Wanted: Minority Scientists

 BALTIMORE — Scientists from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and Morgan State University have received a $ 3.2 million National Institutes of Health grant designed to promote racial, ethnic and socio-economic diversity in reproductive science research.

The grant to five investigators – Sally Radovick, M.D., and Andrew Wolfe, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins, and Gloria Hoffman, Ph.D., Michael Koban, Ph.D., and Wei Wei Le, M.D., of Morgan State University – will support and foster research collaboration among the five, and fund the recruitment and training of minority students with a serious interest in reproductive science research.

The Hopkins-Morgan State pair is one of only two such grant pairings in the country that involve a historically black institution. Emory University and Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Ga., are the other institutions partnering under the grant.

“Investing in young scientists from diverse ethnic, racial and socio-economic backgrounds will not only help us recruit top talent, but will also improve the way we design studies and conduct research,” says program director Radovick, who is also the director of pediatric endocrinology at Hopkins Children’s.

“There are many brilliant young students who have both intellectual curiosity and a love of science, but don’t necessarily have the basic skills and training so critical for future scientists, such as familiarity with lab work or a knowledge of research methods and design,” Hoffman says. “The funding will provide these opportunities through intense one-on-one teaching and mentoring.”

“Diversity in science is critical on all levels, and scientists who have insight into the problems faced by minorities can improve science by identifying the right problems, by asking the right questions and by recruiting the right participants for clinical trials,” says Hopkins Children’s Director George Dover, M.D.

And, because race and ethnicity can play an important role in how people develop disease or respond to treatment and medication, having a diverse body of study participants will make the results of clinical trials that much stronger scientifically.

“Ultimately, diversity in research talent will help eliminate health disparities, whether they stem from socio-economic gaps, from differences in access to healthcare or from purely biologic factors,” says Wolfe, who is director of research training in the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at Hopkins Children’s.

Eligible students include those from racial or ethnic minority groups, but also students with disabilities and those from disadvantaged or poverty-stricken backgrounds.

Under the terms of the grant, undergraduate trainees will work alongside graduate and medical students and with postdoctoral trainees in endocrinology, which is made possible by an NIH training program in molecular and cellular endocrinology for advanced pre-doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows and supports novel training activities, such as the new diversity training program. Radovick is the principal investigator on this program.

Hopkins has already begun recruiting minority freshmen and sophomores interested in careers in reproductive sciences. Interested students can obtain an application by e-mailing Michael Summa or Gloria Hoffman.

Johns Hopkins has a longstanding tradition in training endocrinologists and established the first pediatric endocrinology program in the United States.

In addition to Hopkins Children’s, the 33 other participating clinical centers across North America are:

* Children’s Hospital of Alabama, Birmingham
* Diamond Children's Medical Center, University of Arizona, Tucson
* Phoenix Children's Hospital
* Arkansas Children's Hospital, Little Rock
* Children's Hospital of Los Angeles
* Children's Hospital of Orange County, Orange, Calif.
* Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, Calif.
* Mattel Children's Hospital, University of California, Los Angeles
* UC Davis Children's Hospital, Sacramento, Calif.
* The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Ontario
* Children's Hospital of Denver, Aurora, Colo.
* Children's National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
* Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Pediatric Hospital
* Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago
* Kosair Children's Hospital, Louisville, Ky.
* Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit
* C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
* Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis
* St. Louis Children's Hospital, Washington University
* Children's Hospital of New York, Columbia University
* Golisano Children's Hospital, University of Rochester, N.Y.
* Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
* University Hospitals, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Cleveland
* Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio
* Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
* Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital
* Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
* Le Bonheur Children's Hospital/University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis
* Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville, Tenn.
* Children’s Medical Center of Dallas
* Primary Children's Medical Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
* Seattle Children's Hospital
* Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Wauwatosa