UAB/Tuskegee Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (UAB/TU FIRST) Partnership (NIH U54) Travel Supplement

Introduction This purpose of this proposal is to request supplemental funding for the UAB/Tuskegee FIRST Partnership (U54-CA267746-000538702) to cover costs for travel and lodging expenses for faculty hired under the program (Benjamin-Carver FIRST Scientists) to attend the annual FIRST Grantees Meeting. Our request

covers the duration of the project period. Outlined below are A) the justification for this request, B) the recruitment plan/timeline, C) the budget justification for the requested funds. A. Justification Support for FIRST faculty travel and lodging to the FIRST Annual Grantees Meetings was not originally

included in RFA or the Notice of Award for U54-CA267746-000538702. Consequently, our existing award does not include funds for travel and lodging expenses for our Benjamin-Carver FIRST Scientists to attend the FIRST Annual Grantees Meetings. Because attendance at the annual meeting is an expectation of the FIRST

faculty hires, this supplement will provide the funding necessary to cover these expenses. B. Recruitment Plan and Timeline Benjamin-Carver Scientist Recruitment and Hiring Process Within the overall research theme of Health Disparities, our recruitment and cluster hiring focuses on four research areas where health disparities are particularly evident: Cancer, Obesity/Diabetes, Cardiovascular

Disease, and Neuroscience. Having 12 total positions allows the UAB/TU FIRST Partnership to hire four clusters of three junior faculty across these areas of opportunity. Across the two institutions, our goal is to hire 9 faculty at UAB and 3 at Tuskegee. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), through the Heersink School of Medicine (HSOM), has used

“coordinated hiring” in the past, but both UAB and Tuskegee University (TU) are newcomers to cluster hiring or targeted recruitment to attract diverse faculty in specific research thematic areas. We utilized the Education Advisory Board’s playbook for effective cluster hiring to ensure successful integration of all necessary

elements. This helped us plan our process and guaranteed that we were including all important program components like inclusion of stakeholders and sustainability. To support this initiative, the UAB HSOM provided the experienced staff and infrastructure to lead the recruitment, using its Office for Strategic

Recruitment team to coordinate the search. Doing so provided uniformity in the process and experience for recruits and provided the resources and knowledge to create a high-quality recruitment experience for candidates. Application review and candidate selection are done through the Recruitment and Selection Committee. The

Recruitment and Selection Committee is primarily responsible for placement of position announcements and sharing of the position announcement through multiple appropriate channels. In order to attract diverse applicants, we are intentional in our recruitment, applying traditional and non-traditional strategies. We make

special efforts to advertise new positions in venues that have greater reach among women and minority candidates, including professional organizations and social media (LinkedIn, Facebook) for underrepresented, minority, and women scientists. In addition to placing ads in scientific journals, research-specific publications,

and research conference publications, we engage diverse faculty networks and research organizations enriched for African American, Latinx, and female members (e.g., Association of Black Cardiologists, American Medical Women's Association, Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine, NIDDK’s Network of Minority

Health Research Investigators). As we begin Year 3 and recruitment for our second cohort of scientists, we have updated the language in some of our social media ads to reflect the specific clusters and research focus areas we are targeting to complete our cluster hiring plan and to fill the cohort. All position announcements include language outlining the details of the FIRST Cohort, including

the rationale behind cluster hiring, review criteria, and a summary of the cohort support resources and activities. Announcements have inclusive language designed to broaden the pool of potential applicants. All applicants are required to submit a statement of diversity outlining their efforts/experience at promoting

diversity and inclusive excellence. The announcement makes clear that the statement of diversity will be heavily weighted during the selection process. As applications are received, they are reviewed by the Recruitment and Selection Committee and the most meritorious applications are selected for the interview stage. After a virtual interview is completed, the

Committee recommends candidates that are most promising to proceed to departmental review. These candidates are chosen based on their record of research with a focus on health disparities, potential for rapid advancement in their field, and potential for helping to promote inclusive excellence in research at both UAB

and Tuskegee. The Committee, in collaboration with the MPI team, decides on potential primary departments, discusses the applicant with the department, and forwards the application for departmental review. The potential primary department then follows their normal review and interview process and informs the MPI team

whether they would like to hire the applicant. Then, in a collaboration between the UAB/TU FIRST program and the department, an offer is made to select candidates. Recruitment Goals The UAB/TU FIRST Partnership hiring plan is organized in clusters under the theme of health disparities. The first year of the project period was spent planning and beginning our recruitment promotions. Interviews for the

initial wave of hires were held after the start of Year 2. During Year 2, 68 interviews were held with 7 FIRST Benjamin-Carver Scientists hired, 6 at UAB and 1 at Tuskegee. We have 5 open positions remaining: 1 in Cancer, 2 in Obesity/Diabetes, and 2 in Cardiovascular Research. Within these, we are looking to fill 2

additional positions at Tuskegee University and 3 at UAB. At present, one offer letter is in process for a second hire at Tuskegee in the Cancer Cluster. Please see Table 1 for details. We are now actively recruiting and reviewing applications for the remaining 5 positions, with an emphasis on completing each of our clusters. Since the start of year three we have held four interviews. There are currently

four more being scheduled and applications continue to be received and reviewed. Our goal is to complete interviews and extend offers for the remaining positions by Summer, 2024. All Scientists hired in this second round will start by August, 2024 and will be fully onboarded by September, 2024. Therefore, we anticipate up

to 12 of our scientists (multiple potential scientists at varying stages of interviewing or hiring process in addition to our 7 existing Scientists) will attend the 2024 FIRST Annual Grantees Meeting, with all 12 attending in 2025 and 2026. Table 1. UAB/TU FIRST Benjamin-Carver Scientist Cohort Clusters

Cancer Cluster • Jessica Jaiswal, PhD, MPH - UAB Department of Family & Community Medicine • Stacy Lloyd, PhD - Tuskegee Department of Pathobiology Tuskegee University • Open Position – Candidate offer letter in progress at Tuskegee University. Expected start by August, 2024 Obesity/Diabetes Cluster

Kristen Allen-Watts, PhD, MPH - UAB Division of Preventive Medicine • Open Position – Can be hired at UAB or Tuskegee. Candidate interviews in progress. Expected start by August, 2024 • Open Position – Will be hired at UAB. Candidate interviews in progress. Expected start by August, 2024 •

Cardiovascular Cluster • Brittanny Polanka, PhD - UAB Division of Preventive Medicine • Open Position – Can be hired at UAB or Tuskegee. Candidate interviews in progress. Expected start by August, 2024 • Open Position – Will be hired at UAB. Candidate interviews in progress. Expected start by August,

2024 Neuroscience Cluster • Taylor Buchanan, PhD - UAB Department of Family & Community Medicine • Kirsten Schoonover, PhD - UAB Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurobiology • Demario Overstreet, PhD - UAB Department of Surgery