages stated in the objectives will serve as measures for success. Where appropriate, pre-and post tests or surveys will be administered to facilitate analysis of improvements as a result of the activities. Student accomplishments will be tracked and analyzed by the Office of Institutional Research. Activities will be monitored and adjustments made as needed by the responsible persons cited in the proposal. Texas Tech University School of Medicine Health
Science Center Hispanic – Center of Excellence Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center is a regional institution serving 109 counties of West Texas. Texas Tech has long been concerned with low numbers of practitioners from the Hispanic population both in practice in the community and as faculty. Its efforts at influencing the number of Hispanic students at Texas Tech have included the establishment of an Office of Minority Affairs, a special program to admit educationally disadvantaged medical students, a cooperative mentoring and MCAT preparation program for students from the University of Texas at El Paso, and the creation of a dedicated Office of Border Health at Texas Tech in El Paso. Student performance will focus on equating the remediation and withdrawal rate of Hispanic students with that of the total population. The goal is to ensure that 100% of all students graduate. The goals of faculty development are to improve the training, retention, and promotion of Hispanic faculty members through a selection of professional development options. The long-term goal is to increase the numbers of tenured Hispanic faculty. Information resources, clinical education, curricula, and cultural competence will be addressed by increasing student participation in rural clinical training in the Lower Valley by strengthening library holdings in Hispanic health issues by providing for the acquisition of 30 new holdings each year; by incorporating four annual sessions on Hispanic health issues in faculty and staff continuing education; and by incorporating cultural competence and cultural sensitivity in clinical education and training for residents and students. Faculty/student research will be encouraged by establishing a research support program to fund the development of community-based research activities using the colonias in El Paso’s Lower Valley as the focal point. Objectives related to the applicant pool are to increase interest knowledge of health professions among Hispanic High School students and to rebuild a competitive Hispanic applicant pool. The goal is to therefore increase the number of Hispanic admission offers by 40% over three years. An evaluation specialist, operating independently of the various projects, will conduct formative and summative evaluations of the program. Each of the stated objectives and methodologies has evaluation criteria in its design which will look at impact in terms of numbers and effectiveness. University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Department of General Dentistry Ramon
J. Baez, D.D.S., M.P.H. Hispanic – Center of Excellence The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) was established at its present campus in 1969. The UT Dental School at San Antonio, Texas (UTDSSA) is one of the four health profession schools in the UTHSCSA. Currently, the Dental School enrolls about 358 students. The DS has a Hispanic student enrollment of 17%, ranking among the top 10% in the nation of Hispanic/Latino students enrolled and graduated. The UTHSCSA has a strong institutional infrastructure to support Hispanic Center of Excellence (HCOE)-Dentistry programs and has operated several programs involving large numbers of Hispanic, including a Health Careers Opportunity Program, a previous DS HCOE and a currently existing Medical School HCOE, high programs in four school districts, and cooperative agreements with local Minority Access to Research Careers and Minority Biomedical Research Support programs allowing students to work with faculty in research. The DS also participates in research and education activities with the South Texas Area Health Education Center, Health Education Training Center Alliance of Texas, South Texas Health Border Research Center, and the South Texas Initiative, which direct all of their activities toward serving the large Hispanic population in South Texas. In spite of these efforts the number of Hispanic students entering dental school and the number of Hispanic faculty is insufficient to meet current and future dental health care needs of the Hispanic population. The UTHSCSA will facilitate achieving the following objectives: 1) Enhance student performance including pre-entry courses to provide students with foundation biomedical knowledge and physical skills needed for success in dental school and strengthen performance on dental license examinations; 2) Professional development to enhance faculty skills in teaching and research; 3) Expansion of library resources on Hispanic oral health and cultural awareness and enhancement of the DS curriculum in these areas; 4) Student research programs that will focus on issues pertinent to Hispanic oral health; 5) Preceptorships in community-based clinics to sensitize students to community oral health needs; and 6) Strategies to create a competitive applicant pool among Hispanic students. Evaluation and outcome measures will be assessed based on the number of pre-entry program participants who have no academic difficulties with Freshman year courses; performance in a Teaching Skills course based on an evaluation by the course faculty; survey of students to determine if the content of the Issues and Problems in Hispanic Oral Health Care course was previously unknown, relevant, and would affect their approach to delivery of oral health care to Hispanic patients; students who participate in research activities; survey students to determine their evaluation of the educational quality and relevancy of the rotations and impact on their approaches to provide oral health care to Hispanic patients; and documentation of the number of participants who obtained a DAT score of 18 or higher. University of Texas at Galveston Medical Branch Lauree
Thomas, M.D. Hispanic – Center of Excellence The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is one of four academic health science centers in the University of Texas System (UTS). Through its School of Medicine (founded in 1891), and Schools of Nursing, Allied Health Sciences, and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the University provides a broad range of educational programs in the health professions. UTMB’s 99-acre campus encompasses 77 major buildings, including the John Sealy Hospital, a 797-bed teaching hospital with 32,505 inpatient admissions annually. Its clinical enterprise includes 147 specialty and subspecialty clinics, providing for 767,831 outpatient visits. Many of the patients served by UTMB are Hispanic. In FY 2000, there were 7,378 inpatient Hispanic admissions (23%), and 143,358 outpatient Hispanic visitors (18.6%), reflecting UTMB’s longstanding commitment to the health of the Hispanic population of Texas. The UTMB will seek to address the following objectives/legislative purposes: Objective 1) To increase the four-year graduation rate for Hispanic students from UTMB’s School of Medicine from 81% to 90%, and the total graduation rate from 90% to 95% over the three years of the grant. Objective 2) To increase the number of existing Hispanic faculty from 39 (4%) to 43 (5%) during the three years of the grant. To provide each junior faculty member with formal and informal faculty development activities and mentor that will enhance the retention of newly recruited Hispanic faculty. In addition, our aim is that they will be promoted and gain tenure within a sever year period of their initial appointment. To provide financial assistance for HCOE Hispanic junior faculty to attend the annual AAMC Minority Faculty Development Conference. Objective 3): To maintain the 10 most important journal subscriptions associated with Hispanic health and culture, and to maintain and update the 10 videotapes, five computer software programs, and interactive videodisk collection related to issues associated with Hispanic health. In addition, subscribe to or integrate resources available on five websites on Hispanic culture and health. Objective 4): To identify and recruit 20 faculty who are engaged in basic science or clinical research, preferably Hispanics involved in health issues or diseases, who are prevalent in the Hispanic population, and who will serve as mentors to 20 Hispanic medical students. Objective 5): To increase the current number of Hispanic physicians in the State of Texas who serve as mentors and clinical preceptors from 18 to 24, over the three years of the grant. Objective 6): To increase the number of in grades 8th through 12th that are informed of health careers, from currently zero to 400 per year, through collaborations with the Brownsville and Laredo Independent School Districts. University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Martha
Medrano, M.D., M.P.H. Hispanic – Center of Excellence The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) has 5 professional schools. As part of its strategic plan, the UTHSCSA goal for education is to attract, recruit, develop and retain a diverse faculty and student body and respond to the local, regional, and national health professions workforce needs in medicine. The Medical Hispanic Center of Excellence (MHCOE) is proposing innovative projects in student performance, faculty development, and student training. The legislative purposes of the MHCOE are to: 1) Student Performance/Retention: To provide tutorial services to 40 Hispanic Medical School freshman and sophomores per year; To provide a pre-matriculation program to 20 incoming Hispanic freshman per year; To reduce the percentage of Hispanic students dismissed or repeating a year for academic reasons, and/or re-mediating a course or courses equal those of the non-minority students; The evaluation will consist of monitoring program participants’ level of satisfaction with programs and track participant grading information and determining yearly percentage of Hispanic medical students dismissed, repeating, re-mediating or graduating within four years. 2) Hispanic Faculty Development: To enhance the research skills of junior Hispanic medical faculty; To enhance the administrative skills of junior Hispanic faculty fellows; To increase the ability of UTHSCSA Hispanic faculty to be promoted and/or tenured; To enhance recruitment and retention of the UTHSCSA Hispanic Faculty. The evaluation will consist of tracking of UTHSCSA Hispanic faculty program participants and the number promoted, tenured, recruited, and retained. 3) Curriculum, Cultural Competence, Clinical Education and Information Resources: To provide consultation and assistance in the maintenance and enhancement of cultural competence activities in the freshman Clinical Integration Course (CIC); To continue and enhance the medical interpretation/simulated patient activities in the third-year Family Practiced Clerkship; and To continue and develop culturally relevant clinical or didactic electives or electives for senior medical students. The evaluation will consist of tracking the number of medical students and faculty per year exposed to the cultural competent curriculum activities. 4) Student/Faculty Research: To introduce and involve 10 incoming Hispanic freshmen in Hispanic health research; The evaluation will consist of tracking program participants and their publications, oral and poster presentations, and interest in research careers. 5) Student Training in Providing Health Services: To provide 50 Hispanic freshmen, sophomores, juniors or seniors per year with clinical experiences in predominantly Hispanic rural or urban clinical centers, in order to expose them to the problems of health care delivery to this population; The evaluation will consist of tracking student participants, evaluate level of satisfaction and identify students who intend to return to practice in rural or medically underserved or physician shortage areas. 6) Competitive Applicant Pool: The MHCOE will work closely with the UTHSCSA Health Careers Opportunity Program, MARC and other local health career programs targeted at developing a competitive applicant pool. UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON-SEATTLE Daniel
D. Hunt, M.D., M.B.A. Native American – Center of Excellence The University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) has responded to the needs of the citizens in its five-state region without regard to state boundaries. Within this region are the homes of 41 federally-recognized Native American tribes. The WWAMI region has a Native American/Alaska Native population of 662,940 which is about 10% of the total number of individuals who classify themselves as partially or solely American Indian/Alaska Native in the U.S. and a growing number of urban Indians in Seattle. With this region and across the nation, there is a shortage of Native Americans entering the health professions. The UWSOM proposes to address the following legislative purposes: Student Performance: Enhances the academic performance of Native American medical students by providing instructional support, enhancing critical thinking, problem solving, test-taking, tutoring, study plans, and USMLE preparation. The Centers of Excellence will develop a proactive five-year plan for high risk students and assist Native American students in USMLE Preparation. Faculty Development: Goal addresses the school’s plan to train, recruit, and retain Native American faculty. Given the challenges to accomplish the objectives of this purpose through the following activities: Faculty Development Seminar, Clinical Faculty appointments, R/UOP Preceptorships, and NACOE Fellowship. Information Resources, Clinical Education, Curricula, and Cultural Competence: By the year 2003, the NACOE will develop a web-based curriculum with accurate information regarding Native American health issues in an effort to make the NACOE curriculum available nationally. This comprehensive curriculum with specific links to lectures, virtual cases, and academic support will be available to medical students, staff, and faculty from the UWSOM as well as other medical schools. Faculty and Student Research: Addresses faculty and student research on Indian health issues. This purpose will be addressed by implementing new and expanding existing efforts as follows: Independent Investigative Inquiry, Faculty Sponsors, and Grant-Writing Workshop. Student Training in Providing Health Care Services: Maintain the school’s local and remote, clinical based training sites that have significant Native American populations. This includes 7 required clerkship sites and 29 elective sites in the WWAMI region that serve predominantly Native American populations. Competitive Applicant Pool: The purpose will be addressed by expanding existing efforts as follows: U-DOC High School Summer Program, Minority Medical Education Program, Pre-matriculation Program, and Admissions assistance to Native American applicants. The evaluation will be formative and summative. Formative data will include the number of students attending activities, changes in academic and study skills and the number of students contacted by COE staff. Summative data will be the number of faculty who join UWSOM, relevant research projects, etc.
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