Summer 2025 Update
Our program is transitioning to a new model that allows us to continue serving biomedical workforce training needs at OHSU. With the support of OHSU's Research and Innovation Office, we will be launching a new version of our program in Fall 2025. We will continue to offer complementary educational and professional skill development to research assistants (RAs) intent on gaining independent research experience before matriculating into biomedical PhD programs.
In this model, we will provide programming and individualized support to enhance trainees' skills in research design while broadening their career awareness and scientific communication skills to help them prepare for the demands of a doctoral degree program. The faculty mentor hosts the postbac scholar and provides salary and benefits while the scholar works as a RA in their lab.
We thank our OHSU PREP faculty research mentors, career mentors and other supporters who have helped maintain a vibrant community for our postbac cohorts and invite them to join us in our new program.
If you would like to learn more about our new program launching in Fall 2025, please contact us at PREPtograd@ohsu.edu.
Scholar Testimonials
PREP helped me gain the "confidence to speak about myself in a way where I didn’t feel I needed to be someone else or become someone different. PREP empowers you to be yourself in these [academic] spaces."
-Maria Hayes, Alumni, 2021
"The mentored post-bacc training at OHSU was helpful for me in understanding how to gain admission to and ultimately succeed in graduate school. For URM and first-generation students, programs like these are helpful because they inform of you of the academic landscape, help develop your academic interests and allow you to better communicate your strengths and contributions for graduate applications."
-Rachel De La Torre, Alumni, 2018
Growth Session Thank You
We want to thank Dr. Benjamin Sarno for discussing Reproducibility & Data Management at a recent Growth Session! Dr. Sarno is a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Gordon Mills’ lab in the Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology. He received his PhD from the University of California San Diego in Chemical and Bioengineering with a background in cancer diagnostics. Ben is currently developing a translational technology to interrogate blood plasma from triple negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer patients to identify key biomarkers for early diagnosis and therapy monitoring.