PROJECT SUMMARY & ABSTRACT The overarching objective of our T32 application “AdvanceSGM Health for Research Diversity” (hereafter referred to as Advance SGM) is to support the development of predoctoral trainees who will have exceptional research and community engagement skills in advancing sexual and gender minority (SGM) health equity in the Deep South. The rationale motivating our program is twofold: First, the need to recruit, retain, and raise-up researchers from underrepresented backgrounds in an effort to understand and address the dramatic health inequities facing SGM communities across our region. Second, the need to address SGM health holistically, not just from a disease or deficits approach. We will provide predoctoral trainees with education and experience in rigorous, reproducible, and transparent scientific approaches. We have designed our program to include the following key activities: 1) Provide advanced training in SGM research through weekly seminars focused on health equity, multi-level prevention interventions, methods, and their intersections; 2) Prepare trainees for an academic research career via application workshops focused on professional development training; 3) Engage trainees in SGM research via a shadow experience and community intensive for trainees to ‘learn by looking,’ followed by an immersive community-based participatory research project for students to ‘learn by doing’; 4) Expand trainees’ personal and professional networks through formalized mentoring and networking opportunities; 5) Evaluate the effectiveness of AdvanceSGM in increasing the diversity of scholars addressing SGM health equity across racial, ethnic, SGM, and other minoritized statuses. The planned duration of appointments is two years per cohort. We project a total of 15 trainees across three cohorts (1st cohort years 1 and 2, 2nd cohort years 2 and 3, final cohort begins in year 5 and continue their final year upon T32 renewal). We will draw on our diverse personal and professional networks to recruit applicants from underrepresented backgrounds designated by NIH (e.g., experience with homelessness, educationally and/or financially disadvantaged, raised in rural and/or Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services-designated low- income areas) alongside other systematically excluded groups (e.g., race and ethnicity, sexual minority, gender minority). Prospective UAB doctoral students, as well as current doctoral students already enrolled in the Schools of Public Health, Nursing, or College of Arts and Sciences and who are in years 1 or 2 of their program, are eligible. Intended trainee outcomes will include traditional NIH evaluation metrics (e.g., presentations, publications, and grants submitted and awarded) in addition to other critical metrics such as the extent to which the training contributed to the development and growth of professional networks among trainees. This will be assessed through a robust mixed methods evaluation plan.

NARRATIVE Despite the dramatic health inequities faced by sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals, there are a dearth of training opportunities focused on SGM health in general, and especially in the Deep South. AdvanceSGM is committed to training the next generation of diverse researchers in the risks and resiliencies of SGM populations and providing them with the skills needed to address SGM health inequities. Over 5 years, we will train 15 predoctoral students in both the didactic and experiential skills needed to lead a successful research career in SGM health.