Enhancing Student Diversity: An Institutional Approach at Mayo Clinic

1. An Institutional Approach to Student Diversity: A Centralized Organization Structure which Retains Local Responsibility Richard McGee, Ph.D. Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Mayo Graduate School Director, Office of Minority Student Affairs, Mayo Clinic

2. Challenges faced in 1991 • Mayo Clinic not known as a graduate training program among minority or majority students • No undergraduate school in Rochester • Mayo Clinic not on the radar screen for minority students or faculty advisors • Rochester was a small, homogeneous city • Faculty and staff had little experience interacting with traditional underrepresented groups • Minority enrollment close to zero

3. The Context - Mayo Clinic Rochester • Location - Rochester, Minnesota • Population 68,000 (now 86,0000) - otherwise rural • Mayo Graduate School ~ 120 PhD students (integrated core curriculum with 7 PhD fields) • Mayo Medical School - 128 MD students (34/year) • MD/PhD program ~ 40 students (6/year) • School of Health-Related Sciences ~ 300 students • Research postdocs - 350-400 • Graduate School of Medicine ~ 900 clinical residents • About 130 primary research faculty

4. Rochester is Rapidly Changing! • Since 1990 Rochester has grown from 68,000 to 86,000 • Minority population has grown from ~6% to 13.7% • Public school minority students increased from 8.9% to 18.7% • 22.1% minority students K-5 • 56 different first languages

5. Organizational Structure for Education at Mayo Clinic • Accredited PhD, MD and MS degree-granting authority • Governing Body is the Education Committee - Includes Director for Education (~Provost), Deans of each school, other faculty and administrators • Each School governed by a Dean and a school Education Committee

6. Minority Student Affairs Began in 1991 Structure/Design • Central Office of Minority Student Affairs - Virtual • Coordinates activities across all four Mayo schools • Primary focus on developing a pool of science-oriented students interested in research or clinical medicine • Attendance at all major minority student meetings and relationships with minority-serving schools • Series of developmental, non-degree programs to bring Mayo Clinic onto the radar screen of minority students • Aggressive elevation of visibility (marketing)

7. Minority Student Affairs Began in 1991 Structure/Design • Each School retains responsibility for sustaining an effort to recruit and promote success of underrepresented minority students • No special programs for enrolled students - philosophy of meeting needs of all students with flexibility in curricula if needed and wherever possible • Education leadership clear about the value and importance of diversity, and financial support for the Office and programs • Faculty buy-in good but not universal

8. Minority Student Programs • SURF program (70-100 students) usually has 25-30% minority students • Mayo Minority Scholars program - 2-year expanded SURF experience focused on “Faculty Development” • Several summer programs for minority medical students to increase visibility and overall diversity • Philosophy that overall diversity among students, residents and postdocs helps the graduate school

9. Mayo Clinic Initiative for Minority Student DevelopmentTraining in Patient-Oriented and Translational Research • Funded since 1996 by NIGMS Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS-IMSD) program • Currently funded at about $570,000/year • Co-Directed by R. McGee, PhD and G. Poland, MD • Mission is to guide student development toward basic and clinical research careers - and recruitment to Mayo! • Hypothesis - some minority students more likely to persist toward research careers if they see the value of research • Also trying to develop model for early identification and motivation of clinical investigators

10. IMSD Components • Summer research for minority undergraduates (SURF) and medical students - key weekly group meeting • Postbaccalaureate Research Assistantships - whole new model to increase minority student persistence toward research careers - about 10 total/year • Small number of pre-doc positions • Fellowships (1 or 2 years) for medical students to complete Certificate or Masters in Clinical Research - 2-4/year • Joint MD/PhD program with the University of Puerto Rico, School of Medicine - 1 with hopes for more

11. Postbaccalaureate Research Program(MARC-PREP now available) • For underrepresented minority students and others committed to minority health research issues - at least 10/year • 1 or 2 years of research before PhD, MD/PhD or MD programs • Paid as 75% Laboratory Technician ($21,000 annual salary) • Eligible for medical insurance and other employee benefits • Core Curriculum plus options for other graduate courses - Clinical Research Protocol Development (lab research option)- 2 credits - Biostatistics in Clinical Research - 2 credits - Responsible Conduct of Research - 1 credit - Clinical Epidemiology - 1 credit (optional) • For details see the poster - effective but plenty of challenges

12. So has it worked? • Graduate School averaging about 12-15% underrepresented minorities but highly variable from year to year • Medical school averaging about 15% • MD/PhD - highly variable since so small • Clinical residencies about 8-10% • Faculty supportive and open to student needs • Very high fraction of students succeed

13. Other outcomes and benefits • Mayo Graduate School has become much more visible among minority students and their advisors • Providing students for T32 training grants in Molecular Neuroscience, Tumor Biology, Immunology