THE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES
Grant: $113,832 - National Institutes of Health - Jul. 17, 2009
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Award Description: More than 50% of all American high school (HS) students will be the children of today?s American minorities by 2025?of those, 75% will be Hispanic. HS and college graduation rates for minority students have failed to improve and only 50% of Hispanic HS students graduate compared to nearly 90% of White and/or Asian students. Barriers to success are many, and include cultural and socioeconomic disadvantages; public schools without the resources to build on their student?s potential; and lack of educational extracurricular opportunities that historically have been available to middle/upper class school districts. Our minority students are an untapped resource, and it is imperative that we begin focusing on their academic and personal success as it impacts our nation?s current and future economy. We hypothesize that providing research training opportunities embedded in a socio-cultural framework, (ie., in scientific fields relevant to the health of minority populations) will increase the interest in science, enhance student?s career goal orientation, and promote entry of underrepresented minority/disadvantaged HS students into a career in research and/or academic medicine. We will test this hypothesis with the following specific aims: 1) We will recruit 15 HS students from Los Angeles Unified School District into a 6 weeks summer internship to learn hands-on laboratory experimentation under the mentorship of successful researchers. 2) We will provide interns with 24 hrs of SAT prep classes held by Princeton Review instructors to improve student?s academic knowledge and college application competitiveness. 3) We will provide free professional college and financial aid counseling to students and their families to ensure successful entry and completion of a college education. We anticipate that such comprehensive research training will be: i) unique in the US, ii) will create a training climate and culture necessary to attract and retain minority students into the sciences, iii) will reduce stereotyping of minority trainees in academia iv) increase the number of underserved minority professionals in biomedical research and academic medicine and v) will develop role models for future minority students to enter a career in the sciences.
Project Description: As defined in the Award Description field.
Jobs Summary: A rigorous application and interview process has selected 14 juniors from some very low performing inner city HS of South Central Los Angeles. Student worked from July 6 to August 17, 2009, Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM in TSRI laboratories under the guidance of CHLA science mentors. CHLA scientists were matched based on the intern?s interest, which often is a consequence of their family?s health history. Students performed hands-on experiments centered on research projects related to heart regeneration in zebra fish, mouse stem cells biology, organ transplantation, microbial pathogenesis, lung injury and repair, cancer and obesity. Interns perform sophisticated laboratory procedures (i.e., plasmid preps, DNA/RNA isolation, PCR, western blots, tissue sections, tissue culture, histochemistry, FACS analysis etc.) normally not learned until graduate studies, demonstrating that they can excel in research if given the appropriate learning and mentoring opportunities. Students wrote a scientific abstract and they presented their research accomplishments in a short lecture in a science symposium held at the conclusion of the internship. LA-HIP has evolved into a unique college preparatory program that provides students with the necessary tools to get into, and succeed in, high quality four-year colleges and universities. LA-HIP students participated in 28 hrs of Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) preparative classes provided by The Princeton Review. Students also took extra SAT test provided by Princeton Review and all students participated in the official SAT test on October 3, 2009. Mrs. Jean Mandel, a certified college consultant with over 30 years of experience, worked with interns to provide personalized college counseling. Similarly, Mrs. Charlene Liebau, former Undergraduate Admissions Director at both Occidental College and The California Institute of Technology, provides 3 personalized mentoring sessions with a college admissions officer?s perspective. Both Jean and Charlene and helped facilitate college campus visits including a tour to Occidental College in Los Angeles. Mr. Samuel Ortiz, Senior Associate Director for Financial Aid, University of Southern California, will hold 3 bilingual financial aid workshops for parents and interns to facilitate their submission of the FAFSA application and to ease the fear of financing college, since most of our interns are the first generation to be college-bound. Finally, graduates of LA-HIP act as role models to classmates, siblings and others in the community; they help with recruitment of applicants; they host college tours for current interns; and they assist with teaching during the laboratory course. This growing network of LA-HIP alumni at colleges across the country will be invaluable for future interns. (Total jobs reported: 0)
Project Status: Less Than 50% Completed
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