JUNTOS Health Disparities Cross-cultural Education Pipeline Internship

INTRODUCTION: Although ethnic and racially diverse populations make up 25% of U.S. residents, only 9% of nurses, 6% of physicians, and 5% of dentists come from minority communities. Even fewer minorities serve as public health researchers – less than 5% of the country’s public health faculty are Black, and 7% are Latino^.

OBJECTIVES: To describe an innovative 6-week Health Disparities Research Internship program, for underrepresent pre-college and college students.

METHODS:  We developed an innovative 6 week-summer program based on participatory action research model and other inquiry-based educational strategies, to help students develop the tools (i.e. knowledge, and skills) necessary to investigate health disparity issues in their communities. This will not only provide students a rich context in which they will expand their scientific knowledge, but they will also see how science (i.e., biomedical, clinical, and behavioral) and research can serve as powerful tools to ameliorate disease impacting their communities.

RESULTS: Over the past 3 years 59 high school youth from under-represented communities have successfully completed the program (75% female; 91% free-reduced lunch and 39% English language learners). Student summer experience addressed a broad range of issues including: addressing dyslexia among Latinos, sleep deprivation among teens, and teen pregnancy prevention.

CONCLUSION: Emphasizing life sciences knowledge, public health and clinical research has further engaged students, their families and communities in addressing health disparities.