# Pacific High Schools STEP-UP to Biomedical Research

> **NIH NIH R25** · UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA · 2020 · $220,266

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The University of Hawaii at Manoa proposes to continue to develop the Pacific STEP-UP Program to provide
research training and mentoring to underrepresented minority and disadvantaged high school students in the
State of Hawaii, and the US Territories in the Pacific: American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the
Republic of Palau. For the past 5 years, Pacific STEP-UP has enrolled trained 145 student interns in the
NIDDK STEP-UP summer program, and exposed another 414 students to laboratory sciences during the
school years. We built the capacity for laboratory research in the Pacific colleges (including personnel training)
where there were none before us. We tracked over 270 STEP-UP alumni from as early as 2005 to find that a
great majority pursued college education with a science emphasis, and many also sought post-graduate
training and terminal degrees. To date, Pacific STEP-UP remains the only formalized research training
program for high school students in the US Pacific, amid the urgent need to build and foster a pipeline of
underrepresented individuals seeking health research careers in order to combat health disparity in this region
of the world. With confidence that Pacific STEP-UP has established roots in the region, we will continue to
develop and expand our STEP-UP research training and mentoring program. Moreover, new strategies and
approach in training and mentoring, as well as in capacity building will be used to further STEP-UP's reach into
the Pacific communities. The goal is that in the process of providing the NIDDK mandated research
training/mentoring, our Program will raise community awareness of relevant health issues and of the future
values in the “home-grown” healthcare researchers; thereby drawing support for health-related research.
Pacific STEP-UP aims to seed and shape a culture that values scientific research as the means to address
health issues in these communities. Accordingly, we propose three Specific Aims. 1. Recruit best qualified
high school students (11th and 12th graders) from the seven US State and Territories in the Pacific into the
STEP-UP Summer Research Program, and track the cohort's academic progress for a minimum of 5 years. 2.
Provide individualized summer research experience (and related education and training) that stresses local
community or population relevance to the Pacific STEP-UP interns. Provide STEP-UP alumni with follow up,
and research-focused, mentoring extending for 9 months. 3. Seed and cultivate interests in laboratory
sciences in the Pacific high schools while strengthen local colleges' capacity to enable and sustain laboratory
and community based research; all in support of the Pacific STEP-UP training program by expanding the
application pool and research opportunities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9857592
- **Project number:** 5R25DK078386-14
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
- **Principal Investigator:** George S Hui
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $220,266
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2007-06-01 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9857592

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9857592, Pacific High Schools STEP-UP to Biomedical Research (5R25DK078386-14). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9857592. Licensed CC0.

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