Dr. Emma Fernández Repollet, RCMI Program Director at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, received a Science Educational Partnership Award from the Division of Clinical Research at the National Center for Research Resources, NIH. Dr. Fernández-Repollet proposed to develop a Biomedical Research Education Program to improve the knowledge of Puerto Rican K-12 students about biomedical research focusing on diseases and disorders that disproportionately impact our population. The program identified five initiatives to achieve this goal including teacher and student enrichments programs, summer internships, mini-grant awards and a community outreach component.
Special emphasis will be given to health-related topics such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, hypertension, obesity, AIDS, and stroke, which are related to the leading causes of death in Puerto Ricans as well as other Hispanic/Latino groups.
Dr. Fernández-Repollet will be assisted in these efforts by an expert group of advisors from the education, university, industry, government, and community sectors. Faculty from the UPR Medical Sciences Campus and from the Polytechnic University will also collaborate in this program that is expected to increase the number of Puerto Rican students who pursue a career in the biomedical sciences.
