Genetics faculty in the SOM have been funded for the next 5 years by the NIH to establish the UNC Educational Pathways to Increase Diversity in GEnomics (EDGE) training program to provide early career education, mentoring, and research skills to undergraduate students from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds who are interested in careers in genomics.
The UNC EDGE program is a summer training program that will support students for two consecutive years through an immersive genomics research and career education experience at UNC Chapel Hill. The objective of the program is to help address the deficiency in diversity in genomics research and increase the number of underrepresented students that choose and are retained in genomics research careers including but not limited to jobs in biotech industries, academia, and government research.
UNC EDGE welcomes applications from college freshman and sophomore students who are underrepresented in the field of genomics. This includes Native Americans/Alaska natives, Hispanic Americans, Hawaiian natives/US Pacific Islanders and African Americans as well as individuals with disabilities or from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The EDGE training program will match students with cutting-edge research labs at UNC Chapel Hill and will provide a broad range of educational and career development opportunities. Applications for Summer 2022 will be accepted until February 28th, 2022. More information about the EDGE program and the link for applications can be found here.
The EDGE program is a large group effort. Funding support is provided by an R25 from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the UNC Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care (PPMH). The program was developed with the support of a stellar advisory committee and is led by Principal Investigators Dr. Folami Ideraabdullah (Associate Professor, Department of Genetics, Department of Nutrition) and Dr. Jonathan Berg (Bryson Distinguished Professor, Department of Genetics, Department of Medicine; Director, UNC PPMH); by the Program Director Dr. Sabrina Powell (Education Director, UNC PPMH) and Associate Program Director Dr. Grace Byfield (Director, PARADIGM initiative for UNC PPMH); and with the support of three areas of emphasis leaders, Dr. Gail Henderson (Genomics & Society, Professor of Social Medicine), Dr. Bradford Powell (Genomics & Medicine, Assistant Professor of Genetics), and Dr. Terrance Furey (Genome Sciences, Professor of Genetics).