Enhancing the Diversity of the NIH-Funded Workforce

The National Institutes of Health Common Fund's Enhancing the Diversity of the NIH-Funded Workforce program is establishing a national consortium to develop, implement, and evaluate approaches to encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds to enter into and persist in biomedical research careers. This consortium will build upon and move beyond existing programs and paradigms to support transformative approaches to student engagement, research training, mentoring, faculty development, and infrastructure development. Transformative approaches are ultimately expected to supplant less effective practices and methods to have a broad and sustained impact on the diversity of the NIH-funded biomedical research workforce.

"A Student-Centered Entrepreneurial Development (ASCEND) Training Model to Increase Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce" is one of ten programs funded by the National Institutes of Health's Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Initiative.

BUILD awards are intended to support the design and implementation of innovative programs, strategies, and approaches to transform undergraduate research training and mentorship, as well as institutional and faculty development to further strengthen undergraduate research training environments. 

• More information about the Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity Initiative is available at: https://www.nigms.nih.gov/training/dpc/pages/build.aspx

• Details about the funded programs are available at: https://www.nigms.nih.gov/training/dpc/Pages/partinst-BUILD.aspx