ADMINISTRATIVE CORE: ABSTRACT The Medical District UTSW-D FIRST Program will jumpstart the recruitment of a cohort of outstanding junior faculty from underrepresented groups (URG). Five Scholars each will be recruited by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) and by the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) to the Dallas Medical District. The cohorts will specialize in three (3) interrelated cluster areas of biomedical engineering (BME), brain science, and cancer. All FIRST Scholars will have laboratories in the Medical District, including the new UTSW-UTD Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Building. Aim 1 will organize an efficient and effective administrative structure to oversee all aspects of the FIRST program. The multi-PIs (MPIs) from UTSW and UTD will direct joint implementation teams in each of the three FIRST cores (Administrative, Faculty Development and Evaluation). We will have several levels of oversight including the Executive Committee that includes all Core leaders and the External Advisory Board. We will continuously adapt a shared organizational structure to foster collaboration and engagement among stakeholders. Aim 2 will develop and administer proactive and unbiased approaches to identify and recruit URG candidates to our joint FIRST program as first- time tenure track faculty. We will use a data-driven strategic approach that includes assembling a scouting network of faculty for outreach and “upstream” recruitment of candidates still in postdoctoral training. We will initiate multi-year relationships to encourage applications to FIRST. Aim 3 will design an integrated faculty development program to launch our FIRST Scholars’ independent scientific careers and retain them at our institutions. Aim 4 will develop and strengthen pathway programs for upstream recruitment of future URG faculty in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM), and sustain impactful long- term improvement in our institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion culture. Impact: Our proposal to enhance diversity within the faculty populations at the Medical District as well as the broader UTSW and UTD communities, together with robust pathway development programs, will expand the scientific workforce and its diversity in the Dallas metro area in the immediate and long terms. FIRST will advance extramural research and training to promote the scientific, medical, and moral imperatives for the future.