Research Scholars Program Research Articles

Stressed Out: Identifying Inequities and Underlying Causes Associated With Pre-med Student Stress

Stress is among the top mental health concerns of US college students and hypothesized to be especially high among pre-med students. Yet, the extent to which pre-meds’ stress differs from other college science students’ stress, as well as the underlying factors contributing to pre-meds’ stress are understudied. Given that stress is disproportionately likely to impact students who are already underrepresented and underserved in science and medicine, it is integral to identify what underlies student stress. Study Objective: We conducted a sequential mixed-methods study to identify what factors exacerbate pre-med stress and the severity of pre-med stress compared to students who are not pre-med. Hypothesis: We hypothesized the competitive nature of being pre-med would account for the majority of pre-med stress and that their overall stress levels would be higher than those of their counterparts. Methods: In Study 1, we conducted an exploratory qualitative interview study with 30 undergraduate pre-meds to assess what aspects of being pre-med exacerbate their stress. We built on this work in Study 2, with a survey of 551 science undergraduates to (a) assess how generalizable the findings from Study 1 were among undergraduate pre-meds at scale and to (b) assess whether students with different career tracks express different levels of stress. Our specific research questions were: 1) On average, do students perceive that pre-meds have higher stress than non-pre-med science majors? 2) Do pre-meds report higher levels of academic stress, perfectionism, social comparison, and perceived competitive environment in science college courses? 3) What aspects of being pre-med induce stress? and 4) What recommendations do pre-meds have for instructors and institutions to decrease pre-med stress? We used open coding methods and regressions to analyze our data. Results: We found that most students perceived that pre-med students had higher stress than their peers. However, while pre-meds reported higher levels of social comparison, they did not express higher academic stress, perfectionism, or perceived competition compared to their peers in science. Regardless of career path, being a woman or non-binary, identifying as a person excluded because of their ethnicity or race (PEER), financially unstable and having a lower GPA significantly predicted a higher academic stress score. Aspects of the medical school application underlying pre-med stress include worrying about not being good enough or maintaining a competitive GPA. Conclusion: This study highlights the levels of stress among pre-meds do not differ compared to non-pre-med science undergraduates, but that women or non-binary students, PEERs, students who are financially unstable and those with lower GPAs are more likely to experience stress in the context of undergraduate science. This work provides student-produced recommendations for ways in which instructors and institutions can decrease the stress associated with being a pre-med student. This study was funded by an ASU Online Undergraduate Research Scholars program seed grant. Graduate student Mohammed is funded by an NSF GRFP #026257-001 and PI Cooper is funded by an NSF CAREER #2143671. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Augmented muscle mass blunts aging-induced cerebrovascular oxidant stress and inflammation

Cerebrovascular dysfunction is a key driver in the cognitive and sensorimotor decline that accompanies aging, contributing to the overall progression of vascular dementia. Exercise is an effective intervention to improve brain health and cognitive function, demonstrating positive effects on cerebral vasculature via a reduction in oxidant stress, thus delaying or partially reversing dementia symptoms. Age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia), however, is prevalent in adults over 50 and sarcopenic older individuals are frequently unable to take advantage of regular exercise, the most effective therapy to reduce risk of cognitive impairment, at a level that confers benefit. Interventions that can effectively replicate the effect of exercise are thus urgently needed to address the medical needs of a large population at exceedingly elevated risk for age-related cognitive impairment. The objective of the work is to determine if augmented muscle mass, a by-product of exercise, can ameliorate both skeletal and cerebrovascular dysfunction in an aging mouse model. Myokine myostatin is a potent negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth that contributes to reduced muscle mass in many muscle-wasting diseases, including aging. To date, research has focused on the protective effect of augmented muscle mass, using genetic or pharmaceutical inhibition of myostatin, in young and obese animals. Our hypothesis is that augmented muscle mass, via myostatin deletion, will improve muscle function and further, blunt the increase in oxidant stress and inflammation that drive cerebrovascular dysfunction in the aging brain. Young adult (3 mo.) and aged (24 mo.) male C57Bl/6J mice were used as controls, in combination with aged mice (24 mo.) with myostatin constitutively deleted. Augmented muscle mass and function were assessed using in vivo plantarflexion. Oxidant stress and inflammatory makers were assessed in micro vessels isolated from the whole brain, using commercially available ELISA’s and mRNA expression. Vascular function is being assessed using pressure myography and immunohistochemistry using the middle cerebral artery. Results show that augmented muscle mass, via myostatin deletion, was successful at increasing muscle mass in the aging mouse, blunting sarcopenia, and improving skeletal muscle function. Further, the aging cerebrovasculature had significantly increased expression of two of the NADPH oxidase isoforms (NOX1, NOX4), along with pivotal cytokines/chemokines associated with vascular inflammation, activation of microglia and astrocytes, and neuroinflammation (IL-1β and CCL5/RANTES). Biomarkers of oxidant stress (3-nitrotyrosine and 8-isoprostane) were also significantly elevated with aging. Taken together, augmented muscle mass may be an effective therapeutic target to prevent and rescue cerebrovascular function and inhibit cognitive decline in an aging population. This research gratefully acknowledges support from the NIA (K01 AG064121), OCAST (HR21-045-1) and the Niblack Research Scholars Program. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

An Effective Academic Medical Center-Based Strategy to Enhance Diversity Among Nurse Researchers.

The Connell-Jones Endowed Chair Diversity Nursing Research Scholars Program was created to promote engagement in nursing research and scholarship among nurses of color. Preliminary evaluation suggests that the program was widely beneficial, resulting in enrollment in doctoral education for some. Establishing opportunities that promote exposure and participation in nursing research and scholarship among nurses of color helps cultivate cohorts of diverse nurses armed to address health disparities through the advancement of nursing knowledge.

Deletion of Myostatin Significantly and Preferentially Improves Muscle Function in a Sex-Dependent Manner in Both an Obese and Aging Mouse Model

Skeletal muscle mass and function are essential components of health and homeostasis. In addition to its role in balance and locomotion, skeletal muscle is the body’s largest metabolic reservoir, absorbing significant amounts of glucose and amino acids from the blood stream. The loss of muscle mass is associated with impaired glucose tolerance, threatens vascular health and contributes to cardiovascular disease in obese and aging (sarcopenic) populations, along with driving overall mortality. The myokine myostatin (GDF-8) is a potent negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth that is upregulated in humans and animal models of obesity and aging. Loss of myostatin is known to increase the number of glycolytic muscle fibers and has been shown to correct indices that govern cardiometabolic health in obesity and aging, improving endothelial function and glucose homeostasis, and protecting against renal injury and hypertension. However, these studies have largely been conducted using male mice, leaving the question regarding the effectiveness of myostatin deletion on skeletal muscle function, independent of sex, largely unexplored. As such, our hypothesis is that the deletion of myostatin will improve skeletal muscle function in both male and female mice, regardless of the disease phenotype being obesity or aging. Young (3-5 mo.) lean and obese mice were used, along with aged (18-24 mo.) mice. The obese db/db model was utilized as it is a well characterized model of hyperphagia that results in obesity and subsequent metabolic disease, including significant whole-body adiposity and reduced muscle mass. On this background we have crossed mice harboring constitutive genetic deletion of myostatin to reverse muscle loss. Thus, myostatin deletion was crossed onto the relevant backgrounds in combination with aging or obesity and included both sexes. Muscle function was assessed in all groups using in vivo plantarflexion. Young male mice demonstrated an ~20% increase in force production compared to the females. Results show that aging and obesity inhibited skeletal muscle function in both sexes, with female mice showing a lessened impact of obesity or aging. Myostatin deletion improved muscle function in male mice, returning both obesity-derived weakness and aging-induced sarcopenia back to levels of young control. However, female mice without myostatin experienced a relative gain-of-function, with force production significantly exceeding that of the young control. The implication of these results is that weight loss may be more effective in protecting muscle function in diseases in the male population whereas myostatin inhibition, either pharmaceutically or with prescription exercise, may result in greater improvements in the female sex comparatively. This research gratefully acknowledges support from the NIA (K01 AG064121), OCAST (HR21-045-1) and the Niblack Research Scholars Program. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Exploring Endocrine Signaling between Adipose Tissues and the Heart using Transfer Learning and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Models

Background: Because of the amount of evidence pointed toward obesity as a co-morbidity of heart disease, our goal in this study is to use a data-driven method to discover potential cross talk signals between adipose and cardiac tissues, which may reveal a physiological reason for this association. For this study, we hypothesized that adipose-cardiac crosstalk signaling can be found by unexpected co-expression between adipose tissue genes encoding secreted proteins and cardiac tissue genes and vice versa. By discovering new crosstalk signals between these two tissues, we can find new associations between heart disease and obesity. Methods: Cross-tissue correlations of gene expression have been used to identify candidate endocrine signals that mediate tissue crosstalk, which are otherwise diffcult to detect in circulation. However, the identification of significant cross-tissue gene co-expression is hindered by immense multiple-testing burden. Our goal here is to abstract gene expression patterns of tissues into eigengenes and then test their correlation with secreted protein coding genes across tissues in a pairwise fashion. We first used the NIH Common Fund Genotype-Tissue Expression data set (GTEx v8) which contains RNA seq gene expression data from matched tissues of over 17,000 transcriptomes, to learn the latent structure of gene expression across tissues. To do so, we used PLIER (pathway level information extractor), a matrix factorization algorithm to extract the latent targets as eigengenes that map to specific biological pathways in the target tissue (e.g., pathways in the heart in the case of adipose to heart crosstalk). The learned gene expression structure is then transferred to a smaller data set with matching donor adipose and heart transcript expression data, from which a correlation matrix is constructed to find significant relationships between source tissue crosstalk signals and target tissue eigengenes and nominate novel crosstalk signals. Results: Adipose to heart tissue cross talk correlations using PLIER derived latent eigengene targets revealed many adipokines that had strong correlations with pathways found in the heart tissue through similar gene expression. Among these strong correlations were eigengene targets that were wrapped in metabolism pathways particularly those of fatty acid, phospholipid, and protein metabolism. Adipokines that showed high significant and positive correlation with cardiac latent variable expression included Adiponectin (R = 0.32, p = 4.7e−13), Glutathione Peroxidase 3 (R = 0.34, p = 5e−15) and Galectin 9 (R = 0.37, p < 2.2e−16) among others. Based on these results, we nominated new potential relationships between adipose and cardiac tissue. Work is currently under way to validate these candidate crosstalk signals using human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes. Future Directions In conclusion, we have found strong evidence in silico to suggest a relationship between known secreted proteins from adipose tissue (adipokine) and the expression of important pathways (such as fatty acid and protein metabolism) in the heart. Based on the findings of these correlations between adipokines and latent eigengene pathways within the heart, our future directions will involved the understanding of potential downstream functional consequences mediated by the adipose secreted proteins in iPSC derived models. This project was supported in part by NIH award R03-OD032666 and the University of Colorado Translational Research Scholar Program to E.L. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Adwords with Unknown Budgets and Beyond

In the classic Adwords problem introduced by [Mehta A, Saberi A, Vazirani U, Vazirani V (2007) Adwords and generalized online matching. J. ACM 54(5):22-es.], we have a bipartite graph between advertisers and queries. Each advertiser has a maximum budget that is known a priori. Queries are unknown a priori and arrive sequentially. When a query arrives, advertisers make bids, and we (immediately and irrevocably) decide which (if any) Ad to display based on the bids and advertiser budgets. The winning advertiser for each query pays their bid up to their remaining budget. Our goal is to maximize total budget used without any foreknowledge of the arrival sequence (which could be adversarial). We consider the setting where the online algorithm does not know the advertisers’ budgets a priori and the budget of an advertiser is revealed to the algorithm only when it is exceeded. A naïve greedy algorithm is 0.5 competitive for this setting, and finding an algorithm with better performance remained an open problem. We show that no deterministic algorithm has competitive ratio better than 0.5 and give the first (randomized) algorithm with strictly better performance guarantee. We show that the competitive ratio of our algorithm is at least 0.522 but also strictly less than [Formula: see text]. We present novel applications of budget oblivious algorithms in search ads and beyond. In particular, we show that our algorithm achieves the best possible performance guarantee for deterministic online matching in the presence of multichannel traffic [Manshadi V, Rodilitz S, Saban D, Suresh A (2022) Online algorithms for matching platforms with multi-channel traffic. Proc. 23rd ACMConf. Econom. Comput. (ACM, NewYork), 986–987.]. This paper was accepted by Omar Besbes, revenue management and market analytics. Funding: NSF Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation [Grant 2340306], and Google Research Scholar Program. Supplemental Material: The online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.03243 .

The National Institutes of Health Lasker Clinical Research Scholars Program: A Decade of Launching Clinician-Scientist Careers.

In response to the decades-long decrease in U.S. clinician-scientists, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation launched the Lasker Clinical Research Scholars Program in academic year 2011 to 2012. The investigators examined the early outcomes of this program. Thirty-nine scholars have matriculated into the program as of May 2023. Productivity was assessed for all scholars who joined the program before October 2020 (n = 31). Extramural early-stage investigators (ESIs) were used as a control group, and coarsened exact matching was used to compare the groups. The scholars were compared with the matched ESIs on 4 productivity metrics: publication count, weighted relative citation ratio, clinical impact, and approximate potential to translate. Publication records for both groups were compiled using the NIH Office of Portfolio Analysis' name disambiguation method and manually curated to ensure integrity of the data set. Of the 39 scholars, 29 were compared with 121 matched extramural ESIs. Five years before matriculation, the 2 groups had comparable numbers of publications, but scholars had a higher median weighted relative citation ratio, clinical impact, and approximate potential to translate score. Five years after matriculation, the scholars had a higher median number of publications than the ESIs, and the gap between scholars and ESIs, with scholars having higher scores, had widened for all metrics except approximate potential to translate scores. Of 10 of the 39 scholars at or approaching tenure eligibility, 6 have attained tenure (3 at NIH and 3 in academic institutions), and 4 are on track to attain tenure at NIH. All the Lasker clinical research scholars are substantially involved in clinical and translational research. Their productivity matches or exceeds that of a matched cohort of ESIs at U.S. academic institutions.

Promoting a more diverse and inclusive research workforce through the research scholars program

BackgroundNovel and comprehensive approaches are needed to address shortcomings in the diversity and inclusiveness of the scientific workforce. In response to this need and informed by multiple programs and data sources, we created the Research Scholars Program (RSP). The RSP is a yearlong program for early-career faculty with an overall objective to overcome barriers to the academic success, retention, progression, and promotion of groups underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral research. The goal of the RSP is to increase research confidence and productivity, build a supportive research community, and reduce isolation by providing personal and group research enrichment to junior faculty through professional development, mentorship, and networking.MethodsWe adapted evidence-based approaches for our institutional context and vetted the RSP across our campus. The resulting RSP consists of three main elements: (1) five levels of Mosaic Mentorship; (2) group and tailored professional development programming; and (3) scientific and social networking. To determine the potential of the RSP to improve research confidence critical to success, we used a modified shortened version of the Clinical Research Appraisal Inventory (CRAI-12) to assess participants’ confidence in performing a variety of research tasks before and after program participation. We collected information about retention, promotion, and grants submitted and awarded. Additionally, we conducted semi-structured exit interviews with each scholar after program participation to identify programmatic strengths and areas for improvement. Data for Cohorts 1 and 2 (N = 12) were analyzed.ResultsOur assessment finds, with one exception, increasing confidence in participants’ research skills across all items, ranging from 0.4 (4.7%) to 2.6 (40.6%). In their exit interviews, the Research Scholars (RS) described their improved productivity and increased sense of belonging and support from others. Research Scholars noted numerous components of the RSP as strengths, including the Mosaic Mentorship model, professional development programming, and opportunities for both informal and formal interactions. Respondents identified time pressure, a lack of feedback, and unclear expectations of the various mentorship roles as areas in which the program can improve.ConclusionPreliminary findings indicate that the RSP is successful in building the research confidence of underrepresented and disadvantaged early-career faculty. While this report focuses on the development and protocol of the RSP, additional cohorts and data will provide the evidence base to support dissemination as a national model of research professional development. Such programming is critical to ensure sustainable support structures, institutional networks, infrastructure, and resources that will improve discovery and equity through inclusive excellence.

ADVANCING DIVERSITY IN AGING: THE AGE-ADAR SCHOLARS PROGRAM AT WVU

Abstract As the number and racial/ethnic diversity of older Americans, ages 65+ years increases, recruiting, training, and retaining a diverse workforce to support aging-related fields is essential. Supported by an R25 grant from the NIA, the goals of the Appalachian Gerontology Experiences: Advancing Diversity in Aging Research (AGE-ADAR) Scholars Program include training undergraduate MSTEM majors in aging and health disparities research, especially as these topics interact in Appalachia. In this brief presentation, we will review the goals and mechanisms through which these aims are accomplished. We will review both hard outcomes (i.e., conference presentations, publications) and soft outcomes (attitude change, career specialization) among our first two cohorts of Scholars. For example, each Scholar prepares two empirical abstracts, presents a poster on campus, presents one or more posters off-campus, produces a public-facing infographic about health disparities and aging, conducts a literature review, and composes an integrated essay related to how their MSTEM major can help to solve issues of health disparities among older adults in Appalachia. About half of our Scholars have co-authored published manuscripts, as well. Finally, other funding mechanisms to support training the next generation of researchers, scholars, and applied workers in aging will be discussed.

"So, We Found a Way:" How Changing Modalities Affected a Year-Long Mentored Research Experience for Associate's Degree Students.

The CUNY Research Scholars Program (CRSP) has provided year-long mentored research experiences for 1678 associate's degree STEM students since 2014. The pluralities (32%) of mentors, all of whom are full-time faculty, have been biologists. Other represented disciplines include, but are not limited to, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, environmental science, linguistics, and psychology. The research experiences take place at all 10 associate's degree-granting colleges within the City University of New York system. Our previous assessment demonstrated that CRSP students are significantly more likely than their counterparts in a matched sample to remain in STEM programs, graduate, transfer to research intensive institutions, and report a stronger sense of belonging in college. The Covid-19 pandemic challenged the program, as colleges shuttered laboratories and other facilities. Some mentors worried that lab-based research experiences would not be possible under such conditions. The first full-year pandemic cohort, however, demonstrated the resilience of the program and its participants. To assess the ongoing impact of CRSP and how it adapted using new modalities, we interviewed college-based directors, surveyed students and mentors, and held focus groups with mentors. Directors described how their colleges adapted to preserve all prepandemic components of the program. Mentors detailed their strategies for engaging students in authentic research experiences in virtual and other formats. Students reported that, along with scientific and technical skills, the program deepened their self-confidence and prepared them for transfer to baccalaureate programs. Our findings show how virtual platforms can be utilized to preserve the most beneficial aspects of undergraduate research experiences for associate's degree students.

Early Engagement in HIV Research: Evaluation of the Penn CFAR Scholars Program Aimed at Increasing Diversity of the HIV/AIDS Workforce.

Demographic diversity is not represented in the HIV/AIDS workforce. Engagement of underrepresented trainees as early as high school may address this disparity. We established the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Scholars Program, a mentored research experience for underrepresented minority (URM) trainees spanning educational stages from high school to medical school. The program provides participants with tailored educational programming, professional skill building, and mentored research experiences. We conducted qualitative interviews with scholar, mentor, and leadership groups to evaluate the program's impact. Eleven participants were selected to partake in 1 of 5 existing mentored research programs as CFAR scholars. Scholars attended an 8-week HIV Seminar Series that covered concepts in the basic, clinical, behavioral, and community-based HIV/AIDS research. Program evaluation revealed that scholars' knowledge of HIV pathophysiology and community impact increased because of these seminars. In addition, they developed tangible skills in literature review, bench techniques, qualitative assessment, data analysis, and professional network building. Scholars reported improved academic self-efficacy and achieved greater career goal clarity. Areas for improvement included clarification of mentor-mentee roles, expectations for longitudinal mentorship, and long-term engagement between scholars. Financial stressors, lack of social capital, and structural racism were identified as barriers to success for URM trainees. The Penn CFAR Scholars Program is a novel mentored research program that successfully engaged URM trainees from early educational stages. Barriers and facilitators to sustained efforts of diversifying the HIV/AIDS workforce were identified and will inform future program planning.

Accelerating Research Careers in Science Through Early Mentored Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Masters' Students at the University of California, San Francisco Center for AIDS Research.

Investments early in the academic pathway are essential to increasing the diversity of the HIV research workforce. Applied mentored research experiences can advance research skills, self-efficacy, and retention in science among scholars considered to be underrepresented minorities. The UCSF Center for AIDS Research Scholars Program is a 16-week program that pairs URM undergraduate and masters-level students from San Francisco State University with URM investigators from the UCSF. The program includes one-on-one mentorship on an independent research project, a core-curriculum on research methods and HIV-specific topics, and clinical shadowing. We evaluated program outcomes and areas for improvement with preprogram and postprogram survey and qualitative data from scholars and mentors from June to October 2022. Outcomes included interest in HIV research and growth on a 20-item measure of research skills, knowledge, and confidence. Six URM scholars enrolled in the inaugural cohort and were paired with 6 mentors. Preprogram and postprogram evaluations showed gains in interest in HIV research, 0% preprogram and 100% of scholars postprogram reporting much or extensive interest in HIV research, and gains across all domains from self-confidence, skills, and clarification of a research career path. Qualitative findings noted the importance of peer support and interpersonal features of mentors, including treating them like equals. Areas for improvement included more opportunities for primary data collection and specific training around mentoring undergraduates for mentors. The UCSF Center for AIDS Research Scholars Program was successful in building foundational skills, knowledge, confidence, and interest in HIV research among URM undergraduates and masters-level students.

Finding your cat story: Perspectives from the founding director of the health policy research scholars program.

Finding your cat story: Perspectives from the founding director of the health policy research scholars program.

SARS-CoV2 Decreases Human Beta-Defensin-1 and FoxI1 in the Oral Cavity Without Affecting CFTR

Abstract The ionocyte is a newly characterized cell, first identified in the airway, that is hypothesized to play a role in innate immunity. Single cell RNA seq analysis showed that ionocytes (FoxI1 and CFTR-expressing cells) are also found in the oral cavity, and highly express human beta-defensin-1 (hBD-1). We showed that hBD-1 expression is upregulated by influenza, Herpes simplex virus and Sendai virus infection of monocytes and plasmacytoid dendritic cells but is downregulated in epithelial cells. The role of hBD1 in oral ionocytes in relation to SARS-CoV-2 infection is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that SARS-CoV2 virus modulates the expression of hBD-1, and this is associated with CFTR and FoxI1 expression in ionocytes in the oral cavity. Buccal swabs from patients with Covid19 and without Covid19 (recovered from Covid19 and non-Covid19) were analyzed for gene expression via quantitative RT-PCR of hBD-1, FoxI1, and CFTR. HBD-1 and FoxI1 mRNA levels (relative to beta-actin) were significantly decreased, but CFTR mRNA remained unchanged in the Covid19 patient cohort compared with the non-Covid19 and recovered patients. This supported the in vitro observation that enveloped viruses decrease hBD-1 in epithelial cells that make up most of the buccal swab sample. Immunohistochemistry on normal minor salivary gland sections revealed that FoxI1, CFTR and hBD-1 are all associated in proximity in the duct of the minor salivary gland. However, crosslinking studies, followed by Western blot analysis, indicated that hBD-1 and CFTR were not interacting. In conclusion, SARS-CoV2 modulates innate immunity in the oral cavity, as indicated by the decrease in hBD-1, and affects ionocytes, possibly affecting pH and osmolality in salivary glands. Research supported by a grant from NIH / NIDCR R01 DE031928 and the University of Louisville School of Dentistry Summer Research Scholar Program

Abstract 5527: Undergraduate cancer research scholars’ community field experiences encourage community engagement to curb future disparities in the cancer workforce

Abstract Lack of access to cancer prevention, early screening, and treatment, particularly in low socioeconomic, underserved communities, are cited as substantial barriers to improving survivorship. Overcoming the complexity of this problem will require a larger, diverse, and dedicated workforce. Community engagement can lead to greater awareness of and both access and accrual to research. Encouraging trainees understanding of and participation in community engagement early on is one approach to curb cancer research related disparities. The current pipeline of cancer-focused healthcare professionals and researchers that understand, appropriately engage, and connect with their target communities and patient populations is dangerously inadequate. To expand our future culturally competent, cancer-focused workforce, the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center has established the Cancer Research Scholars Program which is supported in part by a National Cancer Institute R25. The program offers to 20-23 undergraduate scholars each year, unique and inspiring paid research opportunities across the cancer continuum and educational experiences that included cancer topics, professional development, team science, and both cultural humility and microaggression training. Importantly, all scholars prepare for and participate in one of three community-engaged, cancer-focused summer field experiences offered with our community partners to encourage the supporting of and//or active participation in community-engaged research, education, and outreach in their future cancer careers. Twelve of the 23 summer 2022 Scholars were also invited to continue their research into the academic year either in-person or virtually. After year 1, Scholars and mentors completed surveys and on-camera interviews about the program highlighting the program’s successes as well as areas for improvement. Nearly all Scholars appreciated the community engagement opportunities offered and understood their value to their potential careers. Annual tracking of these Scholars will determine the program’s longer-term impact on the cancer workforce. Citation Format: Melinda Butsch Kovacic, Rachael D. Nolan, Melissa Loyd, Sharon Sauter, Karen Ramos, John R. Kues. Undergraduate cancer research scholars’ community field experiences encourage community engagement to curb future disparities in the cancer workforce. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 5527.

136 Evaluating the ten-year progression of the Miami CTSI Mentored Translational Research Scholars (KL2) Program Awards

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The goal of Miami CTSI’s Mentored Translational Research Scholars (KL2) Program is to identify outstanding early-stage investigators and prepare them to become the next generation of highly skilled independent researchers who translate fundamental knowledge and new technologies from the laboratory to the clinic and to the community. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Evaluation of the KL2 program focused on assessing progress in the following areas: 1) scholar productivity during and after graduating from the program; 2) continued engagement of KL2 program graduates in clinical and translational research; scholar productivity during and after graduating from the program; 3) outcomes such as establishing independent research careers, obtaining research funding, and establishing collaborations; and 4) research impact. We used a developmental evaluation approach and benefits-framework model to conduct program evaluation, incorporating both in a program-specific logic model. Bi-annual surveys were used to measure scholar feedback and progress, and utilization of CTSI services. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Since 2013, the KL2 program has trained 21 scholars,17 of whom have completed training, and four are still in the program. Of the 21 scholars, 52% are female and 38% are underrepresented minorities (URM)–significantly higher than the 12% URM for overall CTSA KL2 scholars. Scholars have 176 total publications related to their KL2 projects and have received $52.4m in total research funding. In addition, 50% of the projects focused on health disparities. Overall, 48% of KL2 scholars have received large subsequent federal awards including three NIH K awards and six NIH R awards. Scholars actively utilized CTSI services during and after graduation. Programmatic enhancements such as adding institutional scholars and using scholar feedback to improve program resources were also implemented. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Miami CTSI’s KL2 program has demonstrated success in fulfilling its program goals. The process and outcome evaluation has provided a better understanding of program performance and progress and has demonstrated alignment with CTSI’s overall goals on addressing health disparities and its commitment to diversity and equity.

Abstract IA021: The All of Us Research Hub: A dataset for all of us

Abstract The All of Us Research Program is building one of the nation’s largest most diverse research platforms that is transforming the future of health by providing researchers expansive, integrated, diverse health data including populations historically underrepresented in biomedical research (UBR). The All of Us dataset is available through the All of Us Research Hub, a centralized, secure, cloud-based platform examining biological, behavioral, and environmental factors that influence health and a broad range of diseases and conditions, including cancer. Participant data includes biological samples, health and social determinant surveys, electronic health records (EHR) and wearable data. Data is available through a private and secure tiered system, with anonymized aggregate data on an open-access public tier, and curated, individual-level, and genomic data on registered and controlled tiers. As of August 2022, the dataset includes over 518,000 participants, 80% UBR and 50% racial and ethnic minorities. Of the 227,000 participants who share EHR, over 42,000 indicate at least one form of cancer diagnosis and nearly 200 different cancer types. More than 2,800 researchers on the All of Us Researcher Workbench study this data, 21% of whom are underrepresented in the biomedical workforce (UBW) by race and ethnicity, from 393 institutions across 47 states. The diversity of research powered by All of Us data matches the diversity of its participants and researchers, as more than 150 projects have “cancer” in the project title and over 240 in the scientific question being studied. To date, there are five cancer-focused publications using the data—demonstrating the program’s early impact in cancer research. The program is intentional in ensuring data access to a diverse researcher community. These efforts include investing in the researcher pipeline and building capacity—from K-12 including educators, undergraduate and graduate students, post-docs and early stage investigators, seasoned researchers, and community and citizen scientists. At the collegiate level, one example is the Research Scholar Program (RSP), an annual offering of professional development workshops and curriculum, providing mentorship and training to support students in a research project utilizing All of Us data. RSP students present at the annual Minority Student Research Symposium, where in 2022, 27 UBW research scholars presented their findings to more than 300 attendees. For early-career investigators, the Baylor College of Medicine UBR Faculty Summit provides training on the Researcher Workbench and year-long support for attendees to continue research in teams utilizing All of Us data. Another capacity building effort is one with engagement partners RTI and the Community Campus Partnerships for Health to provide support for faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and students in six HBCUs to participate in an All of Us Researcher Academy that will provide training, technical assistance, and network-building for researchers and their mentors. Citation Format: Karriem S. Watson. The All of Us Research Hub: A dataset for all of us [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2022 Sep 16-19; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr IA021.

Race-based medicine in the point-of-care clinical resource UpToDate: A systematic content analysis.

SummaryBackgroundRace-based practices in medical education and clinical care may exacerbate health inequities. Misguided use of race in popular point-of-care clinical decision-making tools like UpToDate® may promote harmful practices of race-based medicine. This article investigates the nature of mentions of Black/African American race in UpToDate®.MethodsWe conducted a systematic content analysis of UpToDate® articles mentioning Black or African American race to assess for biological interpretations of racial categories. Following a simple text search for the terms “Black” and “African American” in UpToDate® on January 24 and March 19, 2020, respectively, removal of duplicates yielded an analytical sample of 208 documents. We adopted a deductive coding approach and systematically applied 16 a priori codes to all documents, refining the codebook to achieve a final inter-rater reliability of 0.91. We then developed these codes into two themes: (1) biologization of race and (2) racialized research and practice.FindingsBiologization of race occurred nearly universally across all documents (93.3%), with discussions of inherent physiological differences between racial groups and presentation of epidemiologic disparities without context emerging most frequently. Sixty-eight documents (32.7%) included codes related to racialized biomedical research and clinical practice, including references to racialized patterns of behavior and cultural practices, insufficient data on Black populations, research limiting study to a specific racial group, and race-based clinical practices guidelines.InterpretationOur findings suggest that UpToDate® articles often inappropriately link Black race to genetics or clinical phenotype—without considering socio-structural variables or the health effects of structural racism—thus perpetuating a false narrative that race is inherently biological. UpToDate® articles may also promote unequal treatment by recommending race-based clinical practices. Such racial essentialism risks exacerbating racialized health inequities.FundingThe study is supported by the Health Policy Research Scholars Program, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Medical Scientist Training Program, National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the JPB Foundation, the Minnesota Population, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity at the University of Minnesota.

1092-P: Lipoprotein Insulin Resistance Index and Mortality in Heart Failure: A Population Study

Heart failure (HF) is associated with metabolic alterations, including insulin resistance (IR) . Perturbations in lipid metabolism and insulin signaling may impact outcomes, but the relationship between IR and mortality is not well characterized. The Lipoprotein Insulin Resistance Index (LPIR) is a score (0-100; higher values signify greater IR) calculated from 6 lipoprotein subclass/size parameters measured by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) . We examined the association between LPIR and death in a HF community cohort. LPIR was measured by NMR LipoProfile®. Meta-Analysis Global Group in Chronic HF (MAGGIC) scores were calculated from clinical data. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to evaluate survival; Cox regression was used to estimate risk of death by LPIR quartile. Among 1,381 community-dwelling persons with HF, the median LPIR score was 38 (IQR 21-56) . Higher LPIR was associated with younger age, diabetes, smoking, obesity, and lower MAGGIC scores, but not ejection fraction. Survival increased by LPIR quartile (p<0.001) and at 5 years was 36% [95% CI 31-42], 42% [95% CI 38-48], 51% [95% CI 46-56], and 65% [95% CI 60-70] for quartile 1-4, respectively. The association between LPIR and death was independent of MAGGIC score (Figure) . Higher LPIR was associated with better survival in HF, independently of a validated clinical risk score. More research is needed to examine this paradoxically protective association. Disclosure S. Turecamo: None. A. Wolska: None. J.D. Otvos: Employee; LabCorp. K. Conners: None. S.J. Bielinski: Consultant; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. J. St Sauver: Research Support; Exact Sciences. V.L. Roger: None. Funding Research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at National Institutes of Health and by the NIH Medical Research Scholars Program, a public-private partnership supported jointly by the NIH and contributions to the Foundation for the NIH from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the American Association for Dental Research, and the Colgate-Palmolive Company.

Mindfulness Surrounding Eating Among Current Firefighters, Law Enforcement Officers, and Military Personnel and Its Relationship to Weight Status

ObjectivesObesity among first responders and military personnel is a major concern for personal health and occupational performance, with 40% of law enforcement (LE) officers obese, 70–75% of firefighters overweight/obese, and about 25% of the military personnel overweight/obese. There is also high occurrence of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, emotional strain, sleep disturbances, and suicide among these groups. A point of connection is mindfulness surrounding eating, as it is related to obesity, such that as mindfulness during eating decreases, body mass index (BMI) increases from excess calorie intake. The purpose of this study was to determine level of mindfulness surrounding eating among current firefighters, LE officers, and military personnel and how it relates to weight status. MethodsThis cross-sectional study employed an online survey shared via social media and email, including demographics, physical activity level, diet type and perceived healthfulness, BMI, and 20-item mindful eating questionnaire (MEQ). Descriptive statistics assessed level of mindfulness of the tactical groups. Correlation coefficients were calculated to determine relationships between MEQ scores and demographics, physical activity level, diet type and perceived healthfulness, and BMI. ResultsPreliminary data from 120 surveys (85% fire, 2.5% LE, 12.5% military) indicate MEQ scores for all tactical groups ranged from 2.50–4.47 out of 5. Average MEQ score (± standard deviation) for all tactical groups was 3.13 ± 0.46, with a score of 3 indicating mostly neutral/lack mindfulness surrounding eating. MEQ scores were similar across tactical occupations (fire = 3.12 ± 0.47, LE = 3.33 ± 0.80, military = 3.17 ± 0.70). ConclusionsConsidering negative consequences of obesity among these groups for themselves, one another, and those they serve, investigating mindfulness surrounding eating indicates ambivalence and need for further research, including intervention, in this area. Funding SourcesOklahoma State University Freshman Research Scholars program.