# Short-Term Training to Increase the Diversity Pipeline in Heart/Lung/Blood Research

> **NIH NIH R25** · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · 2021 · $237,036

## Abstract

The University of Arizona (UA) College of Medicine Diverse Student Medical Research Program
(DSMRP) introduces, trains, and nurtures diverse inquiring medical and undergraduate students
[encompassing underrepresented minorities (URM)] in health-related basic/clinical biomedical research
emphasizing NHLBI cardiovascular, pulmonary, and blood mission areas; and encourages subsequent
intensive/extensive research experiences to retain and strengthen the diverse student researcher
pipeline. We continue to build on the infrastructure, high level of student and faculty mentor participation,
esprit-de-corps, and outstanding trainee productivity of our multifaceted medical student and
disadvantaged high school student programs to bridge the discontinuous "leaky" pipeline of entering and
exiting students as they advance in training and strive for professional/academic careers. Full-time
summer-vacation laboratory/clinical investigation is integrated into an internationally recognized and
paradigm-shifting Curriculum on Medical Ignorance (CMI) concentrated in a Summer Institute on Medical
Ignorance (SIMI) and sustained through year-round trainee-related contact network and enrichment
opportunities. These include topical seminars and workshops, clinical correlations, advanced
extracurricular research in a Research Honors Distinction Track, Introduction to Molecular Medicine
laboratory practicum, a new progressive "Translating Translation and Scientific Questioning"
face-to-face/online curriculum interweaving the known and unknown from bench to bedside to
community, research methodology/ communications/thriving/leadership/ responsible conduct seminars,
visiting professors, and individualized career advising. CMI fosters attitudes and questioning skills to
recognize and deal with the vast shifting world of medical ignorance ["what we know we don't know
(research), don't know we don't know (discovery), and think we know but don't (error)”]. A unique Virtual
Clinical Research Center/Questionarium with mobile phone access forms a centerpiece and platform for
inquiry-based training and national/international networking. Organized around rapidly expanding UA
Specialized Centers of Excellence and departments and overseen by Program Director and staff,
Steering Advisory Committee, and faculty-elected Medical Student Research Committee, research
encompasses cross-cutting themes and in vivo, in vitro, in situ, in silico, and modeling approaches to the
cardiovascular system and its disorders (cardiac contractility, hypertrophy, development; genomics/
proteomics, imaging, regeneration, biomaterials, prosthetics; endothelial biology, microcirculatory
physiology, lymphology, bioengineering), pulmonology/respiratory disorders (ventilation, asthma, cystic
fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension) and blood/stem cell biology/disorders; and interdigitating research and
technology in neurosciences, genomics/protreomics/metabolomics, bioinformatics, and public health and
other topics at...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10146445
- **Project number:** 5R25HL108837-10
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
- **Principal Investigator:** MARLYS Hearst WITTE
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $237,036
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10146445

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10146445, Short-Term Training to Increase the Diversity Pipeline in Heart/Lung/Blood Research (5R25HL108837-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10146445. Licensed CC0.

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