Empowering Native Students in Neuroscience Discovery

Aug. 24, 2021
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Alyssa Joe (left) and Angel Leslie, students from Diné College in northern Arizona, took part in the Undergraduate Readying for Burgeoning Research for American Indian Neuroscientists (URBRAIN) program, which places Native students at the center of neuroscience research.

Alyssa Joe (left) and Angel Leslie, students from Diné College in northern Arizona, took part in the Undergraduate Readying for Burgeoning Research for American Indian Neuroscientists (URBRAIN) program, which places Native students at the center of neuroscience research.

Students from Diné College in northern Arizona took part in a UArizona Health Sciences neuroscience research program for Native American students this summer. Native Americans currently account for 0.5% of the total workforce in the biosciences, a rate lower than any other racial or ethnic group, according to the National Institutes of Health, which funded the Undergraduate Readying for Burgeoning Research for American Indian Neuroscientists (URBRAIN) program.

Students worked alongside researchers on neuroscience projects, spent time with mentors, took part in talking circles, explored Tucson and gave presentations about their experience. 

Kathleen Rodgers, PhD, a professor of pharmacology at the College of Medicine – Tucson and associate director of translational neuroscience at the Center for Innovation in Brain Science, conceived and led the program in collaboration with Diné College.