FACULTY DEVELOPMENT CORE: ABSTRACT UT Southwestern (UTSW) and UT Dallas (UTD) have multiple complementary strengths, including synergistic collaborations in the three FIRST cluster areas of biomedical engineering (BME), brain science, and cancer, and robust faculty development programs. Our joint Dallas Medical District UTSW-D FIRST program will recruit a cohort of outstanding junior faculty from underrepresented groups (URG) in these cluster areas to the Medi- cal District. UTSW-D FIRST faculty will be co-located in an exceptional environment with outstanding research space, core facilities, and interactive faculty. Our FIRST Scholars will be nurtured with focused career develop- ment opportunities and a fair and clear path to become senior faculty and future leaders. We are committed to retaining our talented faculty as they progress up the academic ladder. Aim 1 will design an inte- grated onboarding program to launch the independent scientific careers of our FIRST Scholars. We will de- velop a faculty-launch web-based checklist to guide transition from postdocs to faculty. We will take advantage of the unique strengths of our two institutions to establish interdisciplinary/interinstitutional tiered mentoring teams. Scholars will receive scientific management training and executive coaching. Aim 2 will create a long- term career development program to grow FIRST Scholars’ careers and retain them. We will launch innovative programs tailored to the need of junior URG investigators and expand already existing successful faculty career development programs. Aim 3 will promote an inclusive and equitable cul- ture to enable our FIRST Scholars to reach their fullest potential, unhampered by career-impeding stresses generated by biases and microaggressions. Aim 4 will ensure a fair and transparent promo- tion and tenure (P&T) process for Scholar advancement and retention. Together these aims demon- strate our deep commitment to recruiting and retaining talented FIRST faculty to improve the representation of URG in the tenure-track and the DEI culture at the Dallas Medical District and beyond. Impact: Our Medical District UTSW-D FIRST program will have multiple positive downstream effects on science and health of our community, and its impact will be sustained through long-term institutional support for its current and future di- verse faculty. Its success will improve the science DEI landscape in Dallas’ two flagship STEMM (Sci- ence, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine) institutions. FIRST’s self-reinforcing DEI and faculty development culture will strengthen our science community and will have multiple posi- tive downstream effects. Our innovative strategic partnership will be a model for improving inclusive excellence through institutional partnerships nationwide.