The NIDDK High School Short-Term Research Experience for Underrepresented Persons

Abstract

Background: Increasing the pipeline of aspiring minority biomedical/health profes­sionals is a crucial component to diversifying the health science workforce. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) created the High School Short-Term Research Experience for Underrepresented Persons (HS-STEP-UP) to provide introductory biomedical/biobe­havioral research experiences to promising high school students, who are traditionally underrepresented in the biomedical/biobe­havioral sciences. The program reached out to African American and Hispanic students, as well as Native American students and students from the United States Territories, Methods: HS-STEP-UP provides a stimu­lating, rigorous 8- to 10-week summer research experience for a national cohort of ~100 high school students each year; the experience is organized through four National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded coordinating centers. Typically, the program receives about 300 applications a year and about 100 students are accepted. Appli­cants are reviewed and selected based upon their online application that includes: a high school transcript, list of classes and extracur­ricular activities, two recommendation let­ters and a personal statement. The program culminates with a symposium at the NIH where students present their research and attend workshops and seminars. Results: For the 2017 and 2018 HS-STEP-UP programs, the classes included 193 students; 67% were females and 82% were underrepresented minorities. Forty eight percent of students reported a family income <$37,000/year, and 23% were from first generation college families. Ninety percent were very satisfied or satisfied with their research topic and 94% rated the end of the year symposium at NIH as excellent or very good. Only 65% were very satisfied or satisfied with their mentor matching, and 21% stated they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their mentor. All the students successfully completed their sum­mer research projects and presented their research abstracts at the symposium. All par­ticipating seniors reported attending college. Conclusion: HS-STEP-UP has been highly successful in recruiting traditionally under­represented students and supporting under­represented HS students with a reward­ing introductory experience to research. Students are overall satisfied with the program, but mentor matching needs more attention. Longer-term follow-up is needed to determine how participating in STEP UP impacts their decisions to participate in the biomedical workforce in the future. Ethn Dis.2020;30(1):5-14; doi:10.18865/ed.30.1.5