Detroit colleges receive NIH award to improve diversity in biomed research
A consortium of Marygrove College, University of Detroit Mercy, Wayne County Community College District and Wayne State University has been awarded $21.2 million over five years by the National Institutes of Health to implement a program encouraging more undergraduate students from underrepresented and economically disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue careers in biomedical research.
The grant was awarded through the NIH's Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) initiative, created to get more minority and economically disadvantaged students in the STEM pipeline, expose students to research in laboratories and enhance the research-training environment. Studies have shown students from underrepresented backgrounds enter early biomedical research training in numbers that reflect the general population, but they are less likely to persist.