Capacity-Building for Career Paths in Public Health and Biomedical Research for Undergraduate Minority Students: A Jackson Heart Study Success Model.

Objective: This article chronicles the building of individual student capacity as well as faculty and institutional capacity, within the context of a population-based, longitudinal study of African Americans and cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this article is to present preliminary data documenting the results of this approach.

Design: The JHS Scholars program is designed, under the organizational structure of the Natural Sciences Division at Tougaloo College, to provide solid preparation in quantitative skills through: good preparation in mathematics and the sciences; a high level of reading comprehension; hands-on learning experiences; and mentoring and counseling to sustain the motivation of the students to pursue further studies.

Preparing African Americans for careers in health care: the Jackson Heart Study.

The Jackson Heart Study Undergraduate Training Center (UTC) at Tougaloo College was developed to increase the numbers of African-American students entering public health and health related fields. The UTC includes a scholars program for undergraduate students at Tougaloo College, three four-week programs for high school students called the SLAM (science, language arts, and mathematics) workshops, and an introductory epidemiology course for healthcare professionals and graduate students. The scholars program recruits 12 Tougaloo College freshmen annually for the duration of their undergraduate education.