# Enhancing Mentoring of Diverse Early Career Researchers

> **NIH NIH K26** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2024 · $111,946

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented minorities into academic
gastroenterology (GI) has been a major challenge for decades (Merchant, 2010). Indeed, as of
2017, only 3.2% of gastroenterology fellows were African American and 8.5% were Hispanic
(Quezada, 2017). To address these challenges NIDDK has funded initiatives by the American
Gastroenterology Association (AGA) since 2012: R25 DK096968 Investing in the Future to
Promote Diversity in GI Training (9/10/2012 – 8/31/2017) and R25 DK118761 AGA - Fostering
Opportunities Resulting in Workforce and Research Diversity (FORWARD, R25 DK118761
7/1/2018 – 4/30/2023). FORWARD is a structured curriculum that has been successful in helping
junior GI faculty from URM backgrounds (twenty so far) to succeed in academia. Its renewal for
the next 5 years has received a favorable score. For the past ten years this PI and others at
AGA, who are passionate about diversity, have volunteered their time to compete for funding,
organize, coordinate and supervise the progress of these NIDDK-funded initiatives. This K26
award will provide dedicated salary support to allow this investigator to decrease his clinical load
and reallocate salary support to hire a senior scientist to assist the PI with the day-to-day operation
of his research program. These measures will for the first time allow the PI the dedicated time
that might better guarantee the success of these national initiatives. At the institutional level, these
funds will free time to continue mentoring URM students at the undergraduate and graduate levels
and newly hired junior GI faculty.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10924022
- **Project number:** 5K26DK138378-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Jesus Rivera-Nieves
- **Activity code:** K26 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $111,946
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-07 → 2028-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10924022

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10924022, Enhancing Mentoring of Diverse Early Career Researchers (5K26DK138378-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10924022. Licensed CC0.

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