Clinical and Translational Science Workforce Development through a Statewide Community College Partnership

This R25 Research Education Module, leveraging the infrastructure of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (I-CTSI), will foster development of the clinical and translational workforce within Indiana through education and immersive experiences of learners enrolled in Ivy Tech, our statewide community college system. There is strong evidence that career exposure and experiences have a positive impact on career choices. Ivy Tech is the largest singly accredited statewide community college system in the country, with campuses across Indiana and an undergraduate enrollment of ~120,000. The numerous majors at Ivy Tech that have connections to clinical and translational research make this an ideal platform to engage learners into these careers. Herein, we propose to combine career exploration with an immersion research experience to help learners develop a pathway toward the clinical and translational science workforce. Our program has three components. The first (AIM 1), focused on broad exposure to learners about careers in clinical and translational science, will be achieved through synchronous virtual programming across the statewide Ivy Tech system. The second (AIM 2a), focused on immersion research experiences, will connect learners, termed CTSI-Scholars from Ivy Tech campuses near one of the four University campuses of our I-CTSI (Notre Dame, Purdue, Indiana-Bloomington, and Indiana-Indianapolis) into a 10-week summer experience. These Universities each have thematic foci of clinical and translational research/science that will serve as primary research experiences. The program will support learners as CTSI/Ivy Tech Scholars. The third program component (AIM 2b), will provide support through a cohort-based longitudinal mentoring/professional development, focused on career-pathway attainment over the subsequent year. The program’s efficacy will be determined (AIM 3) through evaluation of learner progression into educational tracks/careers connected to clinical and translational science.