# Building a Diverse Biomedical Workforce Through Communication Across Difference

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR · 2020 · $275,035

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The biomedical research workforce faces steep declines in recruitment and retention of under-represented
researchers, from undergraduate study to the senior professoriate, and an escalating attrition of those at the
PhD-level as they are nearing potential careers as independent investigators (Fuhrmann, Halme et al. 2011).
To address these challenges, evidence-based mechanisms that enhance mentoring, networking, and career
transitions are needed, but the specific mechanisms that make them effective are still unclear. Elucidating
these mechanisms is critical to future efforts to diversify and retain the biomedical research workforce. To that
end, our objective is to test a predictive model of the influence of skills for communicating across difference
(CAD) on long-term outcomes for both students and their junior mentors (graduate students and postdocs).
Our central hypothesis is that acquiring CAD skills will influence distal outcomes for diverse trainees' career
persistence and network growth, as well as junior mentors' subsequent engagement in mentoring of diverse
trainees, and can be modeled using an adapted version of the Tripartite Integration Model of Social Influence
(TIMSI). Our specific aims are to measure effects of a CAD workshop series in a longitudinal, randomized
controlled trial of dyads of summer students and their matched junior mentors, with additional group-effects
analysis for under-represented groups; 2) to identify causal relationships of the variables and create 2 related
TIMSI-based models: one for career intention outcomes and one for mentoring intention outcomes; and 3) to
assess long-term impact of CAD skills and predictive utility of the student and mentor models by tracking
outcomes of known Hallmarks of Success such as completion of STEM degrees, publication, and others. By
investigating the role of CAD skills, we expect to model the psychological processes by which research career
persistence is strengthened for all participants, and commitment to mentoring diverse trainees is strengthened
for junior mentors. Innovations of the proposed research include its unique focus on linguistic skills, the dyadic
and interactional analytic approach, the analysis of psychological development processes as senior trainees
become junior mentors, and the use of flexible, generative skills rather than acquired knowledge as a
mechanism of change. Our long-term goal is help diversify the biomedical workforce through an approach
which addresses the interactional roles of both under-represented and well-represented groups
simultaneously. This research, conducted by our uniquely qualified team, directly addresses priorities outlined
by the NIH National Research Mentor Network and will contribute to our understanding of mechanisms that
enhance mentoring and career transition and thereby broaden participation in the biomedical workforce.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9980449
- **Project number:** 5U01GM132219-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Carrie A. Cameron
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $275,035
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-18 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9980449

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9980449, Building a Diverse Biomedical Workforce Through Communication Across Difference (5U01GM132219-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9980449. Licensed CC0.

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