CDCB Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Purpose and Mission
Support, strive for, and enact foundational changes in CDCB and beyond to bring about greater diversity, equity, inclusion and tolerance to the academic scientific arena.
Support and encourage all faculty, staff and trainees to embrace the responsibility required to bring change.
Support an inclusive work environment that provides an atmosphere that allows all individuals to attain their greatest potential.
Recruit and embrace faculty, staff, and trainees that will broaden the diversity and support inclusion and tolerance in our scientific community.
OHSU Resources
Spotlight
CDCB representatives at the On Track OHSU! event on February 20th, 2024. 7th graders from Woodburn and North Portland schools visited OHSU to learn more about basic science research. On Track OHSU! works with Oregon middle and high schools to increase the number of students from underrepresented minority background in the health sciences and in Oregon's biomedical workforce.
Events
Contact Rebecca Ruhl for CDCB DEI Seminar details
Complete list of CDCB DEI events
Past faculty and staff DEI efforts
Programs and Initiatives across OHSU
Alliance for Visible Diversity in Science
Alliance for Visible Diversity in Science is a group of grad students/admin/faculty at OHSU that has been engaged in gender and racial equity programs/initiatives. The goal of the collective is to increase participation of diverse voices in scientific research.
Knight Scholars
The Knight Scholars program offers high school students whose communities are underrepresented in cancer research, healthcare and public health—including those of diverse races and ethnicities and those from rural areas—an opportunity to explore careers in the fields of cancer research, treatment and prevention. Students are paid a stipend and housed in residence halls while at OHSU each summer.
On Track OHSU!
On Track OHSU! is a centrally staffed program which performs outreach to Oregon high schools and middle schools with the specific goal of increasing the numbers of underrepresented minority students in scientific research and medical careers. This program provides opportunity for students and faculty at OHSU to engage with students across the state of Oregon.
BUILD-EXITO
The BUILD-EXITO program is run collaboratively through OHSU/PSU that is designed to give underrepresented minority students from PSU access to mentored research opportunities within PSU and OHSU. Several OHSU/CDCB faculty serve as community research mentors within this program. The mentor-mentee relationships are designed to put students into a lab for 2 full years while they are in undergraduate school to build lasting relationships with the mentors and allow students time to contribute to research projects.
OHSU Equity Scholars
The OHSU Equity Scholars program provides research opportunities for diverse undergraduate students each summer at OHSU. This program has individual tracks for biomedical sciences, health policy, dentistry, medicine, nursing, and public health. The program typically occurs over 8 weeks each summer. CDCB faculty have served as mentors for students within this program.
U-RISE
The mission of U-RISE (Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement) at PSU is to recruit, train, and mentor students from historically underrepresented groups to continue biomedical research training. U-RISE Trainees are undergraduates who are committed to pursuing advanced education, research training, and a research career in a biomedical, behavioral, social, clinical, or translational field.
Portland Oral Health Research Training program
The OHSU School of Dentistry has received a $3.8 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health in order to recruit, train and mentor the next generation of scientists in oral health.
The funding, from the NIH’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, will support a new comprehensive dentistry research training program that will build on a decade of growth in basic, translational and clinical research conducted by the school’s faculty. In the last ten years, the school has risen to 12th from 41st in NIDCR funding to U.S. dental schools.
The grant will fund the Portland Oral Health Research Training (PORT) program, which will fill an important gap among training programs at OHSU and will strengthen cross-school, -institutional research, particularly in microbe-host interactions, biomaterials and tissue engineering, and clinical and translational research in TMJ and pain modulation.
PREP
The OHSU Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, OHSU Research & Innovation, and the Vollum Institute. The focus of OHSU PREP is to recruit and train Persons Excluded because of their Ethnicity or Race (PEER) postbacs for an intensive, mentored research experience with the goal to prepare them for pursuing a graduate degree in biomedical research. In addition to a year-long sustained research experience, OHSU PREP scholars will receive individualized competency-based professional and career skill development and opportunities that allow for cultural immersion through interactions with near-peer mentors (i.e. graduate students and postdoctoral fellows) and OHSU faculty from underrepresented backgrounds.
Wy’east Post-Baccalaureate Pathway
Wy’east is the traditional Multnomah name for Mount Hood, a prominent feature of the Columbia River region. The Wy’east Post-Baccalaureate Pathway is a cornerstone of the Center to develop AI/AN physicians. Wy’East Post-Baccalaureate Pathway prepares American Indian and Alaska Native students to excel as medical students and physicians.
There are three major components to the pathway:
- Academic preparation for medical school
- Professional training for the rigor of medical school
- Culturally-relevant experiential learning
OHSU Fellowship for Diversity in Research
The goal of the OHSU Fellowship for Diversity in Research (OFDIR) is to address the need for increased representation of minoritized races/ethnicities in STEM at the postdoctoral level. Fellowships are available for postdoctoral training in all scientific areas of study at OHSU. OFDIR Fellows will receive mentored research training and opportunities to build community with and receive support from other scientists who identify as members of a racial or ethnic group underrepresented in STEM. Explore the tabs above to learn more about the benefits of the OFDIR program, how to apply, and to meet current and former OFDIR fellows.