The overarching goal of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)/Tuskegee University (TU) Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) Partnership is to create systemic and sustainable culture change to further support inclusive excellence in research at both institutions. Within our theme of Health Disparities, we will build a community of scientists committed to inclusive excellence by recruiting 12 early-career faculty committed to promoting diversity and inclusion and interested in addressing health disparities. These faculty will be hired across 3-4 clusters representing areas of research strength and opportunity across our institutions: cancer, obesity and diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neuroscience. Program hires will be designated as Benjamin-Carver Scientists in honor of two barrier-breaking investigator leaders – Regina Benjamin, MD and George Washington Carver. Our Scientists will be surrounded by a comprehensive support infrastructure including sponsors, mentors, career coaches, institutional research navigators, and professional development opportunities to help them mitigate the difficulties experienced by new hires and accelerate the development of collaborative networks and peer support. We have targeted our activities and support mechanisms to ensure that they impact all levels of influence in the Social Ecological Model including Individual, Interpersonal, Organizational, Community and Policy. All levels are reflected in the following specific aims: 1) recruit and hire clusters of Benjamin-Carver Scientists who are committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in areas of shared research need and support them by implementing individual career development plans, enhanced with scientific mentoring, career coaching, and advocate sponsorship; 2) provide enhanced support for new faculty through an Office of Integrated Research Support in which Research Navigators will help new faculty coordinate sponsor, mentor, and career coaching support; connect new faculty to existing support resources; and assist new faculty with logistic, fiscal, and regulatory matters related to proposal development and grants management; 3) provide extended opportunities for professional development and networking, including a diverse and inclusive Research Community Collaboratory to help faculty build a collaborative network of peers; 4) expand a series of diversity and inclusion programs at both UAB and Tuskegee to help foster systemic and sustainable cultural change; 5) institute changes to institutional policies and environment to support sustainable institutional culture change, including initiatives to support diverse and inclusive hiring and retention; and 6) evaluate the UAB/TU FIRST Partnership and work with the FIRST Coordination and Evaluation Center (CEC) to determine whether this cohort and cluster design model of faculty hiring, sponsorship, continual mentoring, and professional development, embedded within programs to create academic cultures of inclusive excellence produces significant change in metrics of institutional culture.

Project Narrative We propose to create systemic and sustainable culture change to support inclusive excellence in research by recruiting clusters of faculty focused on health disparities, specifically in the areas of cancer, obesity and diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neuroscience. We will recruit and select 12 junior faculty who are committed to diversity, and provide supportive institutional environments to facilitate their development of successful independent research programs. Support will include individual career development, infrastructure and assistance, opportunities for networking and collaboration, and changes to policy and environment to reduce isolation, build community, and increase retention.