# Vanderbilt Experimental Research Training Inclusion Community Engagement Skills (VERTICES)

> **NIH NIH R25** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $264,048

## Abstract

Project Summary
In this new application we propose a unique training experience that builds upon Vanderbilt
University's (VU) extraordinary record of research, training, and fostering diversity in biomedical
science and that seeks to create a new paradigm promoting the pathway to biomedical science
careers and aspirational life choices for a cadre of underrepresented, postbaccalaureate scholars.
This program provides an intellectually, socially and culturally rewarding experience to engage
scholars at multiple levels throughout a 12 month training program. We will leverage VU's training
expertise to cultivate knowledge and research skills and provide an integrated training program
that supports resilience by fostering connections among program participants and their research
mentors, peers, and respective communities. A strong multiple-PI leadership team is composed
of senior individuals with overlapping expertise in scientific research, mentoring, inclusion, skill
development, trainee engagement, and fostering a community of diverse scholars. This team is
supported by internal and external board members with demonstrated commitment to training and
diversity. We will provide a research intensive immersion for carefully-selected scholars each
year. Our pool of distinguished mentors have a diversity of research interests that are aligned with
the mission of NIGMS. In addition to an intense, mentored research experience, we will offer
unique perspectives and resources, provide a productive framework to fully understand
the promise and process of scientific discovery, and foster invaluable connections among
scholars and their mentors and communities. We posit that scholars, most especially those
from underrepresented groups, must also be trained in how to relate their work to the larger
community. They must be aware and knowledgeable of the forces shaping the public's
perception of science and how to shape the scientific narrative in both underrepresented and
majority communities. Our overall goal is ambitious and innovative; we seek to create scholars
that will become the integrators needed to connect science with communities through their
academic credentials, ability to build and retain trust, and cultural competence skills. We
will fulfill this vision through: an intensive research and training immersion experience, with
mentoring as a central component; regular opportunities to interact with their peers and acquire
the core values of collaboration, teamwork and personal enrichment; and exposure to the public
awareness of science, education, policy and social change. Together, we will thus provide an
exciting and comprehensive experience to minority scholars poised to make career-defining, life-
changing decisions with future implications for the scientific enterprise across the nation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10470962
- **Project number:** 5R25GM134979-03
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Joey Victor Barnett
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $264,048
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-22 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10470962

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10470962, Vanderbilt Experimental Research Training Inclusion Community Engagement Skills (VERTICES) (5R25GM134979-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10470962. Licensed CC0.

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