SOUTH TEXAS MEDICAL SCIENTIST TRAINING PROGRAM (STX MSTP)

This proposal seeks support for the South Texas Medical Scientist Training Program (STX MSTP) at theUniversity of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA), a federally designated Hispanic-servinginstitution in a minority-majority city. As national leader in clinical and translational research on Hispanic,military, and Veteran health issues, UTHSCSA addresses regional health disparities that present both challengesand opportunities for medical research that are of nationwide relevance. The STX MSTP provides training intraditional wet-lab biomedical science investigation while exposing students to our unique clinical environment.Our institution and the South Texas MSTP are aligned with the mission and values of UTHSCSA and the AAMCCompact between Biomedical Graduate Students and their Research Advisors. Rigorous research and clinicaltraining and an integrated curriculum provide the skillset for a successful and productive independent career asphysician-scientists in academic and private research institutions. The STX MSTP provides multiple integrativelongitudinal training components that continue throughout the length of the entire training, such as recurrentworkshops on Communication, Leadership, Team Science, Translational Research, Health Disparity andOutcome Research, and Entrepreneurship. Mentorship by both MD and PhD advisors, including individualdevelopment plans, is provided throughout the training, along with a wealth of career-enhancing activities.Thanks to active recruitment and continuous support, we train 31% of students are from under-representedminorities and 26% students with disabilities. Our diverse and accomplished student body is selected from ahighly qualified applicant pool of students who come with significant prior research experience. We are askingfor 6 training slots to allow us expand our entering class by 2 additional positions per year from the current 5training positions to 7 training positions per year. Our request is for the first three years of their 7 to 9 years oftraining (MS1, MS2 and GS1 level). This proposed expansion of the STX MSTP will allow us to increase ourcapacity to about 54-56 fully-funded MD/PhD trainees (tuition, fees, stipend and benefits), given our time tocompletion for both degrees of 7.9 years.