Development of the Cardiovascular Undergraduate Research Initiative for Underrepresented Students (CURIOUS)
Authors: Stokes Karen Y. , Alexander J. Steven , Rodgers Krista M. , Woolard Matthew D. 
Published: May 2024

The Center for Cardiovascular Diseases and Sciences at LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport supports cardiovascular disease research at multiple levels from predoctoral fellows to established faculty. To extend our support to undergraduate students, we developed the Cardiovascular Undergraduate Research Initiative fOr Underrepresented Students (CURIOUS). CURIOUS is an 8-week summer research program (with housing) funded by an NHLBI R25 grant, and is targeted towards underrepresented groups interested in pursuing cardiovascular research as part of their scientific/clinical career goals. We primarily recruit in our region, but the program is open to students across the USA. CURIOUS provides an intensive experience at the bench alongside multiple enrichments. Professional development includes meeting administrators involved in admissions, and students from our schools of Graduate Studies, Medicine and Allied Health Professions, financial advice for planning graduate education, CV writing, and presentation skills. The students also have discussions with faculty about challenges & opportunities for underrepresented minorities in research, and diversity, inclusion & equity. Other enrichments cover cardiovascular basics and state-of-the-art techniques available on our campus. Students receive training in the responsible conduct of research, held in conjunction with other undergraduate programs and graduate students. We invite a nationally recognized cardiovascular researcher to give a seminar and meet with the CURIOUS students. The program ends with poster presentations for all first-year students. Several students are selected to present at national/international conferences with their mentor. In addition, 1-2 students are invited back for a second year of the program during which they have more time for research, advanced enrichments, and an oral presentation at the end of the program. To date, the acceptance rate has been 26%, with 39 students having completed the 1st year and 2 returning students. CURIOUS provided 59% of students with their first research experience. 80% of students gave the program the top rating of excellent. Based on end-of-program feedback, we have improved pre-program interaction with mentors, refined enrichments, streamlined the on-boarding process, and enhanced social activities. Of the 25 students who have graduated college, 2 are in MD/PhD programs, 1 is in a PhD program, and 10 are in medical school, with 11 others planning one of these programs (10 are working in science-related jobs during gap years). Overall, the program has successfully improved the students’ consideration of including cardiovascular research as part of their future career. Funded by the NIH National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Award R25HL147665, to KYS. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.