Dear Native Student Advocate and Supporter,
I hope you and your community are doing well and staying healthy. I am writing to share information for an upcoming opportunity that provides undergraduate Native students a full scholarship to participate in the final cohort of the Advancing Native Students in Aging Research Program at the University of Minnesota. To that end, I have provided information below along with the flyer for this program as well as the Program agenda from our 2024 offering, so you may see a preview of the week. We would love if you could share this information with individuals you may think interested.
Advancing Native Students in Aging Research is designed for undergraduate students, especially those from American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities. This culturally grounded course combines short-term, intensive laboratory and didactic courses and mentored pilot research in fundamental, translational, clinical, and behavioral aspects of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) and the mechanisms of aging with ongoing mentoring to ensure both the launching and the retention of these promising candidates in research careers.
Additionally, this NIH/NIA sponsored course will educate undergraduate students on both the federal government’s policies and community best practices with respect to aging programs and their implementation. The course will also cover the implications of mechanistic discoveries on biological aging and on improved strategies for understanding and treating ADRD. Through ongoing interactions, the course helps to expand and sustain their independent research careers on the clinical, translational, behavioral, and fundamental aspects of Alzheimer’s and aging. That said, this course is beneficial for any undergraduate student interested in pursuing a career in the health and science field.
Advancing Native Students in Aging Research offers dynamic training courses and career advancement strategies that provide a fresh series of daily lectures by Native professionals on emerging concepts, followed by extended discussions, laboratory research, technologically intense workshops, Indigenous research methodologies, and informal seminars over week-long periods.
ADVANCING NATIVE STUDENTS IN AGING RESEARCH
Location: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Dates: August 2-7, 2026
Please download the application at https://pdc.magee.edu/courses/advancing-native-students-in-aging-research/ or email at frontiers@mwri.magee.edu with any questions. Any student who is accepted will receive a full scholarship which covers room and board, lodging and living, and travel.
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. Thank you so much for your assistance.
Best,
Jerry and Melissa
Gerald Schatten, PhD
Director, Pittsburgh Development Center
Professor of Ob/Gyn/Repro Sci, and
Cell Biology and Bioengineering
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
204 Craft Avenue; Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-805-4083 (text preferred first)
Email: schattengp@upmc.edu
Melissa Walls, PhD (Couchiching First Nation and Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe)
Bloomberg Associate Professor of American Health, Department of International Health
Director, Great Lakes Hub, Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
1915 South Street Duluth, MN 55812
218-724-1665
www.jhsph.edu | http://caih.jhu.edu | https://americanhealth.jhu.edu