Exploring Professional Development for New Investigators Underrepresented in the Federally Funded Biomedical Research Workforce

Abstract

Objective: The National Research Mentor­ing Network (NRMN) is a strategic partner­ship whose goals include remedying docu­mented disparities by race and ethnicity in the awarding of National Institutes of Health research grants. Our objectives were to offer a profile of early-career investigators who applied to NRMN’s Grantsmanship Coach­ing Programs (GCP) and test for differences in the research productivity, professional obligations, research resources, and motiva­tions of applicants from underrepresented groups (URGs) compared with applicants from well-represented groups (WRGs). We also evaluated how employment at a minority serving institution (MSI) influenced access to research resources and profes­sional obligations.Participants: 880 investigators who submit­ted online applications to join an NRMN GCP between August 1, 2015 and February 1, 2018.Methods: We used two-sample tests of pro­portions and logistic regression to explore differences in applicants’ characteristics and local research environment by group (URG vs WRG) and institution type (MSI vs Other).Results: URG and WRG applicants did not differ in grant application submission history. However, URG applicants had published fewer articles than WRG peers (9.8 vs 15.3, P<.001) and fewer articles as first/last author (4.4 vs 6.9, P<.001). URG appli­cants reported less access to core facilities to conduct research (74% vs 81%, P<.05). Investigators at MSIs reported less access to collaborators (P<.01) and departmental colleagues with federal funding (P<.001) and spent less time on conducting research (P<.001). URGs were more motivated to seek professional development support to expand their peer networks (P<.05) and advance their careers (P<.001).Conclusions: Our findings identified several points of intervention to help applicants from URGs to improve their future chances of obtaining competitive funding.Ethn Dis. 2019;29(Suppl 1): 123-128; doi:10.18865/ ed.29.S1.123.

Coaching Tailored by Stages: A Valuable Educational Strategy to Achieve Independence in Research

“…The need to focus on scientists who will strengthen research environments applies to every academic organization, from high resource institutions (HRIs) to low-resource institutions (LRIs) (1). The search for promising research leaders on whom to invest becomes especially critical in LRIs, where in addition to limited fiscal resources dedicated to research infrastructure and release time for research, there is a scarcity of independently funded investigators who can serve as role models (2). Many of the LRIs in the United States (US) are also minority-serving institutions or are in geographical areas that have historically received lower funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH) (3).…”