Critical Research Issues in Latino Mental Health/American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry - Project Summary The Hispanic population in the US is about 60.5 million and comprise 18% of the total US population. Unfortunately, Hispanics in the US face many barriers to accessing mental health services, including concerns about cost of services, lack of insurance, and shortage of Spanish speaking providers. These barriers are predicted to become more prominent over the next years, partly driven by the dramatic increase in the US Hispanic population. For that reason, it is critical to have a trained research workforce that could directly address and provide significant and innovative solutions to some of the mental health disparities that Hispanics face in the US. With this goal in mind, we propose to partner with the American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry (ASHP) to enhance their annual meeting with a personalized and highly focused mentoring program. This mentoring program will take place annually over one and a half days, in which 12 junior investigators of any race or ethnicity will be competitively selected out of a nationwide, broad pool of applicants and invited to present their work. Mentor-mentee pairs will be formed based on the area of interest, the type of research being done, and the expertise of the mentor. In addition, several other didactic activities will take place during the program, including a keynote lecture, a grant writing workshop, a poster session, and a series of lunch tables for networking as well as to discuss topics relevant to junior investigators. At the end of the meeting, mentor-mentee pairs will determine career goals for the mentee and will meet virtually every 6 months to discuss the progress of agreed goals and to discuss any changes in career trajectory. The specific aims of the program are: 1): To identify 12 junior investigators per year interested in Hispanic mental health and provide them financial support to attend and present at the ASHP annual meeting; 2) To engage 12 investigators every year in mentorship activities during the ASHP conference; 3) To follow up on the outcome of the junior investigators in metrics such as peer-reviewed publications, NIH and other agencies grant support, scientific presentations, and academic advancement; 4) To develop a network of mentors and mentees to support the academic advancement of the mentees. We believe that a highly focused and personalized mentoring program in the context of the ASHP annual meeting will be a great strategy to train and mentor rising investigators. We have assembled a group of prominent mid-career and senior investigators and mentors in the fields of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Social Work, who will not only provide the best mentorship experience but also serve as role models for junior investigators. Overall, we believe this mentoring program will effectively provide a comprehensive training and mentoring platform to help junior investigators interested in disparities research and Hispanic mental health become successful scientists.
