What exactly does REPID stand for? The words behind the acronym, “Research Education Program to Increase Diversity in health researchers,” still may not be clear, but what this program is really doing is breaking down barriers to promote diversity in health care.
The director of REPID, Elahe Crockett, associate professor of Medicine/Human Anatomy & Pathology, felt that the world of medicine needed to better understand the types of health care needed for under-represented groups, such as minorities and people from lower socio-economic classes. She felt the best way to gain the understanding needed to correctly serve these groups was to train health care researchers who came from similar backgrounds.
“We train these students coming from these backgrounds with the hopes that one day they can become specialized in these areas,” Crockett said. “Then, maybe one day, they can tackle the problems and disparities in health care. That’s the idea behind the program.”
The program itself includes a course, developed by Crockett, which focuses on biomedical research. Once the students are well-versed in these ideals of research, they are matched with a specific mentor, who are selected based on the work that they do and the care they have exhibited for students. Once they have been matched with a mentor, the students work alongside them doing research for 12 weeks.
The program is very competitive, with about 15-19 students being selected each year. REPID is free for accepted students and actually pays them for their full-time work doing research, to help pay for room and board.
For more information about the REPID program, including how and when to apply, visit http://www.repid.msu.edu/about%20us/about%20us.htm or email repid@msu.edu.