Center for Causal Consequences of Variation (CCV)
Many medical and biotechnological advances have been made in
healthcare and scientific research in recent years. However, there
continues to be underrepresentation of U.S. ethnic and racial minorities in the
biological and genome sciences. These underrepresented groups include
Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, Native Alaskans, and
Pacific Islanders. According to the National Center for Education
Statistics, in 2008,
out of 6,918 Ph.D. degrees conferred in the biological sciences, 3,690 were
white recipients, 595 were Asian/Pacific Islanders, 253 were Latino, 241 were
Black, and only 17 were Native American. (Note: The remaining 2,122
degrees were awarded to foreign students.)
The mission of Harvard Medical
School (HMS) is,
"To create and nurture a diverse community of the best people committed to
leadership in alleviating human suffering caused by disease" (see also here). To assist HMS in achieving its
mission, the Diversity Action Plan (DAP) of the CCV— a Center for
Excellence in Genomic Science (CEGS) funded by the National Human Genome
Research Institute (NHGRI)—was established in 2010.
The NHGRI is committed to increasing the number of individuals from
underrepresented minority groups who have the training to pursue careers in
genome and ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) research. The
premise of embedding a DAP in the CCV is that, as genomic science has become
critical to progress in biological science and medicine, and CEGS are the
birthing grounds of new genomic science, programs that recruit and mentor
minority students through CEGS research will not only help increase the
diversity among genomics researchers, but will also increase representation of
minority students in leading science research positions across the entirety of
biological sciences and medicine.
To that end, the CCV offers a training program for underrepresented
minority students and researchers to assist them in advancing in their career
pathways in genome sciences. In collaboration with faculty and lab
members, we intend to:
1.
Increase the diversity of those engaged in genome research.
2.
Expand opportunities in research training and career development for
research investigators from populations affected by health disparities,
including racial and ethnic minority populations.
3.
Increase the number of researchers conducting research focused on
genome and health disparities.
4.
Develop ethical, legal, social implication (ELSI) research projects
for underserved communities.
The primary objective of the CCV DAP Program is to bring outstanding underrepresented minority students into the research pipeline, and we have two goals for our DAP participants:
1.
DAP summer undergraduate interns will apply to graduate school
programs in biological or biomedical sciences and proceed to an advanced degree
(Ph.D., M.D., or M.D./Ph.D.).
2.
DAP post-docs will transition to a career in biological and biomedical
sciences in academia, industry, or government.
For information on:
· Our DAP summer undergraduate internship program, please click here.
· Our DAP post-doc positions at the CCV, or any other questions about the CCV DAP program, please contact Alex Hernandez-Siegel (email).
Last modified: 7/25/2012 3:48 PM by John Aach