# Studying Inclusive Mentor Networks to Diversify the Biomedical Workforce

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2021 · $700,673

## Abstract

Abstract
The United States' inability to achieve equitable workforce development in biomedical career pathways is well-
recognized and has been attributed to poor retention of a diverse stream of students in academia.1,2 National
data examining retention of individuals from historically underrepresented (HU) groups at the undergraduate,
graduate, and faculty levels in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) show that the
disparity between the HU and historically overrepresented (HO) groups increases as people progress through
these career pathways.3 One theoretical model applied to understand and address this issue is the Tripartite
Integration Model of Social Influence (TIMSI)15,16, which will be used to inform the design of a Social Inclusion
Intervention (SII) within the context of the Small World Initiative (SWI). The scope of the SWI program provides
an ideal context in which to conduct this rigorous multisite, longitudinal, randomized experiment with HU and HO
faculty and students. Having grown rapidly since 2012, SWI now includes 151 undergraduate institutions in the
US, with 29 HSIs, 5 HBCUs, and 2 TCUs. In this context, the first aim of the proposed study is to experimentally
test the hypothesis that among HU and HO faculty participants the SII will result in higher quality mentorship
from the assigned peer mentor and short and long-term growth in mentor networks, mentorship activities,
improvements in scholarly productivity, and joy in work. The second aim is to test the hypothesis that the SII
with undergraduate HU and HO students, implemented by faculty in their classrooms (cluster randomly
assigned), will result in a higher degree of identification with and support from their faculty mentor, the
development of stronger mentor networks, as well as growth in interest and retention in biomedical fields. The
third aim is to test the hypothesis that indices of integration into the scientific community will mediate the
relationship between the quality of mentorship and inclusion and short- and longer-term outcomes for both faculty
and student participants. Results will be derived from longitudinal data from 200 biomedical faculty participants,
a short-term sample of 3,000 student participants in SWI courses (with a minimum of 25% being from HU
groups), and a long-term stratified random subsample of 1040 student participants with 2 years psychosocial
data, providing robust power to utilize multilevel growth curve analysis, social network analysis, and structural
equation modeling based mediation analysis to test hypotheses that extend previous findings regarding TIMSI
for both HU and HO faculty and students. The proposed study will contribute to the DPC goals of advancing the
science of workforce development by (a) identifying a theoretically guided low cost and scalable intervention to
increase mentor networks and inclusion experiences, (b) measuring for whom this intervention has the strongest
impact (e.g., moderation by ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10197157
- **Project number:** 5U01GM132174-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** NICHOLE A BRODERICK
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $700,673
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-08 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10197157

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10197157, Studying Inclusive Mentor Networks to Diversify the Biomedical Workforce (5U01GM132174-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10197157. Licensed CC0.

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