Robert Sellers, PI, Administrative Core Lead: Dr. Sellers is the Charles D. Moody Collegiate Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan. He has extensive administrative experience in leading and driving cross-institutional changes in the service of inclusive excellence through his past role as the Chief Diversity Officer and Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion at UM. As Administrative Core Lead, Sellers is responsible for the oversight of all administrative functions in M-PACT, including its day-to-day operations, long-range planning, financial management, and supervision of all key personnel and staff.

Reshma Jagsi, PI: Dr. Jagsi’s is the chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Emory School of Medicine and Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. Along with internationally-renowned for her work in Breast Cancer and Bioethics, Dr. Jagsi has contributed significant scholarship on the development and evaluation of interventions and programs to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion among biomedical researchers. Dr. Jagsi works with Dr. Sellers to administer the M-PACT program with specific foci on the success of the evaluation of M-PACT.  

TBD, Director of Pipeline Development:

TBD, Administrative Core Program Director: 

In order to achieve its goal of creating long-term, sustainable and systemic change that fosters inclusive excellence in the biomedical and health sciences, M-PACT has established an Administrative Core to manage and coordinate programmatic activities and achieve its goals by addressing the following specific aims.

Establish a cohesive governance structure that leverages the significant experience and expertise of key M-PACT personnel and the strong support of University leadership, to manage administrative and budgetary issues to support programmatic efficiency and effectiveness. The Administrative Core will coordinate across the other 2 M-PACT cores and the advisory committees (the M-PACT Executive Committee, External Advisory Board, and Deans’ Advisory Committee).

Implement a cohort model to hire 30 new faculty across 11 University of Michigan schools, colleges and institutes, by developing diverse pools of outstanding candidates that meet NIH FIRST criteria, and by using evidence-based practices and procedures to reduce bias in the search process. 

Disseminate important M-PACT findings, outcomes, and applications to the University and the broader biomedical and health science communities. Working closely with the Faculty Development and Evaluation Cores, the Administrative Core will coordinate with Michigan leadership to develop actionable plans for implementing lessons learned from M-PACT to improve hiring and mentoring practices campus-wide, as well as oversee external communications and dissemination, including resource sharing, conference presentations and publication of results to NIH and the broader biomedical and health sciences community. 

Core Lead/Co-Investigator Dr. Tabbye Chavous is the current Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion, Chief Diversity Officer and Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Michigan.  Chavous has extensive experience using research-grounded approaches for cultivating community and supporting scholarly development among junior and senior researchers from URM backgrounds and/or who study topics related to DEI. Also, she has myriad administrative experience as an Associate Dean for two schools and Associate Vice President for Research that bear directly on faculty hiring, development, and promotion. Dr. Chavous leads all facets of the M-PACT Faculty Development Core. 

Mentoring Lead Dr. Ruma Banerjee is the Vincent Massey Collegiate Professor of Biological Chemistry, Michigan Medicine at the University of Michigan. Her scientific contributions have been recognized with awards from the ASBMB and American Chemical Society. She was founding director of the NIH COBRE-funded Redox Biology Center at the University of Nebraska, building research infrastructure in a relatively resource-restricted setting and mentoring junior faculty to independent funding success. She is founding co-Director of the NIH-funded MOSAIC program, supporting career development, networking, and success of diverse K99/R00 scholars. The newly established MOSAIC pipeline of K99/R00 scholars, a majority with basic and translational science orientations, represents an important national resource for M-PACT recruitment. Dr. Banerjee oversees M-PACT’s mentor training/development program. 

Faculty Clusters work with the Faculty Development Core and Mentoring Leads to design and execute programming for the 3 interdisciplinary M-PACT research clusters. The M-PACT scholars are divided into one of three clusters based on the nature of their scholarship.  The three clusters serve to provide focal faculty development experiences as well as create smaller and more intimate cohort groups.  The cluster leads are led by senior scholars with outstanding records of productive academic scholarship, engagement with coaching URM scholars, and commitments to inclusive excellence at the local, national and international levels. The clusters include: Basic Biomedical Research; Clinical and Translational Research; and Social and Health Behavioral Research. 

• Basic Biomedical Cluster

1. Core leader (with pictures)
1. The Basic Biomedical Research cluster is led by Dr. Ruma Banerjee. A Co-Director of one of 3 MOSAIC programs, Banerjee is well-positioned to integrate her national and institutional efforts to support career development for scholars transitioning to the independent faculty stage. She is a member of the NIH-funded National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) and has completed training in Entering Mentoring.

• Clinical and Translational

1. Core leader (with pictures)
1. The Clinical-Translational Research cluster is led by Dr. Erica Marsh who is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Michigan Medicine and Division Chief of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of Michigan. Dr. Marsh uses community-based participatory research to build bridges between community organizations and academia with initiatives that have led to significant NIH funding, publications and awards. Her research focuses on reproductive health disparities and on investigating the pathophysiology, epidemiology and clinical impact of uterine fibroids through a patient-centered lens. 

• Social and Behavioral Cluster

1. Core leaders (with pictures)
1. The Social and Behavioral Health Research is co-led by Dr. Rogério M. Pinto. Dr. Pinto and Dr. Ken Resnicow. 

1. Dr. Pinto is professor and former Associate Dean for Research at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Starting as an NIH-funded minority fellow at the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, Pinto’s research focuses on minority health disparities. He serves as Chair of the Faculty Allies for Diversity Committee (FADC) in the School of Social Work, leading a faculty group in mentoring URM PhD students. As a faculty member at Columbia and now at UM, he has mentored many URM PhD and postdoctoral trainees from various race/ethnicity, sexual/gender identity and disability social groups.
2. Dr. Resnicow is the Irwin Rosenstock Collegiate Professor for Health Behavior in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan.  His research seeks to reduce health disparities, including culturally tailored interventions for African Americans addressing various targets, e.g., nutrition, physical activity. He is Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement and Health Disparities Research at the NIH-funded UM Rogel Cancer Center and leads diversity efforts for UM’s Precision Health initiative. 

Sponsor-Mentors are senior faculty who are matched one-on-one with M-PACT Scholars within one of the three research clusters. These faculty serve as primary and non-evaluative mentors and advocate for the individual scholars in the program. The Sponsor-Mentors not only provide advice to the M-PACT Scholars, they also are trained to leverage their own positions within the field to promote professional opportunities for their mentees. HERE IS A LINK TO THE LIST OF SPONSOR MENTORS.

Staff Support (TBD): 

Reshma Jagsi, PI: Dr. Jagsi’s is the chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Emory School of Medicine and Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. Along with internationally-renowned for her work in Breast Cancer and Bioethics, Dr. Jagsi has contributed significant scholarship on the development and evaluation of interventions and programs to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion among biomedical researchers. Dr. Jagsi works with Dr. Sellers to administer the M-PACT program with specific foci on the success of the evaluation of M-PACT.  

TBD, Director of Pipeline Development:

TBD, Administrative Core Program Director: 

The continued lack of demographic diversity in the biomedical and health sciences is an equity issue that compromises the intellectual richness, the creative potential and the integrity of our disciplines, limiting our institutions and society itself. Various factors can contribute to the concerning rates of underrepresented and/or minoritized (URM) scientists in securing faculty positions and persisting in them, including university hiring practices and the strength and quality of mentoring networks and research support communities. To achieve our vision of inclusive excellence, it is imperative that faculty diversity efforts address the unique structural, social and cultural barriers that are faced by URM faculty. While increasing faculty demographic diversity is a critical part of the solution, it is insufficient in and of itself. Hiring is only the first step in the complex process of providing holistic instrumental, intellectual and social support to ensure early career faculty success. This includes access to deep and equitable financial support, as well as superb mentoring that is tailored to scholars’ intellectual, personal and cultural backgrounds and needs. To address these varied needs, M-PACT’s Faculty Development Core will proactively implement scientifically informed interventions to develop a holistic plan for the cohort of highly talented, competitive and diverse new faculty to thrive and persist on the academic path. The goals of the Faculty Development Core will be realized by addressing the following specific aims.

Build capacity and efficacy for effective, culturally engaged faculty mentoring. M-PACT will train senior faculty, who have been selected because of outstanding academic records and deep commitments to mentoring URM and early-career faculty, and provide them with training experiences in culturally aware mentoring through the National Research Mentoring Network. The goal of the training is to support faculty in developing high quality one-on-one mentoring relationships with M-PACT Scholars and to serve as cultural change agents, creating awareness and advocating for the use of these evidence-based practices in their own units and professional spaces.

Build a supportive community of practice. M-PACT will foster the development of mentoring networks and a community of practice by creating three topically focused subgroups of Scholars across 11 participating units. The three foci of study clusters, each anchored by Cluster Leads, align with those in which the Scholars will be initially recruited, and are: Basic Biomedical Research; Clinical-Translational Research; and Social and Behavioral Research. 

Provide a suite of core career development skills-building activities. M-PACT will leverage existing UM career development resources for its new faculty, including successful grant proposal writing, laboratory management, budgeting, and science communication workshops, as well as knowledge and leadership skills related to advancing DEI in the biomedical and health sciences.

Build capacity and buy-in for cross-institutional cultural change. M-PACT will proactively engage leadership in the 11 participating units to disseminate knowledge about lessons learned about hiring and mentoring best practices, and to brainstorm and action-plan for the continued improvement of DEI outcomes in the biomedical and health sciences. 

Core Lead/Co-Investigator Dr. Alford Young, Jr. is the Edgar G. Epps Collegiate Professor of Sociology; the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Sociology and Afroamerican and African Studies, LSA and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.  Dr. Young also serves as the Associate Director, Center for Social Solutions; and Faculty Director of Scholar Engagement and Leadership, National Center for Institutional Diversity.  As Evaluation Core lead, he oversees the design, execution and oversight of the documentation, assessment and evaluation of M-PACT. His work includes supervising the EC team, assembling, and disseminating annual reports from survey and interview investigations, and working with the FIRST Evaluation and Coordination (CEC) to help ensure consistency in evaluation processes conducted across all FIRST initiative sites.

Evaluation Core Associate Director Dr. Jason Owen-Smith is the Executive Director of the Institute for Research on Innovation & Science (IRIS); the Executive Director, Research Analysis Data Integration Office (RADIO).  He is also a Professor of Sociology and Research Professor in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. He works with Dr. Young in the oversight of the entire Evaluation Core.  In his capacity as Executive Director of the RADIO Office, Dr. Owen-Smith leads and directs the integration and analysis of administrative and institutional data analyses.

Evaluation Core Associate Director Dr. Ken Resnicow is the Irwin Rosenstock Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health and Professor of Pediatrics, Medical School at the University of Michigan. He is also the Associate Director for Community Engagement and Health Disparities Research, University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center; and the Chief Scientific Lead, University of Michigan Center for Health Communications Research. Dr. Resnicow coordinates the training of interviewers, as well as selection, adaptation, and creation of quantitative survey measures. He has developed over 50 published psychosocial measures and has led more than 60 randomized trials.

Evaluation Core Team: 

Hoa Nguyen is the Evaluation Program Director for M-PACT. Mr. Nguyen has had more than 25 years of experience leading social science research efforts impacting the lives of racially-minoritized populations.  He has expertise in a variety of qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques as well as highly sophisticated data analytic techniques.   He was most recently the Director of the Center for Study of Black Youth in Context in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan.

Samantha Drotar is an Evaluation Specialist who manages M-PACT’s quantitative data collection and data analysis efforts. She has more than ten years of experience working with the Center for Study of Black Youth in Context in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan.

The M-PACT Evaluation Core will leverage existing sources of data from administrative systems and campus-wide climate surveys in addition to collecting quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate the short- and long-term impact of the program. A mixed-methods approach will allow for a triangulated understanding of the impact of the program on the M-PACT Scholars as well as the institution more broadly, as well as elucidate the underlying processes associated with such impact as articulated in three specific aims. 

Evaluate the utilization of M-PACT programs and effects of M-PACT on the academic success outcomes of the M-PACT Scholars. Here the emphasis is placed on quantitative, objective metrics of productivity and career advancement, entailing comprehensive data collected annually on productivity (publications, grants received and applications submitted) and career trajectories (retention, third-year review outcomes, unit-level promotions and leadership positions) obtained from existing UM administrative data. Data collected about M-PACT Scholars will be compared to both a historical comparison cohort of UM faculty who previously pursued careers in the same units and a contemporaneous comparison cohort of UM faculty.  

Using surveys and interviews, evaluate the effects of M-PACT on the experiences of M-PACT Scholars and perceptions of the program’s impact on both Scholars’ careers and mentors’ and leaders’ confidence and skills to improve climate for URM faculty more generally.  Using both quantitative and qualitative data collected from both M-PACT Scholars and other URM and non-URM faculty, we will examine key mediators and shorter term indicators of career progression and successful socialization within the UM community, as well as within each of their unique guilds beyond our walls.  

 Examine possible effects of the M-PACT initiative on the broader University climate using longitudinal campus-wide surveys. A unique opportunity exists at our institution to leverage already completed and planned campus-wide surveys on the DEI climate that were fielded in 2016 and 2021, and will be fielded again in 2026. Analyses will evaluate whether there are greater positive changes in M-PACT units than in non-M-PACT units on campus, which would suggest a broad positive impact of this intervention.