RECRUITING AND RETAINING UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS

Having improved the recruitment and retention rates of underrepresented (UR) studentsin the graduate program at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio(UTHSCSA), we now shift our we now focus our attention on the development of noveland cutting edge practices and processes that will produce UR students that are not onlyhighly competitive, but are leaders, in the biomedical workforce. Here we propose aseries of systematic interventions designed to sharpen critical thinking skills and developgrant and manuscript writing as well as presentation skills. Successful integration ofthese strategies will prepare IMSD scholars for the most competitive positions in thebiomedical workforce.