Training the Next Generation of Latino Health Researchers: A Multilevel, Transdisciplinary, Community-Engaged Approach

Increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Health and Health Services Research Workforce: A Systematic Scoping Review

Health and health services research institutions seek to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to overcome structural bias. The objective of this review is to identify, characterize, and evaluate programs aimed to strengthen DEI in the health and health services research workforces. We conducted a systematic scoping review of literature of 2012-2022 North American peer-reviewed empirical studies in PubMed and Embase using the Arksey and O'Malley approach. This review identified 62 programs that varied in focus, characteristics, and outcomes. Programs focused on supporting a spectrum of underrepresented groups based on race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and socioeconomic status. The majority of programs targeted faculty/investigators, compared to other workforce roles. Most programs were 1 year in length or less. The practices employed within programs included skills building, mentoring, and facilitating the development of social networks. To support program infrastructure, key strategies included supportive leadership, inclusive climate, resource allocation, and community engagement. Most programs evaluated success based on shorter-term metrics such as the number of grants submitted and manuscripts published. Relatively few programs collected long-term outcomes on workforce pathway outcomes including hiring, promotion, and retention. This systematic scoping review outlined prevalent practices to advance DEI in the health and health services research field. As DEI programs proliferate, more work is needed by research universities, institutes, and funders to realign institutional culture and structures, expand resources, advance measurement, and increase opportunities for underrepresented groups at every career stage.

Reimagining a summer research program during COVID: Strategies for enhancing research workforce diversity

Well-designed, accessible short-term research training programs are needed to recruit and retain underrepresented persons into clinical and translational research training programs and diversify the workforce. The Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research developed a summer research program, training over 270 students in 15 years. In response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, we pivoted swiftly from an in-person format to a fully remote format. We describe this process, focusing on factors of diversity, equity, and inclusion including enabling student participation in remote research activities. We collected data about students' learning experiences since the program's inception; therefore, we could evaluate the impact of remote vs. in-person formats. We examined data from five cohorts: three in-person (2017-2019; n = 57) and two remote (2020-2021; n = 45). While there was some concern about the value of participating in a remote format, overall students in both formats viewed the program favorably, with students in the remote cohorts rating some aspects of the program significantly more favorably. In addition, more students who identified as Black or African American participated in the remote format than in the in-person format. We describe lessons learned from this unprecedented challenge and future program directions.

Avancemos! Building Partnerships Between Academia and Underserved Latinx Communities to Address Health Disparities Through a Faculty-Mentored Undergraduate Research Program

Latinx is the largest minority population group in the United States and disproportionately affected by health disparities. Efforts to address such health disparities require a concerted, multipronged approach that should involve training the next generation of Latinx health professionals to become part of a culturally competent workforce. This article describes a formative assessment of a faculty mentored undergraduate research program at the University Massachusetts-Boston, called "Avancemos!: Advancing Research Skills and Professional Career Opportunities in Health Sciences for Latinx Undergraduate Students" designed to provide mentorship, research training, and professional career development skills for undergraduate Latinx students. We employed a mixed-method approach in the formative assessment of the program. Our results showed that over the course of four academic semesters the program served a majority female, first-generation, immigrant low-income Latinx undergraduate students. Our qualitative assessment of students' perceived benefits of participation in the program suggests positive effects on a number of areas including the acquisition of concrete and marketable research skills, enhanced understanding and application of knowledge gained in other courses, increased network, enhanced sense of belonging to the academic community, increased professional self-confidence, and enhanced preparedness and plans to pursue graduate studies. Furthermore, our findings suggest that participation in community-engaged research activities offered opportunities for students to realize the role research plays in reducing health disparities. Faculty-mentored undergraduate research programs such as the Avancemos! offer essential opportunities to build partnerships between academia and underserved Latinx communities to address health disparities, while contributing to the development of culturally competent health professions workforce.

Mentoring Programs by and for a New Generation of Latino Investigators in Behavioral-Social Science HIV Research

Latinos represent a critical resource of talent that could be cultivated to expand the HIV research workforce. However, their rapid growth, as the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority group in the US population, has yet to translate into a significant increase in Latino health academic researchers. Historically, strategies to build a diverse research workforce have grouped together individuals from underrepresented minority populations obscuring significance between and within group differences. This limits approaches that are responsive to the diversity of needs and experiences of emerging investigators from underrepresented groups. In this article, we discuss challenges associated with heterogeneity of Latinos and barriers that impede research independence/career success in the context of a review of Latino-investigator targeted mentorship approaches on the behavioral-social science of HIV infection. Mentorship workforce strategies could benefit from a personalized framework emphasizing individualized and tailored approaches to address the limitations and gaps in knowledge regarding Latino research development. This perspective encourages increased emphasis on organizational and structural processes to aid in overcoming institutional-level barriers that impede research and career development. Recommendations are proposed for features and components of effective mentorship programs that will lead to robust outcomes for strengthening the Latino research workforce in the HIV research field and elsewhere.