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BEST Program Timeline
Curriculum and Activities
Bootcamp:
Your first exposure to the BEST program will be an immersive 6-week bootcamp that will occur in the summer immediately after admission to the BEST program. The bootcamp will include interactive seminars and learning modules on principles of design thinking, universal design, social identity theory, social determinants of health, and the social ecology ecosystem. These topics will introduce you to fundamental interdisciplinary knowledge and skills through a differentiated-based teaching approach so that you are able to perform interdisciplinary research and take cross-disciplinary courses in the fields required to solve cardiovascular health. In particular, we will introduce the above topics via the differentiated methodology using teaching techniques and strategies such as learning stations, student “expert” interviews, think-pairshare, literature circles, and “teach up” so that you can directly learn from each other. This shared bootcamp experience, followed by a 1-day Team Building workshop, will build capacity for you and your fellow trainees to be productive members of interdisciplinary teams in the didactic coursework in Year 1 of the program. To strengthen and maintain these interdisciplinary skills, teams of 6 Trainees (Hexads) will be created in the bootcamp, and these Hexads will work together for the duration of their graduate training on year-long activities under the supervision of the BEST faculty.
Team Science Skills Workshop:
The BEST bootcamp will conclude with a 1-day Team Building workshop, which will introduce Trainees to nine core elements critical to team science: (1) the science of collaborative research, (2) team assembly and composition, (3) interdisciplinary trust, (4) science communication, (5) leadership in a digital world, (6) teaching, (7) mentoring, (8) ethics, and (9) outreach. The Team Scholarship Acceleration Lab (TSAL) team will provide this training using validated team science tools on these core areas, including Team Science for Data Scientists, Team Formation & Planning BRIDGES toolkit, Leadership & Team Assessment, Idea Generation Exercises, and the TSAL website.
Mentoring Effectiveness Training:
The capacity to mentor effectively across differences is critical to creating and supporting interdisciplinary teams and can be developed with careful self-reflection, recognizing one’s privilege, listening actively to mentees, and fostering a productive working environment. As a BEST Trainee, you and your faculty mentors will learn these skills through Mentoring Effectiveness Training (10 hours total including introductory e-module) offered through the School of Public Health. The training approach is supported by evidence that mentoring effectively can be learned and is critical to the success of young scientists of multidisciplinary backgrounds.
Hexads:
Teams of six Trainees with at least one Trainee from each department (BME, HSB, and PsySci) will be formed in the bootcamp and meet weekly thereafter. In the first year, your task will be to create educational materials relevant to cardiovascular health that will be delivered to your community health organization partners during your rotations. In the second year, Hexads will develop presentations that communicate the outcomes of your community engaged research rotations for local industry members and also tour local companies accompanied by industry members. In the third year, Hexads will prepare presentations that communicate your dissertation research findings and impact, practice for one another, and provide feedback to each other. Your Hexad will be advised by a different BEST faculty member each quarter (from different disciplines) and will report-out on progress each quarter. These Hexad cohorts will build community and shared experience, and support comprehensive communication training.
Coursework:
In Year 1 of BEST, you will take two required courses: one in biomedical engineering and one in social science. Options for the biomedical engineering core course are (1) BME 295 (special topics course number): Engineered Inaccuracy in Cardiovascular Medical Devices, taught by Dr. Naomi Chesler; or (2) BME 295: Biomedical Engineering Design: Addressing Unmet Cardiovascular Needs, taught by Dr. Christine King. The options for the social science core course are (1) PubHlth 251: Models of Practice and Intervention at the Community Level, taught by Dr. Jason Douglas; PubHlth 222A: Health Policy and Management, taught by Dr. Brandy Lipton, PubHlth 208: Adbances in Social Epidemiology, taught by Dr. Annie Ro, Soc 239: Inequity and Health, and PubHlth 290: Special Topics in Public Health (instructor and topics vary).
Concept Development:
With knowledge gained in the bootcamp, Hexads, and core coursework as well as required disciplinary coursework, you will develop your dissertation research concept in Year 1 of the program. During this period, you can also select a co-mentor to partner with the primary research advisor to provide interdisciplinary training. Exposure to multiple BEST faculty members during the bootcamp, Hexads, and coursework will support this process.
Re-Bootcamp:
After year 1, you will participate in a 1-week re-bootcamp for training in communication, ethics, and refresher in Team Science skills. Also, you will identify a community health organization for their 10-week community-engaged research rotation and design a research plan for the rotation with guidance from their primary research advisor and co-mentor.
Community-Engaged Research:
In addition to informing your dissertation research, you will participate in community-engaged research rotations to build empathy through observing, interviewing, and engaging with community members. You, your primary advisor, and your co-mentor (the Triad) will meet weekly to discuss goals, progress and setbacks, data collection, data analysis, etc. Challenges to community-engaged research include the sizable time investment and potential conflicts arising due to diverse perspectives. However, Dr. Douglas’s research demonstrates that engaging communities of color in participatory decision-making and action is a potent and empowering approach for identifying and addressing health. Triads will follow best practices in community engagement, which include understanding and addressing power differentials among different actors in organizational and institutional change efforts, relationship building between the healthcare sector and community-based organizations, and regular communication across sectors and partners.
Cardiovascular Health (CH) Conference:
The Annual Cardiovascular Health (CH) Conference will include nationally known invited speakers and industry representatives. Here, you will give oral or poster presentations and participate in social events to promote professional networking.
Career Planning:
Near the end of your training, you will participate in UCI’s Graduate Professional Success for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (GPS-STEM) program, which will equip you with the skills and knowledge necessary for diverse careers in STEM fields. The program’s career and professional development sessions include panel discussions with industry leaders who have received training at UCI as graduate students and postdocs. The sessions are complemented by informal networking opportunities, providing valuable connections for students. The series covers a wide range of topics, offering insights into careers in industry research, scientist roles, discovery for preclinical research, and research team management. GPS-STEM also provides certificate courses in business development, science policy and advocacy, and medical writing.