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