Fostering Hispanic Academic Public Health Leaders for Success in Under-Resourced Environments

With limited resources for conducting research and professional growth for students and faculty alike, there is a need to be innovative in fostering Hispanic academic public health leaders for success. Academic institutions have been unable to provide sufficient funds to students and faculty like they used to, in part, due to government funding cuts. The United States (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), “the nation’s medical research agency”, as well as the HHS/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “the nation’s health protection agency”, have had their budgets reduced in recent years. The HHS/NIH’s budget, for example, allocates 80 percent towards providing funds to universities and research institutions across the U.S. These reduced funding levels impact the amount and types of resources made available to students and faculty, like small grants to collect primary data, present research findings at national professional conferences, purchase special equipment or statistical software to conduct research, etc. Being able to produce research, publish and receive grants is critical to obtaining tenure. However, with reduced funding levels, students and faculty, especially those of color, find it hard to accomplish these things. The National Association of Hispanic-Serving Health Professions Schools (HSHPS) is a member-based organization that supplies essential academic and career development resources to students, faculty, and other health professionals to addresses the mounting public health issues of providing quality and culturally competent healthcare to Hispanics living in the United States. HSHPS member schools of medicine, public health, nursing, pharmacy and dentistry have leveraged HSHPS national presence and connections to government and non-governmental partners to connect their students and faculty to resources and expertise. The purpose of this poster is to highlight three initiatives lead by HSHPS: Student Mentorship Program for Hispanic Health Research (sMPH2r) is the first formal online and team based mentorship program for undergraduate students focused on Hispanic health research;  Graduate Fellowship Training Program (GFTP) is a ten (10) week in-person or online program that provides fellows with hands on experience; and the Professional Development and Data Sets Workshop brings together scholars to learn about secondary data analysis to launch their academic public health career. The  The sMPH2r, GFTP and the workshop are prime examples of, despite limited resources, fostering Hispanic academic public health leaders for success.