WHAT: Project TrEMUR is about the Transitions in the Education of Minorities Underrepresented in Research. The project is funded through a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.
Want to participate in Project TrEMUR?
WHY: Building a demographically diverse physician-scientist workforce is crucial not only for the sake of adequate and equitable representation of underrepresented minorities in the physician-scientist workforce, but also for meeting the healthcare needs of an increasingly diverse American population and reducing health disparities among racial/ethnic groups.
- In particular, the project is focused on why some individuals, especially those from demographic groups underrepresented in biomedical research, pursue the MD/PhD pathway while others do not.
HOW: Describe the demographic, pre-matriculation, and medical school factors associated with sustained career involvement in biomedical research as physician-scientists.
The project uses a mixed methods research design where....
- ...interviews are collected from medical students, physicians, scientists, and those who have left research or medicine altogether.
- ...hypotheses are generated regarding the potential influence of background experiences and demographic differences on the career trajectory of individuals aiming to be biomedical research scientists.
- ...interview information is interpreted in the context of large-scale longitudinal data set made available through the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC.org) that includes the Pre-MCAT Questionnaire.
The findings of this study will be useful to policymakers based on a careful analysis of demographic, attitudinal, and experiential factors in association with enrollment in, attrition from, and graduation from MD/PhD-degree programs. Potential targets for interventions aimed at increasing the demographic diversity of the physician-scientist workforce engaged in biomedical research will be identified.
Want to participate in Project TrEMUR?
WHO: The project is a collaboration between principal investigators are Robert H. Tai, Ed.D. and Heather D. Wathington, Ph.D. of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, and Dorothy Andriole, M.D. and Donna Jeffe, Ph.D. from the Washington University of St. Louis School of Medicine.
