Since then, the National Institutes of Health and the community of Bridges grantees have gained considerable experience with respect to realistic expectations, program management, and strategies for improving outcomes. This seemed to be a very appropriate time to consider the direction of the Bridges to the Future Program. The plan includes a mission statement, goals, objectives, and evaluation criteria to measure program success. The mission of the Bridges to the Future Program is to make available to the biomedical science research enterprise and to the Nation the intellectual talents of an increasing number of underrepresented minority group members. The program promotes effective inter-institutional partnerships that lead to improvement in the quality and quantity of underrepresented minority students being trained as the next generation of scientists.
Goals Increase the number of underrepresented minority biomedical scientists.
Improve the ability of educational institutions to train and graduate underrepresented minority students in the biomedical sciences. Develop partnerships that support and facilitate underrepresented minority student transfers at key points in the educational pipeline. The working group identified a number of goals to be achieved by 2005. Of these students, about 60 percent have obtained or are still seeking the advanced degree. Success can be measured against these data.