Preparing Indigenous Scientists to Lead Innovative Substance Use Research: The Native Children's Research Exchange Scholars Program

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Indigenous populations in the United States (American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian) face significant substance use disorder inequities. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has increased efforts to address these inequities through investing in research to understand the root causes and studies focused on prevention and intervention in these populations. These efforts have included the launch of the Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) Initiative in 2012, the establishment of the NIH Tribal Health Research Office (THRO) in 2015, and the Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness (N CREW) in 2023. The advances resulting from these efforts are significant, but they are also incremental, slowed by many complexities encountered in research with diverse Indigenous populations. One particular challenge is the continued underrepresentation of Indigenous Principal Investigators (PIs), leaders who have unique potential to fully integrate scientific and cultural knowledge throughout study design, measurement, analysis, interpretation and dissemination. The NCRE Scholars Program works to address this gap by fostering the development of early career Indigenous substance use and disorder researchers, particularly those whose work focuses on the impacts and developmental course of problematic substance use in childhood and adolescence. NCRE Scholars began in 2012 on the foundation of the Native Children’s Research Exchange (NCRE) network of researchers partnering with communities to understand Indigenous children’s development (prenatal through early adulthood). The NCRE network and biennial conferences provide a platform for connecting graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty to senior research mentors who provide substantive mentoring and career development support. The NCRE Scholars Program leverages this network to support the development of the next generation of Indigenous substance use and disorder scientists by: (1) providing supplemental opportunities for developing (1) substantive expertise, (2) methodological expertise, (3) technical expertise, and (3) connections with peers, mentors, and communities. NCRE Scholars V will support 20 graduate students and early career researchers in five new cohorts of four Scholars each, providing tailored mentoring and training opportunities, coursework, writing support, and opportunities for connection and collaboration.