In December 2013, ICAP announced a new addition to its Next Generation student programs—the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Fellowship. The new fellowship program will provide training and mentorship to ten minority and underrepresented students in global health research.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded this T-37 institutional grant, which advances ICAP’s commitment to providing valuable field experience to diverse students from different backgrounds and areas of study and deepens its commitment to strengthen global health by contributing to a more diverse global health research workforce. Diverse research teams are critical to broaden perspectives on research priorities, ensure balance in setting research agendas, facilitate interaction with global colleagues, recruit participants from diverse backgrounds, and ultimately reduce health disparities.
Fellows will receive intensive hands-on skills training in global health, health disparities, qualitative and quantitative research methods, and responsible conduct of research. The 11-week summer Fellowship begins with two weeks of training and seminars in New York, followed by eight weeks of mentored research at three international research sites: ICAP in Swaziland, the International Family AIDS Program in the Dominican Republic and the Global Health Research Center of Central Asia (GHRCCA) in Kazakhstan. The fellowship concludes with a final week of training in New York.
“This is an exciting opportunity to work with a new generation of global health leaders and help them leverage their individual strengths and competencies to enrich the field of global health research,” noted Miriam Rabkin, ICAP director of health systems strategies.
The deadline for the 2014 Fellowship is February 10. Eligible students must be from racial and ethnic groups considered by the NIH to be underrepresented in the health sciences, and/or from rural and low socioeconomic groups. More information and application guidelines are “online”:http://www.icap.columbia.edu/student-center/fellowship.
