“UC San Diego is committed to providing students of all backgrounds with the tools and resources they need to be successful in their educational endeavors,” Daley, professor of pediatrics and director of the Comprehensive Research Center in Health Disparities, said in an email. “This grant supports our mission by funding programs conducted at UC San Diego, San Diego State University and the San Diego Border Area Health Education Center. These programs will help disadvantaged students in San Diego pursue their dreams of becoming doctors in the health sciences, nurses and other health professionals, and thereby ensure a strong and diverse healthcare workforce for our nation’s future.”

     Daley currently runs the Health Careers Opportunity Program/San Diego Regional Consortium, a program designed to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds prepare for graduate and health professional schools. According to Daley, the HCOP/SDRC begins working with students while they are in middle school to ensure their access to higher educational programs.

     According to a Jan. 31 campus press release, the UCSD School of Medicine program provides students in the San Diego Unified and Sweetwater School Districts and community college students from San Diego and Imperial Counties with access to mentoring programs, lab activities, workshops and hands-on research training.
     HCOP/SDRC is one of 14 programs in the nation to be awarded the grant. The grant, which was funded by the Health Resources Services Administration, will enable the continuation of these diversity programs that have so far helped over 1,500 local students.

Readers can contact Nicole Chan at [email protected].