Diversifying the science talent pipeline

Rachel Skvirsky and Adán Colón-Carmona believe that a career in the life sciences should be a real and exciting possibility for everybody, and that the demographics of scientists should reflect those of the wider population.

Associate Professors of the Biology Department at UMass Boston, they wrote a successful proposal to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that recently awarded UMass Boston a $1.4 million, four-year Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, or IMSD, grant. The program will increase the number underrepresented minority students eventually pursing doctoral degrees in biomedical fields.

As the life sciences industry sees the population it serves becoming more diverse, many in the industry realize that it only makes sense to try to understand the values of that population. The key to the industry’s success is a pipeline of diverse talent. University students in biomedical fields also value diversity in their educational experience, ultimately improving their ability to practice in an increasing multicultural society and patient population.

But turning a student's early spark of interest in science into a sustained career takes years of study, planning, and dedication. All too often, interested underrepresented students choose not to pursue a demanding university program. Large introductory classes can be daunting, particularly when students don't see other underrepresented minorities in the class as students or more importantly as teachers and scientists.

Those who have succeeded make it clear that mentoring was key to their success, along with their own love of science and drive to succeed. This requires a faculty role model, general faculty commitment to strong mentoring, a solid peer group, and a generally heterogeneous and diverse graduate student population. That is where the IMSD comes in.

“We believe students are going to fully embrace the mentoring component of this program,” said Skvirsky. “Our faculty and Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center faculty will mentor our IMSD fellows.” But, according to Skvirsky, it won’t stop there. “Our fellows will serve as mentors to other students, or affiliates. And affiliates can aspire to become fellows.” Skvirsky and Colón-Carmona are the project’s lead investigators, though many other science faculty will play key roles in the program.

Using a proactive recruitment process, underrepresented minority students at the sophomore level who are currently taking science courses will be recruited to apply to become IMSD affiliates. Affiliates who successfully complete at least the first level of IMSD gateway courses will be encouraged to apply to become IMSD fellows. The program will develop a community of science learners with a drive to excel academically. Each IMSD affiliate will be coached by an upper-class IMSD fellow and will also be mentored by individual faculty member who is a researcher in the fellow’s area of concentration, as well as by the program’s co-directors.

The IMSD program is just one facet of a larger, unified plan for student development in the sciences at UMass Boston. The programs that IMSD will complement include two—Bridges to the Baccalaureate and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participants —that focus on involving community college students and UMass Boston undergraduates in scientific study. IMSD will provide the next level of training, specifically to prepare and channel highly qualified students into PhD programs.

The University Of Massachusetts-Boston has a student population of 38.7% underrepresented minorities. It is the only public university in New England recognized by NIH as a minority-serving institution. In 2005, NIH awarded a $4.3 million 5-year grant for a Comprehensive Minority Institution/Cancer Center Partnership between UMass Boston and Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. This grant supports opportunities for minority students to pursue cancer-focused graduate training in diverse fields, collaborative cancer research focused on health disparities in minority populations, and outreach to special populations to redress cancer health disparity services.

If Massachusetts is to maintain its supercluster status in life science, it will need to develop a cadre of workers to staff these growing companies. Many companies say that a diverse workplace can make for novel and innovative science brought about via the richness of different approaches and experiences, and add to the robustness of proposals and solutions.

There are plenty of data that make it clear that we have a long way to go before the life sciences really look like the wider population. But programs like IMSD, and universities like UMass Boston, represent the pathway.