Summer Research Training Institute for AI /AN Health Professionals: Project Summary The overall goal of this project is to increase the research skill set of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) health researchers who are capable of conducting biomedical, clinical, behavioral, or population-based research in diverse settings. For this program, we will build on our successful record of research career development implemented in the first, third, and fourth, sixth, and seventh cycles of NARCH funding. In this grant, we will continue our innovative research training program and recruit AI/AN trainees, and provide long term support for research projects, manuscripts, and grant applications that the trainees may submit during the course of this grant. Our proposal includes the following aims: 1. Recruit AI/AN health professionals, post-doctoral students, graduate students, advanced undergraduate students, health professions students, health-related researchers, and NPAIHB research staff into the Summer Institute, using already established advertising strategies. 2. Provide annual summer institute courses and workshops that will foster trainee research skills, adding new short courses each year and two new topic-driven, intensive training experiences each year, with topics depending on results of needs assessments. 3. Provide AI/AN role models for the AI/AN research trainees, including many new tribal faculty. 4. Provide financial and writing/editing support for attendance at local, regional, and national scientific meetings (new activity for special track students). 5. Provide outreach support for all Summer Institute graduate trainees in their development of research protocols and in submission of grants and manuscripts (new activity). 6. Evaluate the short and intermediate term success of the project and track the trainees as they progress in their careers. Building on the success of our existing training programs for AI/AN students at the NPAIHB, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), and Portland State University (PSU), we expect to meet our aims and further promote AI/AN researchers in careers that are responsive to AI/AN health concerns. Thus, within the next decade, a larger cadre of Native researchers will be better prepared to take a major role in research that will lead to reduction in health disparities among tribal groups. In addition, the career development that the summer program will provide to existing NPAIHB researchers will help to further establish our NARCH as a regional resource center for tribal health issues and for meeting professional development needs.