摘要：Substantive barriers to research, such as cultural, language, and methodological variables, exist in Hispanic-serving institutions. Historical and contextual variables account for the differences between academic settings with research-intensive centers and those with limited infrastructure for competitive research. We provide a case example to serve as a model for developing and strengthening the research infrastructure in Hispanic-serving institutions and for providing the mentorship Latino investigators may need to compete with other investigators in research-intensive centers. We present recommendations to reduce these barriers. INCREASING PARTICIPATION by members of ethnic minorities in the creation of knowledge continues to be an important goal for the scientific community. Although minority communities in the United States have grown rapidly, their representation in the scientific enterprise remains unremarkable. The National Research Council concluded that there has been no increase in the number of PhD degrees awarded to minorities involved in behavioral or biomedical research over the past decade. The council recommended an increase in efforts to identify and support programs that prepare underrepresented minorities to work in biomedical and behavioral sciences. 1 Drawing from this report, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) leadership concluded that “racial/ethnic minority groups are underrepresented among the mental health workforce” 2 (p9) despite important efforts by the NIMH to increase representation. An example of such underrepresentation can be seen in a National Advisory Mental Health Council report, which noted that in 1999, “few minority investigators submitted research applications … and even fewer were funded.” 3 (p4) Of the total applications the National Institutes of Health (NIH) received in 2002, only 0.8% were awarded to African Americans, 2.3% to Latinos, and 0.1% to Native Americans. 3 Taken together, only 3.2% of all research and program grants were awarded to these minorities, who accounted for 25% of the US population. The report concludes that current and projected numbers of ethnic-minority researchers are insufficient to meet the needs of the science workforce. 2 We describe the barriers to research and capacity building in a Hispanic-serving institution (i.e., an institution of higher education with full-time, Hispanic students making up at least 25% of all enrollees), examine the historical and contextual variables that explain some of these barriers, and present a model program designed to strengthen and support the career development of Latino scientists conducting HIV/AIDS research at a historically Hispanic-serving institution, the University of Puerto Rico.
