# Blazing to Biomedical Careers II (BBC II)

> **NIH NIH R25** · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · 2021 · $257,753

## Abstract

Over the past 4 years, Lawson State and Jefferson State Community Colleges (LSCC, JSCC)
and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) joined together to develop a dynamic
program bridging community college students into biomedical education at 4-year institutions and
then on to biomedical and behavioral graduate programs and careers. Bridges to Biomedical
Careers (BBC) proposed that 80% of its students would enter into a 4-year college program in
biomedical and behavioral sciences, 75% would gain a BS, 35% would enter biomedical graduate
education and 35% would enter biomedical careers. Joint STEM education collaborations among
the 3 schools, aggressive recruitment and close faculty and peer mentoring were important in
BBC’s success. 59 students have entered BBC, 86% have completed an AS in a biomedical-
related field, 100% are graduates or still in BBC, 100% are underrepresented minorities, and 5
are in biomedical graduate programs. BBC II will enhance this success further by closer
interactions among the 3 colleges in research and education and increased faculty, peer
mentoring, and new collaborative biomedical courses on the 3 campuses. An additional 5 years
of student tracking will allow us to identify of BBC/BBCII elements that predict which students will
gain most from various aspects of BBC/BBC II. Biomedical research is expanding rapidly in the
US; however, minorities continue to be underrepresented in this workforce. Minorities constitute
~29% of the US population, but hold only ~7% of PhD degrees and only ~4% of RO1 grants in
biomedical and behavioral science. Many minority students lack early engagement and
opportunities to develop skills and content knowledge to complete BS programs. BBCII will
provide students at community colleges with educational opportunities, internships and mentoring
that will introduce them biomedical and behavioral research and prepare them for rigorous
advanced coursework at UAB. The students will be paid for their summer research internships
and for research/mentoring opportunities during the school year. Students will be encouraged to
be peer mentors to newer BBC II students, thus facilitating a successful transition to UAB and
beyond. Top performing interns will be recruited to return to their community college to talk to
students about their research and how to become a biomedical researcher. The Broader Impact
of BBC II will be to create a new cadre of minority individuals in biomedical and behavioral
research. The Intellectual Merit will be to identify methods that engage and prepare
underrepresented students for careers in biomedical and behavioral research. The two
community colleges are different, and thus BBC II will identify best methods for diverse students.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10201632
- **Project number:** 5R25GM111369-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
- **Principal Investigator:** NICHOLAS W. KIN
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $257,753
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2014-09-08 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10201632

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10201632, Blazing to Biomedical Careers II (BBC II) (5R25GM111369-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10201632. Licensed CC0.

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