# From High School to Health Care: Lab and Data Science Pathways for Success

> **NIH NIH R25** · UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE HEALTH SCI CTR · 2024 · $256,718

## Abstract

The CoVID-19 pandemic amplified the stress of existing critical shortages of allied health professionals,
especially in rural communities and underserved populations. Careers including clinical laboratory sciences
(CLS) and public health information technology (PHIT) are less well promoted as other health professions in
K-12 schools, increasing the struggle for professional programs to recruit undergraduate students. Critical
needs exist for novel educational programs and training methods that promote and increase interest amongst
high students about CLS and PHIT fields. The High School 2 Health Care (HS2HC) program is comprised of
a summer program and a dual enrollment course that educates high school students and their teachers about
careers in CLS and PHIT, while guiding them in developing hands-on skills that give them the opportunity to
experience what these careers would entail. HS2HC aligns with the NIH Research Education Program goal
of increasing the number of qualified, trained health professionals to meet the nation’s needs. Our program
targets rural communities in West Tennessee where professional health care shortages have been
exceptionally damaging and seeks to enhance opportunities in CLS and PHIT for underserved student
populations. We will use novel outcomes-based educational approaches that apply project-based learning
strategies to real-world social determinants of health scenarios and work-based simulation strategies with
real clinical data and samples. A teacher professional development program focused on integration of NGSS
and CLS and PHIT content, along with career awareness will also be implemented. A quasi-experimental
mixed methods design will be used to assess awareness and knowledge and skills development in CLS and
PHIT focus groups, quantitative content analysis from a dual enrollment course and a summer program, and
teacher and student interviews will be used to assess effectiveness of the outcomes-based curricular design
approach we use to teach interdisciplinary PHIT and CLS content, understand how rural high school students
acquire knowledge regarding PHIT and CLS professions using our learning approach, and whether our
approach increases student interest and the number of students choosing Career and Technical Education
(CTE) and undergraduate pathways in these careers. Our unique population compositions in Lauderdale and
McNairy Counties in West Tennessee will provide insight into the impact of cultural and social differences in
learning acquisition for CLS and PHIT concepts, thereby allowing us to uniquely tailor our experiences to
different community and cultural settings. Through high school and community partnerships, online, and
mobile resources we will disseminate educational curricula, materials, and research outcomes to enhance
community health-based literacy. We will encourage the addition of our program into the NGSS and CTE
standards for Tennessee by communication with educators and policy makers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10894915
- **Project number:** 5R25GM142091-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE HEALTH SCI CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Jacen Shannon Moore
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $256,718
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-08-05 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10894915

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10894915, From High School to Health Care: Lab and Data Science Pathways for Success (5R25GM142091-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10894915. Licensed CC0.

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