ReACH Equity T32 Predoctoral Training Program
The ReACH Equity T32 predoctoral training program will train PhD students in three core areas:
- The use of equity-centered and multidisciplinary methods required to co-develop interventions with presently and historically marginalized communities
- Rigorous evaluation methods that quantify the impact of programs and interventions across the multiple structural, community, social and individual levels of influence on health outcomes
- Translation and dissemination of scientific knowledge back to communities, advocates, and policymakers to effect and sustain change
This program emphasizes training in:
- Equity-centered research methods to optimize health outcomes among historically and presently marginalized communities (HMCs)
- Advanced, multi-level interventions and prevention science
- Professional competencies for a research-based career
Up to 4 candidates will be admitted annually, with the initial appointment being for one year with the expectation of renewal for a second year after review. A third-year appointment will be granted only in exceptional cases.
Across the program, participants will complete the following:
- Devote at least 20 hours per week to training program activities and to appropriately balance their curriculum requirements with research training commitments.
- Work with their mentorship team to develop a training plan appropriate to their experience, needs, and degree requirements that will allow them to most effectively further their own disciplinary competence and enhance their career development capabilities
- Didactic Training including the following:
- Health equity research methods: Course in community-engaged and advanced research methods, completion of the health equity graduate certificate, weekly seminars, workshops, bimonthly lunches, and an annual retreat
- Multi-level preventive interventions: Courses in implementation science, Principles and Methods of Comparative Effectiveness Research, and Clinical Research Implementation (CLH 216), weekly seminars, and workshops.
- Advanced methods: Trainees will select either a designated emphasis in Computational Social Science or Feminist Theory and Research.
- Experiential Learning including the following:
- Bimonthly Directors’ luncheons focusing on professional development. Content will include:
- Chalkboard presentations by one predoctoral student to train this important skill that is paramount in academic job interviews with direct feedback
- Open discussion to obtain feedback, develop ideas for the retreats and fieldtrip targets, communicate policies of our training grant and general NIH T32 policies (e.g., payback policy, pertinent RCR issues, human subjects, etc.)
- Publication clinic to help predoctoral students strategically plan publications, productively assemble manuscripts and steer them through the peer review process
- Presentation clinic specific for presenting research from inception to dissemination to lay audiences and specifically the Community Leadership Board.
- Trainee presentations about their ongoing research at SON and CHPR seminars
- Central Valley bus tour, which is an interprofessional mobile classroom in which students take an overnight trip down Highway 99 in California and stop and learn at community centers, health organizations, and historical sites. The tour is narrated in real time by Central Valley historian David Hosley, who teaches social determinants of health, health inequities, and cultural humility.
- Mentoring a high school or undergraduate research student in one of their mentors’ laboratories and developing mentoring expertise, including a mentoring model for themselves.
- Bimonthly Directors’ luncheons focusing on professional development. Content will include:
Funding
Fellows will receive funding equivalent to a 50% graduate student researcher (currently $32,495), full tuition, and a small budget for travel. Childcare costs are also available.
Co-Directors
To learn more about this program, please review our program overview document.
Applicants must:
- Must possess a baccalaureate degree
- Be enrolled in or already accepted to a predoctoral degree in nursing or a health-related field by the start of the ReACH Equity program and entering either the second or third year of the program
- Prospective School of Nursing PhD students are welcome to apply; however, they will only be eligible to start the program in their second year of the PhD program.
- Be able to participate in all learning activities throughout the program
- Be engaged in outside employment for no more than 10 hours per week
The information below provides details pertaining to the selection of the 2025-2026 cohort.
- Oct. 30, 2024 | Application opens
- Jan. 8, 2025 | Application closes
- Jan. 23 - Feb. 13, 2024 | Applications are reviewed
- Feb. 20, 2025 | Applicants selected are notified. Candidates have 48 hours to respond with their decision.
- Sep. 22, 2025 | Program for 2025-2026 cohort begins
Application components
To identify the most qualified candidates, prospective trainees will submit a proposal that includes:
- A one-page description of their proposed doctoral research and how it aligns with the focus of the ReACH Equity training program
- A list of 2-3 potential mentors with a brief rationale for selecting those individuals
- A one-page Statement of Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
- Names of three references
- Interviews will not be conducted for this program
Visit our ReACH program FAQs or contact ReACH Equity Predoctoral Program Coordinator Jasmine Cuellar for more information about this program.
