REACH Equity Summer Undergraduate Research Program (RESURP) is an 8-week summer program for rising junior and senior undergraduate students. The overall goals of the program are to: increase students’ knowledge of the causes and consequences of racial and ethnic disparities in health; introduce students to basic skills in clinical research and provide an opportunity to conduct a health disparities research project; provide an opportunity for students to shadow Duke Faculty in a clinical setting.
Program Highlights
Through a series of interactive sessions and hands on activities led by REACH Equity Center faculty, RESURP will include the following (and more). Due to COVID-19, in-person activities will be determined closer to the program start date:
- Introduction to racial and ethnic disparities in health and their causes, including: social determinants of health (education, income, insurance, housing), the make-up of the healthcare system, and provider beliefs and behaviors related to implicit (unconscious) bias
- Local community tour to learn how social determinants impact health and contribute to disparities
- Introduction to clinical research methods, data collection and database creation, statistical analysis, Institutional Review Boards, medical ethics, and minority participation in research
- Participation in a community-based Racial Equity Training Workshop
- Shadowing of clinical faculty (TBD based on COVID-19 restrictions)
- Informal sessions with Duke faculty, trainees, and students to hear about their experiences
- Workshops and lectures on presentation skills, professionalism, and teamwork
- Completion of a small group mentored health disparities research project through collecting data, creating a REDCap database, exporting data for statistical analysis, and creating a PowerPoint presentation
- Oral presentation of the group project at a special symposium attended by faculty and staff