The overarching goal of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)/Tuskegee University (TU)
Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) Partnership is to create systemic and
sustainable culture change to further support inclusive excellence in research at both institutions. Within our
theme of Health Disparities, we will build a community of scientists committed to inclusive excellence by
recruiting 12 early-career faculty committed to promoting diversity and inclusion and interested in addressing
health disparities. These faculty will be hired across 3-4 clusters representing areas of research strength and
opportunity across our institutions: cancer, obesity and diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neuroscience.
Program hires will be designated as Benjamin-Carver Scientists in honor of two barrier-breaking investigator
leaders – Regina Benjamin, MD and George Washington Carver. Our Scientists will be surrounded by a
comprehensive support infrastructure including sponsors, mentors, career coaches, institutional research
navigators, and professional development opportunities to help them mitigate the difficulties experienced by
new hires and accelerate the development of collaborative networks and peer support.
We have targeted our activities and support mechanisms to ensure that they impact all levels of
influence in the Social Ecological Model including Individual, Interpersonal, Organizational, Community and
Policy. All levels are reflected in the following specific aims: 1) recruit and hire clusters of Benjamin-Carver
Scientists who are committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in areas of shared research need
and support them by implementing individual career development plans, enhanced with scientific mentoring,
career coaching, and advocate sponsorship; 2) provide enhanced support for new faculty through an Office of
Integrated Research Support in which Research Navigators will help new faculty coordinate sponsor, mentor,
and career coaching support; connect new faculty to existing support resources; and assist new faculty with
logistic, fiscal, and regulatory matters related to proposal development and grants management; 3) provide
extended opportunities for professional development and networking, including a diverse and inclusive
Research Community Collaboratory to help faculty build a collaborative network of peers; 4) expand a series of
diversity and inclusion programs at both UAB and Tuskegee to help foster systemic and sustainable cultural
change; 5) institute changes to institutional policies and environment to support sustainable institutional culture
change, including initiatives to support diverse and inclusive hiring and retention; and 6) evaluate the UAB/TU
FIRST Partnership and work with the FIRST Coordination and Evaluation Center (CEC) to determine whether
this cohort and cluster design model of faculty hiring, sponsorship, continual mentoring, and professional
development, embedded within programs to create academic cultures of inclusive excellence produces
significant change in metrics of institutional culture.
