Pictured: UH Mānoa MHIRT students during a layover in Seoul.
By Tina Shelton JABSOM Communications Director
The annual Minority Health International Research Training (MHIRT) program is underway, another summer of undergraduate students from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) boarding planes for long flights to international research destinations, a dream-come-true opportunity for budding scientists at such an early point in their college education. The opportunity comes to them through the UHM John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), which competes for National Institutes of Health funds to engage the undergraduates in the study of diseases prevalent among minority populations and disadvantaged communities, just like many people in Hawaiʻi.
Five of this year’s nine MHIRT students will conduct research in Bangkok, Thailand, while the other four, in pairs of two, will conduct research in Pune and Mysore, India. One group was pictured during their layover in Seoul, appearing fresh with smiles despite the already long journey at that point.
JABSOM Tropical Medicine Chair Vivek Nerurkar leads this program for UH undergraduates and says the UH-MHIRT leadership, local and international mentors, department faculty, guest lecturers, support staff, and MHIRT parents and hardworking MHIRT students make every year memorable.
The young scientists report their exploits throughout the summer in newsletters produced by Tropical Medicine, and will present their original research in a public event at JABSOM when they return.
The summer is when the students’ favorite part of the program takes place, but it is a year-long endeavor. They participate in an 8 day “Introduction to Biomedical Research Workshop” before they spend about nine weeks conducting their mentored research abroad. When they return, they attend a post-workshop session where they discuss their summer research experiences in a group setting. After that, they will work with biostatisticans to analyze their data, discuss their research results with faculty mentors, and begin preparing written reports.
MHIRT takes place throughout one academic year. During the spring semester, selected students will register for one credit of directed reading and can select to work with one of several research mentors. The one credit of course work provides time for students to select a project, read relevant literature, discuss their research topic with the UH and foreign mentor, and prepare for the summer research experience abroad. In the fall after their research abroad, they may continue to conduct research in laboratories at UH if they wish, and will present their results at a symposium in the Spring semester. The students will also serve as mentors for the next year’s incoming students.
Which students are eligible for MHIRT?
Undergraduates with two years of college science studies under their belts. Students must belong to ethnic backgrounds that fit the U.S. government’s definition as being under-represented in biomedical research “including Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, Blacks and African Americans, Hispanic Americans or Latinos, American Indians and Alaska Natives; and rural; and low socio-economic groups.”